A company needs sponsorship to employ migrant workers from outside the UK including non-EU and EU citizen (from 1st of January 2020). Sponsors offer jobs to the foreign workers to work in the UK to issue CoS. Companies hold Sponsorship for four years and sponsorship certificates should be renewed in every four years.

Sponsorship renewal can be applied by online and compliance visit might be made by UKVI, if necessary. The UKVI may visit the sponsor company to carry out checks before the decision on the licence application has been made. They may also conduct checks after the decision has been made. This is to make sure that a sponsor is able and continuing to comply with the duties and responsibilities of a licensed sponsor.

What is the Home Office assessing?

the sponsor’s HR systems to ensure they are meeting their sponsor duties

whether the sponsor or the sponsor’s activities pose a threat to immigration control

whether the original number of CoS or CAS requested on the sponsor application or annual request is still justified

whether migrants working or studying with the sponsor are complying with the conditions of their leave to stay in the UK

whether the sponsor continues to have a trading presence

whether sponsored Tier 2 or 5 migrants were recruited to fill genuine vacancies which meet the requirements of the relevant immigration route in respect of skill level and pay all aspects of the tasking referral

Where they have reason to believe that the sponsor has breached the sponsorship duties, they will consider the nature of the suspected breach. Where the breach is a minor issue, the company is willing and able to correct it, and pose no continuing threat to immigration control, they will in most cases support the sponsor in making the relevant improvements by issuing an action plan, which sets out the steps the company must take in order to retain the licence.

Where there is a serious breach indicating a significant or systematic failing, the company no longer meets the eligibility or suitability requirements for holding a licence, or the UKVI consider that the company constitutes a serious threat to immigration control; they may decide either to suspend the licence and investigate further or to revoke the licence without prior suspension.

If sponsorship is revoked, the Tier 2 visas of the migrant employees will be curtailed and the company needs to have cooling off one year period for re-applying sponsorship.

Therefore, a company with a sponsor licence must not only comply with and manage the sponsorship duties and responsibilities stipulated by the UKVI, but also, before applying renewal of the sponsorship, it must once again check whether the company complies with the duties.