Sponsor Licences enable employers to employ non-settled workers in the UK. You must apply to the Home Office for a Sponsor Licence. Once granted, you must follow certain guidelines as a business to ensure that you are complying with your responsibilities as a sponsor. These responsibilities will come into effect from the day your licence is granted until your licence is either surrendered or revoked. We can assist you in applying for a Sponsor Licence – find more information regarding our services here: Sponsor licence applications
Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
- Complying with immigration law, including all parts of the Worker and Temporary Worker guidance.
- Complying with UK law
- Reporting relevant information on the SMS platform, such as changes to the company or employees’ situations
- Keeping accurate and up to date records of your sponsored employees
- You can find further detail regarding your responsibilities in the Home Office guidance: Sponsor guidance – Home Office
Compliance checks
The Home Office continually monitor sponsors’ compliance and carry out compliance checks where they feel necessary. Compliance checks can involve on-site visits, document requests, checking with other relevant government departments and conducting digital compliance inspections.
We can help you to ensure that you are complying with your responsibilities as a sponsor and be confident that you have all the neccessary things in place should the Home Office do a compliance check on your company. To find out more, please contact our offices at [email protected] or on 01793 836010.
Renewing your licence
The option to renew your Sponsor Licence after 4 years has been removed from April 2024. Sponsors are no longer required to apply to renew their licences, and instead these will remain indefinitely. Loss of your licence will occur from surrendering this yourself, or having your licence revoked due to non-compliance.