If your sponsor licence application is denied or rejected, it could significantly disrupt your plans to hire skilled migrant workers. Beyond losing the application fee, your ability to employ foreign talent will be compromised.
Avoid these challenges by consulting with a Rees Clayton immigration lawyer. We offer expert guidance to ensure your application is correctly submitted and can assist with addressing any refusals. We’re available anytime to help you online, by phone, or in person. For immediate assistance with your sponsor licence refused application, call us at 02033939272.
In most cases, UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) will offer one of three outcomes for your sponsor licence application. If your application is approved, you will receive an A-rated licence. Otherwise, your application may be rejected or refused.
If a company’s application is refused, it can reapply immediately. However, when an application is rejected, it’s common for the application fee to be refunded. Refused applications, on the other hand, are often more complex and carry more severe consequences. The company will lose the application fee and may not be eligible to reapply immediately.
Incorrect or missing information throughout the application process is a common reason for a sponsor licence refused (which the UKVI calls an “invalid application”). There are a number of grounds that the Home Office may reject your sponsor licence application refused.
Make sure you supply all the necessary information and fill out the application completely. If any parts of the form are incomplete, the application is invalid.
The fee to apply for a sponsor licence depends on the type and size of your company. Application rejection may occur if the application fee is not paid correctly, for example, if it is less than the amount needed for your organisation type.
Please ensure that you print out the submission and include all necessary supporting papers (as outlined in Appendix A) before sending it to UKVI. Your application will be considered invalid if you do not.
Your company does not employ the authorising officer.
By consulting an expert, you can streamline the application process and prevent these common pitfalls. With the help of Rees Clayton solicitors, your sponsor licence application will be reviewed and approved by UK immigration authorities on time.
The Home Office may reject an application for a sponsor licence for a variety of reasons. These are some of the most common reasons for refusal:
One common reason why sponsor licenses are denied is that the applicant did not provide the necessary supporting papers. At least four of the documents listed in Appendix A are required of UK organisations seeking sponsor licenses. They show that you are a real business that can legally operate in the UK. These rules don’t apply to small businesses or organisations that aren’t traded on the London Stock Exchange.
Valid supporting documents must be either certified copies or originals. If they are not written in English or Welsh, you are required to include a certified translation. Before you submit your application, make sure you have all of the necessary evidence for support by carefully reviewing the categories and requirements in Appendix A.
Within five business days after submitting your application online, you must send your supporting documents by mail to UKVI. Your application may be rejected if you do not submit it within the given period.
If the Home Office needs more information from you, it will depend on the kind of your business and the licence you are seeking for. Your application will be rejected if the required documents are not submitted within the specified time frame.
Your application will only be approved if the Home Office is convinced that you truly require a sponsor licence. You need to show them that the job you’re trying to fill with an immigrant worker is highly skilled and cannot be filled by a British citizen or permanent resident.
If the Home Office finds that your application is legitimate despite the fact that you do not fulfil the test requirements, they will seek more proof that you need to employ the specific person. As a result, you can apply again right away.
However, if the Home Office believes you are acting in bad faith, they will refuse your application. For instance, if the job you want to hire a foreign worker for doesn’t require that level of skill if you lied about your papers, or if you want to use the licence to help people from other countries come to the UK. A cooling-off period of six to twelve months may be imposed before you are permitted to submit a fresh application.
If the Home Office finds out you submitted fraudulent documents, they will reject your application. There will be a cooling-off period before you reapply, and you will also lose the application money.
The Home Office will conduct a compliance visit to your company’s premises before making a decision on a sponsor licence application. Make sure you have a good HR system in place to handle migrant personnel and that you follow conventional recruitment processes. If your HR systems are deemed inadequate for fulfilling sponsor duties, the Home Office will reject your application.
Sponsorship responsibilities are to be carried out by key persons who fulfil the necessary qualifications. Background checks will be conducted on all members of the sponsorship team by UKVI as well. Your licence application may be denied if any of your key individuals, company directors, or partners have a criminal record that includes unspent convictions for crimes like fraud or money laundering, or a record of breaking immigration regulations.
Also, your application could be turned down if any of the people on your sponsorship team worked for a company whose licence was removed in the last year.
If your company has been charged with an immigration violation within the last 12 months, the Home Office will not issue you a sponsor licence. Assume you have received a civil penalty for hiring unauthorised personnel. If that’s the case, you’ll have to wait one year following the penalty’s due date to apply for a sponsor licence.
Failure to comply with Home Office sponsorship regulations or to fulfil sponsorship obligations effectively may result in the revocation of an organization’s sponsor licence. If a company does not fulfil its sponsor responsibilities, UKVI will reduce its licence grade to B. In order to get an action plan, the organisation must pay a charge to UKVI. It will be required to pay for an additional action plan if it does not fulfil the requirements by the conclusion of the current one.
In order to keep their licence, businesses must fulfil the conditions of a second action plan. An organisation must wait 12 months after a licence revocation before it can reapply. We have the right to reject any application submitted prior to the 12-month cooling-off period expiration.
The failure of UKVI to properly process your application is known as a caseworker error. The caseworker made a mistake if they failed to notice any relevant documents when reviewing your application. Your licence may be revoked due to this mistake.
If you believe that your application was denied due to a caseworker error, you can request an error repair. Within fourteen days after obtaining the letter of rejection, you are required to submit this request.
When UKVI rejects your licensing application, you cannot request an administrative review. You can either seek out other means of challenging the decision or accept it and reapply (after a cooling-off period, if appropriate). Refusal of a licence can be challenged in two ways.
This applies solely in cases when the denial is due to an error made by the caseworker. There is no better or more effective way to challenge a rejection than this. If a reviewing officer fails to notice a necessary supporting document or if the decision maker incorrectly labels an original document as untrue, it could be attributed to a caseworker error and your application could be denied.
To rectify a caseworker error that led to the rejection of your sponsor licence application, you are required to submit a “Caseworker Error Correction Request” to the Home Office. You can submit the application form online, but it needs the authorising officer’s signature to be valid. Within fourteen days from the rejection letter’s date, you must submit the request for revision.
Within 28 business days, the authorising officer will get an email from the Home Office with the decision. If the request is approved, you will be able to reapply online. Your second licence price will be fully reimbursed upon application approval.
If you think the decision made by the Home Office is wrong, you have the option to ask for a judicial review. You have three months from the date of the refusal to file a judicial review application. In this step, a judge looks into the application and the reasoning behind UKVI’s decisions.
Proficient guidance is necessary for this complex procedure. You will need to show the court that the decision made by UKVI is wrong and illegal and that no reasonable entity could reach such a conclusion given the available facts. It also doesn’t work very well most of the time.
Depending on the grounds for denial, you might be able to reapply for a licence right away, even though you can’t request an administrative review. If your licence was denied due to a justifiable reason for not being able to provide supporting documents within the specified time, you would be permitted to reapply without delay.
After your request for a mistake correction is authorised, you will be able to reapply if there was a caseworker error. You will need to wait for the cooling-off period to end before you may submit a new application if one is associated with your rejected one. Typically, the cooling-off period is six to twelve months long.
Applying for a sponsor licence can be time-consuming and resource-intensive, and a failed application could disrupt your company’s growth and development plans. However, a well-prepared application opens up significant opportunities for business expansion.
To avoid the common pitfalls that lead to rejections, it’s advisable to consult with a specialist. With expert guidance, you can secure your sponsor licence on time, saving valuable time and effort by preventing the need for resubmissions or challenges to a rejected application.
At Rees Clayton, our solicitors are ready to assist, whether you’re starting from scratch, reapplying, or disputing a rejection. Contact us today via phone, email, or in person for prompt support. Call us at 02033939272 for immediate assistance.
The UK has its own set of rules when it comes to sponsor licences. If you fulfil all the criteria and follow the rules, the process is not hard.
On average, it takes eight weeks to process an application for a sponsor licence.
If you do not fulfil the necessary criteria, your application for a sponsor licence may be denied.
After a refusal, you can certainly reapply for a sponsor licence; but, the timing of your second attempt will depend on the specific grounds for the initial denial.
