Renewing Your Sponsor Licence
Many UK businesses do not appreciate the time needed for key personnel and HR staff to prepare for a sponsor licence renewal application. Immigration solicitors say that if you do not employ a professional sponsor licence management service it is important to provide your key personnel with the support required to successfully apply to renew the sponsor licence.
In this article, our specialist Sponsorship Licence lawyers look at the sponsor licence renewal process.
UK Online and London-Based Immigration Solicitors and Sponsorship Licence Lawyers
For sponsor licence management and renewal advice call OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.
Sponsor licence renewal
Whatever the size of your business or the ease of sponsor licence compliance, all licences issued by the Home Office only last 4 years.
You should not assume that applying for a sponsor licence renewal is straightforward and just a case of paying a renewal fee to the Home Office. Even if you have not had any ‘red flags’ with the Home Office during the life of your sponsor licence it is dangerous to think that the renewal process will not take time and effort.
Applying for sponsor licence renewal
The obvious point about sponsor licence renewal is that your application must be submitted before your current licence expires.
If your sponsor licence is not renewed your business will not be able to continue to sponsor your existing sponsored workers and you will not be able to recruit additional overseas workers who require visa sponsorship.
When a sponsor licence expires any sponsored employees will receive notification from the Home Office that their work visa is being curtailed. Depending on how long they have left on their visa this normally gives the sponsored employee just 60 days to either leave the UK or find a new job with a UK employer who holds a valid sponsor licence. Even if your business can renew its sponsor licence you may find that your sponsored workers decide to leave your employment because their visa curtailment has unsettled them and made them aware of job opportunities with your UK competitors. Alternatively, the workers may decide to return home or work overseas where visa requirements are not so onerous.
In many sectors, such as health care, construction or hospitality, the recruitment crisis is such that UK employers cannot afford to lose their existing sponsored staff because they are not on top of the sponsor licence renewal application process.
In addition, if your sponsored workers continue to be employed by your business when they no longer have the right to work in the UK (as you cannot validly sponsor them) then your business is in breach of UK illegal working legislation. Your company could be fined for illegally employing workers even though you held a valid sponsor licence when you first sponsored the employees on skilled worker visas or other sponsored work visa routes.
Using a sponsor licence management service
If you use a sponsor licence management service your management team should alert you to the need to apply to renew your sponsor licence and they can advise you on the renewal application process. If your key personnel manage the sponsor licence for you then they should get notification from the Home Office that the sponsor licence is due to expire. A renewal application can be made up to 3 months before the licence is due to end.
You can decide to use a sponsor licence management service at any point during the life of your sponsor licence. You do not have to have used our Sponsorship Licence lawyers to apply for your first sponsor licence to use our management services.
Sponsorship Licence lawyers recommend that sponsoring businesses start looking at renewal at least 6 months before their licence is due to expire. That gives time to sort out any compliance and paperwork issues before the renewal application is submitted. If you submit the renewal application 3 months before the expiry date it should give time to address any issues with the renewal application.
The key to ensuring that you are on top of sponsor licence renewal dates is to ensure that your key personnel details are correctly stated on the sponsor management system or to use a professional sponsor licence management service that will keep you on top of sponsor licence renewal dates.
Applying for a sponsor licence renewal
A sponsor licence renewal application is made via the sponsor management system. The renewal application will not be processed unless your business pays the relevant Home Office renewal fee.
The renewal fee depends on the size of your business. Small businesses currently need to pay a renewal fee of £536 for the 4-year renewal period as a one-off payment. Large businesses currently need to pay £1,476.
The fees are the same as a first sponsor licence application but you should check to see if you now qualify as a small or large business. The Home Office uses the definition in the Companies Act 2006 for a small company. To qualify to pay the small company fee of £536 your business needs to meet at least 2 of the following eligibility criteria:
- Annual turnover is not more than £10.2 million
- The balance sheet total is not more than £5.1 million
- The average number of employees is not more than 50
Sponsor licence renewal streamlined process
Your business may qualify for the simpler streamlined sponsor licence renewal process. If you qualify for the streamlined service the fee paid is the same as a non-streamlined application.
Your company may qualify for the quicker streamlined process if you have renewed the licence on 2 earlier occasions and you did not encounter any compliance issues. Using a professional sponsor licence management service may make it more likely that you will qualify for the streamlined service as they may be able to reduce the risk of licence non-compliance.
The streamlined process is quicker because Home Office officials do not check various standard matters such as company and insolvency checks, certificate of sponsorship allocations or outstanding change requests.
Sponsor licence renewal if you are not using the streamlined process
For non-streamlined sponsor licence renewal applications, there is a 2-stage process:
- Validation checks
- Review by a Home Office official
A renewal application can be refused if you do not meet the validation checks or if the review stage flags issues, such as reporting and recording duty compliance or the allocation of certificates of sponsorship.
If your company does not fall within the streamlined renewal application process it is prudent to get your Sponsorship Licence lawyers to conduct a review of your current processes and systems as well as look at any flagged issues over the preceding 4 years. This should reduce the risk of your sponsor licence renewal application being rejected by the Home Office.
UK Online and London-Based Immigration Solicitors and Sponsorship Licence Lawyers
For sponsor licence management and renewal advice call OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.
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