Table Of Contents
- What is a sponsor license compliance visit
- What does UKVI check during a compliance visit
- Pre-license assessment visit
- Post-license compliance visit
- Summary
Sponsorship compliance for a Home Office-licensed sponsor means fulfilling a range of legal and administrative duties, such as carrying out right-to-work checks, record-keeping, monitoring sponsored workers, reporting changes, maintaining an SMS (Sponsor Management System), cooperating with UKVI, and preventing non-compliance, to maintain their sponsor license and ensure they and/or their sponsored workers do not abuse the UK’s immigration system.
UKVI usually conducts a sponsor license compliance visit as part of its duties to ensure all licensed sponsors discharge these responsibilities and that any sponsor’s actions (or omissions) do not pose a risk to the UK’s immigration control or that their actions are conducive to the public good.
What is a sponsor license compliance visit?
A Home Office-licensed sponsor is responsible for fulfilling certain sponsorship duties from the day they are granted the license until
• They surrender their sponsor license.
• They let their sponsor license lapse.
• The Home Office revokes their sponsor license
A sponsor license compliance visit is about assessing sponsors and ensuring they maintain the principles of sponsorship. A compliance visit is aimed at contributing to the Home Office’s priorities of securing the UK’s borders, reducing net inward immigration, and protecting UK citizens from terrorism.
During a compliance visit, UKVI officials primarily have to assess the following:
• whether a licensed sponsor is fulfilling their sponsorship obligations
• whether a prospective sponsor (an employer or organization that intends to apply for a UK sponsor license but does not have one yet) has the necessary systems and procedures to meet their sponsorship obligations
• the accuracy of information they have given on their sponsor license application
• whether the sponsor is complying or taking the required steps to make sure they meet their obligations to prevent illegal working
The main focus of UKVI officials’ role is on the sponsor, with a secondary focus on the sponsored workers.
What does UKVI check during a compliance visit?
There are primarily 2 types of compliance visits. They include pre-license assessment visits and post-license compliance visits. The purpose of these visits is essentially to check whether the sponsor or prospective sponsor is genuinely operating as described in its sponsor license and complying with its sponsor duties.
UKVI can make announced or unannounced compliance visits, as the Home Office Sponsor Guidance makes clear to sponsors in the UK that they must provide Home Office staff access to any of their premises/sites under their control, on demand.
Diplomatic or consular premises are exceptions, which means they are not required to provide access on demand. If a sponsor refuses to allow Home Office staff access on demand, the sponsor may be reported as non-compliant, which may result in their sponsor license being refused or revoked.
1. Pre-license assessment visit
A pre-license assessment visit is a visit to the sponsor license applicant’s premises or the premises of employers with an existing sponsor license who are applying to add another worker and/or temporary worker route to their license. The findings of this visit are considered by Sponsor Operations when they decide whether to grant the prospective sponsor a license or add another worker and/or temporary worker route to an existing sponsor license.
When carrying out a pre-license assessment visit, the UKVI officials must check:
• If you are a potential sponsor, you have the necessary HR (human resource) systems in place to make sure that, if you are granted a license, you will be able to carry out your sponsor duties.
• The number of workers you want to sponsor is appropriate to the nature and size of your organization.
• whether there is any evidence suggesting that you (a potential sponsor) would pose a threat to UK immigration control
• any areas of concern that Sponsor Operations (it refers to the Home Office/UKVI team responsible for operational work relating to the UK sponsorship system, including assessing and managing sponsor licenses and carrying out compliance activity) have identified as requiring further inspection relating to your sponsor license application, for example, verifying the original documents you failed to submit with your sponsor license application
• If you are a potential sponsor and have applied for a license under a Skilled Worker route, you will genuinely be able to offer employment that meets the requirements of this route at the correct skill and pay level.
Unless you are applying to add another worker and/or temporary worker route to your existing license, you will not yet be sponsoring workers. This means UKVI officials will not be able to use information about workers to assess your HR systems.
You may, however, be employing non-resident workers. If and when appropriate, UKVI may check that your current processes for verifying these workers’ status are satisfactory.
If you are applying for a sponsor license, you must be able to demonstrate you have systems in place or ready so you can fulfill your sponsorship duties.
2. Post-license compliance visit
A post-license UKVI compliance visit is to a UK employer who already holds a sponsor license. UKVI may conduct such a visit to you because:
• the visit has been requested by Sponsor Operations and is in connection with:
o intelligence about your organisation
o you are hitting a trigger point for the number of workers you have sponsored
• another unit in the Home Office (a different team or department within the UK Home Office, other than the Sponsor Operations team) has requested the compliance visit to you as part of a joint operation
• you are a B-rated sponsor and are therefore subject to an action plan that now requires assessment
• you have requested the UKVI compliance visit
The list here is not exhaustive but covers the main reasons UKVI might need to carry out a post-license sponsorship compliance visit.
During a post-license sponsorship compliance visit, UKVI officials must assess:
• your HR systems to ensure you are meeting your sponsor duties
• whether you or your activities pose a threat to UK immigration control
• whether the original number of CoS (Certificate of Sponsorship) you requested on the sponsor application or your annual request is still justified
• whether workers or temporary workers working with you are complying with any conditions of their leave to stay in the UK
• whether you continue to have an operating or trading presence
• whether you recruited sponsored workers to fill genuine vacancies which fulfil the relevant immigration route’s requirements in respect of skill level and salary
Summary
A UKVI sponsor licence compliance visit is carried out to check whether an organisation is genuine, operating properly and complying with its sponsor duties. Such a visit is also to check whether a UK employer prevents illegal working, maintains proper HR records, and reports required changes.
A UKVI compliance visit also checks whether the sponsored workers are genuinely doing the jobs they were sponsored for, and whether they are being paid correctly.
The exact checks will depend on the reason for the visit, so UKVI does not necessarily examine every area in every compliance visit.
Read Similar Blogs
How to avoid Sponsor Licence Suspension