Table Of Contents:
- How to Sponsor a Skilled Worker
- Sponsoring Employers’ Responsibility
- Record Keeping
- Monitoring and Reporting
- Reporting Changes in the Organisation
- Complying With Immigration Rules and Wider UK Law
- Appointing Key Personnel
- Renewing Your Sponsor License
- Surrendering Your Sponsor Licence
- Final Thoughts
Any UK organsation looking to employ overseas skilled workers needs to apply and obtain a sponsor license from the Home Office. They need to be an A-rated sponsor to hire foreign employees. Once they have a sponsor licence, they can assign it to the workers they will employ. They need to apply for ‘defined’ CoS if they want to employ workers from outside the UK, and an ‘undefined’ CoS if they want to sponsor employees who will be applying to switch to a skilled worker visa from within the UK.
If you are a UK-based organization and want to employ skilled workers from outside the UK, you need to know how to sponsor a skilled worker. Well, as mentioned, you need to obtain a sponsor licence first, and you need to comply with employer responsibilities to obtain and retain the license.
How to Sponsor a Skilled Worker?
The Skilled Worker visa is the primary immigration route for UK-based organisations to recruit overseas workers to fill a wide range of skilled vacancies in the UK. Any legally established and operating business in the UK needs to first apply for a sponsor license. A valid sponsor license permits you to access the global talent market and employ non-UK skilled workers. A licensed sponsor can assign a CoS to the sponsoring worker, which is mandatory for a skilled worker visa. You can sponsor a skilled worker only if you have a genuine vacancy in your organization and you are offering an eligible job.
The skills required for the job must match the skill set of the sponsored worker. You must have tried first to find a skilled worker in the local labour market before you look to recruit a foreign worker. You must also offer a salary that meets the minimum salary threshold. This is the answer to how to sponsor a skilled worker in brief.
As a sponsor, you are required to meet certain duties and responsibilities. We are going to discuss those responsibilities in this blog.
Sponsoring Employers’ Responsibility
Your obligation to comply with the responsibilities as a licenced sponsor starts from the date you are issued your sponsor licence until you relinquish it, it is made inactive, or it has been terminated.
To meet your employer responsibilities, you will need to know the rules and resources, commitment, and effort to ensure your organisation is compliant. You will need to understand what it means to manage the sponsor licence correctly, and when you need to take action to avoid allegations of non-compliance.
As long as you are compliant with the sponsor’s responsibilities, you may be eligible to recruit overseas workers.
1. Record Keeping
As a sponsor, you are responsible for maintaining records for each worker you recruit. As per Appendix D of the Immigration Rules, you need to retain photocopies or electronic copies of the following documents:
- Copies of the relevant pages in the sponsored worker’s passport, including their personal identity
- details, period of leave to remain, immigration status, and leave stamps.
- Copy of their e-Visa (evidence of the worker’s immigration status in digital form)
- Proof of their NI (National Insurance) number.
- Updated records of their current and historical contact information, including their residential address, email address, and telephone number.
- A copy of the worker’s DBS check, if applicable.
- A record of their absences from the job, including annual leave and sickness.
- A copy of their employment contract, detailing job role, duties, and remuneration.
- Documents such as degree certificates or their professional accreditations proving that they have the necessary skills and qualifications for the role.
You must retain these records for 12 months from the date you end the sponsorship of your worker or the date documents are examined and approved by a compliance officer, if this occurs less than one year after the end of sponsorship – whichever is shorter.
However, you may need to retain some documents for longer periods.
2. Monitoring and Reporting
Monitoring sponsored workers and reporting any changes in their situations to the Home Office is essential for all sponsors. You must report the following to the Home Office within 10 working days using the SMS portal:
- A sponsored worker does not turn up to work on their first day.
- A sponsored worker’s contract is terminated before the actual date.
- A sponsored worker is absent from work without your permission for 10 or more days.
- There are significant changes in a worker’s employment contract where the worker has been TUPE’d (Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment)) to a different sponsor.
You are also expected to monitor the immigration status of your workers and report any changes, and to notify the Home Office when there is any suspicions and evidence that an individual worker is breaking the conditions of their stay in the UK.
3. Reporting Changes in the Organisation
You must report the following to the Home Office:
- Change to the size of your organisation, or if any change that impacts its charitable status
- Change of the name of your organisation
- Takeover or sale of all or part of the organisation
- The company has ceased to trade
- Change of the company’s address
- Change of authorising officer
- Opening or closing a UK branch
- Setting up or closing an overseas branch, subsidiary company, or linked company
- Takeovers, mergers, acquisitions, and TUPE transfers.
4. Complying With Immigration Rules and Wider UK Law
You should only employ people who are qualified, registered, or experienced for the job or will be by the time they begin the job. You cannot sponsor a worker or allocate a CoS if there is no genuine vacancy in your organisation.
You need to prevent illegal working, for which you should retain workers’ records proving that they are qualified for the position and keep track of the immigration status of each worker. You must follow UK employment legislation and confirm that you are paying the national minimum wage to sponsored workers.
As a sponsor, you should refrain from conduct that is detrimental to the UK’s public interest. For example: fostering hatred or inter-community division, or fomenting, justifying, or glorifying terrorism.
5. Appointing Key Personnel
You must appoint key personnel who will administer your licence and ensure that your organisation is complying with its duties.
You need to appoint the following personnel:
- Authorising Officer – A senior person responsible for migrant recruitment or HR.
- Level 1 and Level 2 Users – They perform the day-to-day activities required of the sponsor licence holder using the online SMS (Sponsorship Management System).
- Key Contact – This person is responsible for liaising with the Home Office.
6. Renewing Your Sponsor License
From 6 April 2024, in most cases, once you obtain a sponsor licence it will remain valid until you surrender it or the Home Office revokes it due to non-compliance. However, if you are licensed on either the UK Expansion Worker or Scale-up routes, your licence will be valid for a maximum of 4 years on these routes.
7. Surrendering Your Sponsor Licence
You can surrender your sponsor licence if you do not wish to sponsor workers anymore, and you have no sponsored workers who are still working for you. You can surrender your licence using your SMS account, unless you have no Level 1 Users in your organisation, in which case you must use the Change of Circumstances form on GOV.UK.
Final Thoughts
How to sponsor a skilled worker is a question most UK-based organisations looking to employ overseas workers have in their minds. So, you first must have a genuine vacancy in your organisation that cannot be filled with local workers. Once you have it you need to apply for a sponsor licence. You need to meet the eligibility criteria for attaining a sponsor licence. After receiving a licence you need to allocate a certificate of sponsorship to the sponsored worker on the Skilled Worker Visa route.
As a sponsor, you need to comply with several duties to retain your licence (they have been mentioned in this article). If you fail to comply with your responsibilities, the Home Office may downgrade, suspend or even revoke your licence.
The Home Official may make on-site visits to ensure that people and systems responsible for ensuring compliance with the sponsor licence are in place and you continue to comply with your responsibilities.
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