UK Sponsor Licence consultant in India

UK Sponsor Licence consultant in India talks about sponsorship for employers

A UK Sponsor Licence is essentially needed for UK-based employers who are looking to hire overseas professionals for their business.

It is mandatory for the UK company to possess a valid Sponsor Licence to do so, or else the firm won’t be able to provide sponsorship to the employee they want to bring to the UK.

Without a ‘Certificate of Sponsorship’ (provided by the UK firm to the employee) an employee will not be able to apply for a visa to come and work in the UK.

Get in touch with The SmartMove2UK (UK Immigration Law Firm) to know about how can you acquire a Sponsor Licence for your UK-based business. As a UK Sponsor Licence consultant in India, we accurately guide our clients on the entire procedure and requirements!

What is the UK Sponsor Licence?

An employer who is a UK-based business owner will need a Sponsor Licence to employ overseas skilled professionals for their UK company.
This also includes citizens of the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland who arrived in the UK after 31 December 2020.
A Sponsor Licence is mandatory for unpaid job roles as well. For example, running a charity.

What are the eligibility criteria to apply for a UK Sponsor Licence?

To get a licence as a UK-based employer, the applicant cannot have:

Unspent criminal convictions for immigration offences or certain other crimes, such as fraud or money laundering.
Had a Sponsor Licence revoked in the last 12 months.
The applicant will need appropriate systems in place to monitor sponsored employees and people to manage sponsorship in the business.
UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) will review the application form and supporting documents. They may visit the applicant’s business to make sure the applicant is trustworthy and capable of carrying out the mentioned duties.

The licence a sponsor needs, depends on the duration of the job period of the overseas employee. For example,

Workers – for skilled or long-term employment.
Temporary Workers – for specific types of temporary employment.

You can apply for a licence covering one or both types of workers.

What are the Sponsorship management roles under a UK Sponsor Licence?

The sponsor will need to appoint people within their business to manage the sponsorship process when they apply for a Sponsor Licence.

The main tool they’ll use is the sponsorship management system (SMS).
The roles are:

Authorising officer – a senior and competent person responsible for the actions of staff and representatives who use the SMS.
Key contact – sponsor’s main point of contact with UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI).
Level 1 user – responsible for all day-to-day management of the Sponsor Licence using the SMS.

These roles can be filled by the same person or different people.

The sponsor can also appoint an optional level 2 user once they have a Sponsor Licence. This is an SMS user with more restricted access than a level 1 user, for example, they cannot withdraw a Certificate of Sponsorship.

Suitability checks

The sponsor and his/her staff will go through checks to make sure they are suitable for these roles. The sponsor may not get a Sponsor Licence if anyone involved in sponsorship has:

An unspent criminal conviction for an offence listed in the guidance for sponsors.
Been fined by UKVI in the past 12 months.
Been reported to UKVI.
Broken the law.
Been a ‘key person’ at a sponsor that had its licence revoked in the last 12 months.
Failed to pay VAT or other excise duty.

The sponsor and the allocated staff must also:

Be based in the UK most of the time.
Not be a contractor or consultant contracted for a specific project.
Not be subject to a bankruptcy restriction order or undertaking, or a debt relief restriction order or undertaking.
Not have a history of non-compliance with sponsor requirements.

HR contractors and agency staff

At least one level 1 user must be the sponsor’s employee.
The sponsor can have additional level 1 or level 2 users who are employed by third-party organisations that provide them with HR services.
A temporary member of staff supplied by an agency can be a level 2 user.

UK-based legal representatives

The sponsor can allocate any of the roles to a UK-based legal representative, apart from the authorising officer role.
The sponsor’s representative must be qualified to give immigration advice or services.

How to apply for a UK Sponsor Licence?

The employer must apply for a UK Sponsor Licence online.

What is the job suitability for a UK Sponsor Licence?

The employer can provide sponsorship to a worker if the job they’re going to do has a suitable rate of pay and skill level, or meets the other criteria needed for their visa.

What is a UK Sponsor Licence rating?

A sponsor will get an A-rated licence if the application is approved.
‘A-rating – full Sponsor Licence’ – an A-rated Sponsor Licence allows the sponsor to start assigning Certificates of Sponsorship.
The business also gets listed in the register of sponsors.

How to check whether a worker needs an ATAS certificate?

Before the sponsor assign’s a Certificate of Sponsorship to a worker, it may be required to check whether the worker needs an Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) certificate.

Who needs to do this?
The sponsor will need to do this if they are sponsoring a worker on any of the following:

UK Skilled Worker visa.
Senior or Specialist Worker visa (Global Business Mobility).
Graduate Trainee visa (Global Business Mobility).
UK Expansion Worker visa (Global Business Mobility).
Service Supplier visa (Global Business Mobility).
Secondment Worker visa (Global Business Mobility).
Government Authorised Exchange visa.
International Agreement visa.

If the sponsor is sponsoring a worker on any other visa, then it is not required to do anything.

What is a Certificate of Sponsorship?

The sponsor must assign a Certificate of Sponsorship to each foreign worker they employ.
This is an electronic record, not a paper document.
Each certificate has its own number which a worker can use to apply for a visa.
When the sponsor assigns the certificate to a worker, they must use it to apply for their visa within 3 months.
They must not apply for their visa more than 3 months before the start date of the job listed on the certificate.

What is an immigration skills charge?

The sponsor might have to pay an additional charge when they assign a Certificate of Sponsorship to someone applying for a UK Skilled Worker visa or a UK Senior or Specialist Worker visa. This is called the ‘immigration skills charge’.

The sponsor must pay the immigration skills charge if they’re applying for a visa from:

Outside the UK to work in the UK for 6 months or more.
Inside the UK for any length of time.

What are the responsibilities of a sponsor?

A sponsor must:

Check that the foreign workers have the necessary skills, qualifications, or professional accreditations to do their jobs, and keep copies of documents showing this.
Only assign certificates of sponsorship to workers when the job is suitable for sponsorship.
Tell UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) if the sponsored workers are not complying with the conditions of their visa.
The employer’s licence may be downgraded, suspended, or withdrawn if they do not fulfill these responsibilities.

What is the UK Sponsor Licence fee?

The employer needs to pay a fee when they apply. The fee depends on the type of licence they are applying for and what type of organisation they are into.

Type of licence	Fee for small or charitable sponsors	Fee for medium or large sponsors
Worker	£574	£1,579
Temporary Worker	£574	£574
Worker and Temporary Worker	£574	£1,579
Add a Worker licence to an existing Temporary Worker licence	No fee	£1,005
Add a Temporary Worker licence to an existing Worker licence	No fee	No fee

What are the Tier 2 Sponsorship and Tier 5 Sponsorship Licences?

Tier 2 Sponsor Licence is replaced by the ‘Worker’ Licence.

Worker licence

A ‘Worker’ licence will allow UK-based companies to sponsor professionals in different types of skilled employment. The skilled work can be for a short duration or long duration or permanent job role, depending on the overseas worker’s visa.

The licence is split into:

Skilled Worker visa – the role must meet the job suitability requirements.
Senior or Specialist Worker visa (Global Business Mobility) – for multinational companies which need to transfer established employees to the UK, previously the Intra-Company Transfer visa.
Minister of Religion visa – for people coming to work for a religious organisation.
International Sportsperson visa – for elite sportspeople and coaches who will be based in the UK.

Tier 5 Sponsor Licence is replaced by the ‘Temporary Worker’ Licence.

Temporary Worker licence

A ‘Temporary Worker’ licence will allow UK-based companies to sponsor workers on a temporary basis, including for volunteering and job-shadowing. A UK employer can only get a Temporary Worker licence for specific types of employment and visas.

The licence is split into:

Creative Worker visa – to work in the creative industry, for example as an entertainer or artist (up to 2 years).
Charity Worker visa – for unpaid workers at a charity event (up to 1 year).
Religious Worker visa – for those working in a religious order or organisation (2 years).
Government Authorised Exchange visa – work experience (1 year), research projects or training, for example, practical medical or scientific training (2 years) to enable a short-term exchange of knowledge.
International Agreement visa – where the worker is coming to do a job which is covered by international law, for example, employees of overseas governments
Graduate Trainee visa (Global Business Mobility) – for workers transferring to their employer’s UK branch as part of a graduate training programme.
Service Supplier visa (Global Business Mobility) – for workers with a contract to provide services for a UK company (6 or 12 months).
UK Expansion Worker visa (Global Business Mobility) – for workers sent to the UK to set up a new branch or subsidiary of an overseas business.
Secondment Worker visa (Global Business Mobility) – for workers transferring from overseas to work for a different UK business as part of a high-value contract.
Seasonal Worker visa – for those coming to the UK to work in ‘edible horticulture’ for up to 6 months (for example, picking fruit and vegetables).

A UK employer can also use the Seasonal Worker visa to sponsor

Pork butchery workers for up to 6 months.
Poultry production workers – until 31st December 2021.
HGV drivers involved in food transport – until 28th February 2022.

How can The SmartMove2UK be of help for your UK Sponsor Licence application?

The SmartMove2UK is a UK immigration law firm, established in 2009.

As a UK Sponsor Licence consultant in India, our firm has a team of UK immigration solicitors and experts.

Our law firm was announced as the winner of IAE Corporate Immigration Law (India) award, in 2016.
We are recognized by Who’s Who Legal (WWL) as a Corporate Immigration Firm in 2016.
We take pride in being members of prominent institutions like The Law Society and Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa.

Our offices are located in India – Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru.

We have been assisting clients from all over the world and our clientele is spread across 26+ countries, with 1,000 success stories.

Our UK-qualified solicitors have the expertise of over 2 decades in providing Legal Advice for all UK immigration-related assistance.

We also offer Full Representation service and Filing Appeals for Refused applications.

You can get in touch with our UK immigration lawyer to book a consultation!

Get the help you need today!