If a UK-based business wants to employ foreign migrants to work for their business, they will usually need to apply for a sponsor licence from the Home Office. Settled workers and persons with existing immigration permission on a route that allows them to work for you do not need to be sponsored. A settled worker is defined as any of the following:

• a British citizen
• an Irish citizen (with limited exceptions )
• a person who has been granted limited leave to enter or remain (pre-settled status) or indefinite leave to enter or remain (settled status) under Appendix EU to the Immigration Rules (also known as the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS))
• a person who has made a valid application under the EUSS and is awaiting a decision on that application
• an EU, an EEA or a Swiss national who started working for you on or before 30 June 2021, if you carried out the relevant right to work checks in force at that time
• a British overseas territories citizen, except for those from sovereign base areas in Cyprus
• a Commonwealth citizen who can prove they have the right of abode in the UK – Commonwealth citizen means:

o a British Overseas Territories citizen

o   a British National (Overseas)

o   a British Overseas citizen

o   a British subject; or

o   a citizen of a country listed here:  

• a Commonwealth citizen (as defined above) who has been granted permission on the UK Ancestry route on the basis they have a grandparent born in the UK or Islands

All employers in the UK must carry out right to work checks. The business must check that any worker they wish to employ has permission to enter or stay in the UK and can do the work in question before they start work. This applies even if the worker is, or appears to be, a British citizen or other settled worker. If a UK business fails to carry out a right to work check, or any necessary follow-up checks, it may be liable for a civil penalty under illegal working legislation.

To speak to one of our solicitors about right to work checks and civil penalties, call us today on 0300 131 6767 or complete our enquiry form and we will get straight back to you.

The application is submitted online on the gov.uk website. A differing fee will be payable, depending on the size of the business. You are usually a small sponsor if at least two of the following apply:

• your annual turnover is £10.2 million or less
• your total assets are worth £5.1 million or less
• you have 50 employees or fewer

 Standard processing time for the application is 8 weeks, but the business might be able to avail of the pre-licence priority service for an additional fee to get a decision within 10 working days.

When you apply for the licence, you will need to appoint ‘Key Personnel’ within the business to 3 separate roles (these roles can be filled by the same person or a combination of different people):

Authorising Officer – this is the most senior person in your organisation responsible for the recruitment of all migrant workers and ensuring that you meet all of your sponsor duties

Key Contact – this person acts as the main contact between UKVI and the business. UKVI will contact this person if they have any queries about the sponsor licence application, the documents sent, or the payment. This role can be filled by a UK-based legal representative at the time of applying for the sponsor licence.

Level 1 user – this person is responsible for carrying out day-to-day sponsorship activities using the SMS. The business must have at least one Level 1 User in place at all times during the life of the sponsor licence, and it must have at least one Level 1 User who is an employee, a partner, or a director. If you have more than one Level 1 User, any additional Level 1 Users must be one of the following:

• a paid staff member or office holder within your organisation
• an employee of a third-party organisation engaged by you to deliver all or part of your Human Resources function
• a UK-based representative

Furthermore, the business must always have a minimum of one Level 1 User who is a settled worker (as defined above), with some exceptions.

You can only nominate one Level 1 user when you apply for the licence, but you can add more users after the licence has been granted.

Once the licence has been granted, you can also nominate persons to be Level 2 users (these users have fewer permissions than Level 1 users), which includes the persons listed above, in addition to a temporary staff member supplied to you by an employment agency.

 The initial Level 1 user will have access to the sponsor management system (SMS)  which allows them to assign Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) to prospective or existing employees. Without a CoS, the employee cannot apply for their visa.

There is a fee to assign a CoS which differs depending on whether the employee in on a Worker route; Temporary Worker route; or an International Sportsperson visa.

The business might have to pay an additional charge when it assigns a CoS to someone applying for a Skilled Worker or a Senior or Specialist Worker visa. This is called the ‘immigration skills charge’, with exceptions for certain occupations. These fees differ for small and charitable sponsors, and for medium or large sponsors, and are payable in full when the CoS is assigned.