Gennings Limited business application specialists can support your organisation with all aspects of the UK sponsorship license.
Wherever you are in the lifecycle of the sponsor licence - whether you are looking to apply for your first sponsor licence, wanting to renew and existing licence, have been refused a licence application or are looking for on going support with managing your compliance duties, we can help.
For information on how Gennings Ltd can help with the Sponsorship License process please contact us on 0161 541 2575 or email info@gennings.co.uk
Gennings Limited business application specialists are here to help
To apply for a sponsorship licence, employers must prove they are a genuine organisation operating lawfully in the UK. You have to show you are aware of and capable of carrying out your visa sponsorship duties, with appropriate HR and recruitment systems and practices in place.
To make the application, you complete an online licence application and provide supporting documentation to meet the necessary evidentiary requirements. This must be supplied within five days of the initial application. Failure to submit all required documents may result in an application being delayed or rejected and further costs being incurred.
Following the receipt of these documents, the organisation may then be subject to a compliance visit from UKVI, who will assess whether or not to grant the sponsorship licence. Sponsorship licence applications typically take 8 weeks to process, or around 12 weeks if a pre-licence compliance visit is made.
Expedited sponsorship licence processing is now available for £500. Under the new Sponsor Licence Application Priority Service, licence applications will be decided in ten working days.
If you are successful in your application, focus will need to shift to managing the sponsor licence. It is an ongoing demand ato ensure all of the compliance duties are met and you are not at risk of breaching the rules o the Home Office penalties.
Key duties will include record keeping, both in relation to the organisation and to all sponsored workers. In most cases this means updating the Sponsorship Management System (SMS) within specified timeframes. The SMS is the Home Office's primary source of information relating to your licence, and as such it is expected that the SMS is kept up to date to provide a real-time snapshot of the organisation's licence and all of its sponsored workers.
A skilled worker sponsor licence grants permission to a UK organisation by the Home Office to lawfully employ non-UK resident workers in skilled roles. The organisation must make an application and if granted, will assume a number of compliance duties in respect of managing the licence and monitoring its sponsored workers.
A Certificate of Sponsorship is a reference number assigned to a non UK worker from UK sponsor, enabling them to make an application for their visa to work in Britain.
To apply for sponsor a licence you will need to submit an application form with supporting documents to the Home Office. The application will be assessed against the licence eligibility criteria and whether the organisation has shown it can meet the ongoing sponsor licence compliance duties.