Does Your Business Need Immigration Law Training on Appendix D of the Immigration Rules?
If your business has a sponsor licence to sponsor overseas workers on Work Visas our Immigration Solicitors say the probability is that your organisation would benefit from Immigration Law Training on Appendix D.
You or your key personnel may not think it is necessary but you risk the suspension or revocation of your sponsor licence if your business isn’t fully compliant with all its reporting and recording duties. The immigration rules keep changing so even with dedicated HR staff and key personnel it is hard to keep up with the new rules without a bit of support and practical Immigration Law Training.
UK Online and London-Based Immigration Solicitors and Sponsorship Licence Lawyers
For immigration law training and legal advice call OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.
What is Appendix D?
Appendix D is part of the immigration rules on the reporting and recording duties that sponsor licence holders must follow. It relates to the documents that your business must retain to be sponsor licence compliant.
The reporting and recording rules on document retention are the same whether you are a nursing home business with two premises or a care home company with over 250 care homes across England. The Home Office also don’t make allowances if you have struggled to fill key personnel roles with experienced staff or if your Level One User is on holiday or sick leave.
Appendix D is something that many experienced HR staff hate – with reason. Most of our Sponsorship Licence Lawyers can recite sections of it from memory as sponsor licence holders often have queries about Appendix D.
Whilst we may all dislike the inflexibility of Appendix D it is something that your business must comply with if it wants to keep its sponsor licence and retain its sponsored staff.
As document retention is seen by many businesses as ‘admin’ and as Appendix D comes without the headline fines of £45,000 for forgetting to carry out a right-to-work check on a new employee, many businesses don’t give it the attention it deserves.
Our Immigration Law Training looks at Appendix D as well as your HR systems and procedures and can be adapted to the size of your organisation or sector or the seniority and experience of your key personnel.
What sponsorship does Appendix D apply to?
Appendix D lists the documents your business or higher educational institution needs to keep and for how long to be sponsor licence compliant.
The rules apply to your organisation if you have a sponsor licence for:
- The Skilled Worker Visa or Health and Care Worker Visa
- Global Business Mobility Visas
- Temporary workers
- Students
Keeping documents under Appendix D
Even if your key personnel take copies of all the right documents some sponsor licence holders are non-compliant because they don’t keep the Appendix D documents for long enough. Other organisations have storage problems as they are not sure if they can destroy paperwork.
Appendix D documents relating to sponsored persons have to be kept throughout the period of sponsorship and until whichever is the earlier of:
- One year has passed from the date on which the sponsorship ended
- The date on which a compliance officer has examined and approved the documents if this is less than one year after you ended sponsorship of the worker or student
In addition to the individual sponsor documents, the business must also keep the documents used as part of your sponsor licence application for as long as you hold the sponsor licence.
In a further twist, you may need to keep some documents in Appendix D for longer than stated in the immigration rules. For example, to comply with illegal working legislation. There is also the matter of data protection law to consider.
Storing Appendix D documents
Sponsorship Licence Lawyers say that there is one area where the Home Office allows sponsor licence holders some flexibility. Appendix D does not prescribe the method for storing the documents to meet your reporting and recording duties.
Accordingly, it is your choice whether to keep a paper version or go electronic but Immigration Solicitors warn that whatever method you choose must be fool proof and accessible if there is an unannounced Home Office compliance visit. For example, if the Home Office official needs to see paperwork that is kept in disordered files in the basement that only the Level One User knows how to find and they are on their annual holidays.
Immigration Law Training from OTS Solicitors
At OTS Solicitors our Immigration Law Training can cover specific aspects of sponsor licence management, such as record retention and Appendix D or other specific topics that you may be struggling with, such as right-to-work checks or allocation of certificates of sponsorship.
We welcome enquiries about your general or specific Immigration Law Training needs so we can offer you either a package of training or a one-off session if, for example, you are inducting new key personnel into your organisation.
If you know that your sponsor licence is at risk because reporting and recording duties have not been fully complied with then specialist training can help show the Home Office that you are now prioritising your duties by investing in Immigration Law Training.
Our friendly and approachable Sponsorship Licence Lawyers will discuss Immigration Law Training that suits your needs ranging from in-person training or webinars and Zoom meetings but all our training focuses on your practical needs rather than lectures on the law.
Talk to us to find out how our Immigration Law Training or sponsor licence management service can help your organisation.
UK Online and London-Based Immigration Solicitors and Sponsorship Licence Lawyers
For immigration law training and legal advice call OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.
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