The Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) is an electronic certificate by the sponsored employer and it must be issued to a candidate employee who needs a visa to work in the UK. Each sponsorship certificate has a unique reference number to apply for a visa. 

 

 

Is there any requirement for a CoS?
 
To obtain a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) from the Home Office, the employer must complete and issue the CoS form. The CoS form requires information such as the candidate employee’s personal information, contact detail, work address, job title, job description, working hours, salary, employment start and end date of the new employee to be hired.
There are two types of CoS: Defined Certificates and undefined Certificates. It is the sponsor's responsibility to determine what type of CoS is required to be issued to employees who will apply for visas. 
 
 
The Defined Certificate of Sponsorship (DCoS) is for a Skilled Worker applicant who is currently overseas. The sponsor needs to apply for DCoS for an individual applicant through the company's electronic sponsorship management system (SMS). Applications are usually accepted within one working day but may take longer if UKVI needs to carry out further checks or requests for further information. Once a Defined CoS is approved, the sponsor can assign the Cos to the candidate applicant. 
 
For DCoS allocation, there is no limit to the number available and the sponsor can apply at any time for new employees who are from abroad.
 
When requesting a defined CoS, the sponsor must provide details of the role and job description the migrant may perform. UKVI might request to provide information regarding recruitment practice and detail how the migrant was identified for the role. 
 
 
UCoS are available to individuals who are eligible to switch to Skilled Worker or seek to extend work visas in the UK. It is also issued for ICT workers, short-term employment (T5) or T2 (previous employment visa). If the employer has the number of allocations to issue UCoS available, it can be immediately issued to the migrant worker to apply for a visa inside the UK. If there are currently no allocation available, the sponsor must apply for an increase in allocation number to the UKVI. This request may take up to 18 weeks, but it can also speed up by using a priority change of circumstances request. 
 
When an employer applies for a Sponsor License application, you will be asked to estimate the number of undefined Certificate of Sponsorship required in the first year. You also need to provide the necessary reasons and evidence and provide the required details and documents for the role and candidates to sponsor.
 
The sponsor can renew an annual allocation every year or request further allocation if they need additional UCoS. The sponsor needs to consider whether a person who needs a UCoS needs to extend his or her permission to stay in the UK or they have an employee with another category visa(such as Tier 4 Student or YMS) who will be switching into Skilled Worker visa or EEA national who does not have pre-settled or settled status. 
 

Can an applicant use CoS to apply for a visa at any time?
 
When CoS is assigned, a unique number is given and visa applicants can use it only once. Since the validity period is very short (3 months), the sponsor must inform the applicant to submit an application within 3 months when a CoS is issued.
 
The issued CoS does not guarantee visa approval. Even after assigning CoS, the visa applicant must submit a visa application that meets the validity, suitability as well as eligibility to be granted.
 

Is there any cost to assign a Certificate of sponsorship?

When issuing a sponsorship certificate, the sponsor needs to pay the following fees online:
Long-term workers (over a year) cost £199
Temporary Worker (less than a year) is £21
 
The CoS will be issued free of charge if the new employee is a citizen of the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Northern Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and Turkey.
 
When the sponsor issues a CoS, they might pay the Immigration Skills Charge in accordance with the visa conditions of the candidate being hired. For example, if a candidate with a student visa gets a job and needs to UCoS to apply for a Skilled Worker visa, there is no need to pay for ISC. However, if the candidate is currently abroad, the employer must pay ISC depending on the length of time they are hired.