Sponsorship Licences and the Updated Worker and Temporary Worker Priority Change of Circumstance Service

Not all UK business owners who hold sponsor licences know about the Sponsorship Licences Worker and Temporary Worker Priority Change of Circumstance Service. Sponsorship Licence lawyers say it is useful to know about the service as many companies are under time pressures to recruit staff from overseas and the service can assist in speeding up the process and in helping businesses comply with their sponsor licence reporting and recording duties. In this article our immigration solicitors take a look at the priority change of circumstance service for sponsor licence holders.

UK Online and London Based Immigration Solicitors and Sponsorship Licence lawyers  

For advice on any aspect of immigration law call the expert London immigration lawyers at OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.

The priority change of circumstances service

The priority change of circumstances service is for sponsor licence holders only. It does not provide a general priority service to visa applicants. There are other types of enhanced service available, such as the premium service.

The priority change of circumstances service enables sponsor licence holders to ask Home Office officials to prioritise some types of sponsorship licence requests each day. The application for the priority service has to be made by email to the Home Office.

What sponsor licence requests can be prioritised?

The priority change of circumstances service enables sponsor licence holders to request:

• Additional certificate of sponsorship allocation to the business.
• Annual certificate of sponsorship allocation to the business.
• The addition of a new level one user.
• The change in key personnel with the appointment of a new level one user and the removal of the previous level one user.
• The replacement of the authorising officer for the business.
• The amendment of the details for the authorising officer.
• The replacement of the key contact.
• The amendment of the key contact.
• The addition of a representative.
• The amendment of business details, such as a move to new business premises.

Sponsorship Licence lawyers say that an important point to note is that use of the priority service does not guarantee that the request will be granted by a Home Office official, just that it should get priority processing.

Which sponsor licence holders can use the priority change of circumstances service?

Not all businesses with a sponsor licence can use the priority change of service. The eligibility criteria to use the service are:

• A-rated sponsor licence holder with either a worker or temporary worker active sponsor licence.
• A request for the change must have already been made through the use of the sponsor management system before the email request is made to the worker and temporary worker priority service email address.
• The request for a change must not already have been allocated to a caseworker or be mid-way through being processed by a Home Office official.
• If the request is to replace the authorising officer for the business or to appoint a representative, the business must have printed the submission sheet.
• The sponsor licence holder cannot be a premium sponsor or be requesting priority for a student case.
• If the request is for additional certificates of sponsorship, the certificates of sponsorship must be  undefined certificates. If defined certificates are requested using the priority service, then the request will be rejected and the Home Office will not refund the priority service fee.
• A fully completed application must be made to the priority service team.

Applying to use the priority change of circumstances service

Firstly, the change of circumstances request should be made on the sponsorship management system as usual and in accordance with the Home Office issued sponsor management system manual.

Secondly, the email request should be made to the Home Office priority service team. The email should be supported by an attached completed worker and temporary worker priority request form.

Sponsorship Licence lawyers advice that a business can apply for more than one priority request at a time provided the requests relate to the same sponsor licence.

Although the priority service is about ‘priority’ the service is only open from 9am to 5pm and only on weekdays and furthermore only a maximum of sixty priority service requests will be accepted by the priority service team each day.

Next steps with the priority service

If the business is successful in applying for the priority service, then an email will be sent from the priority service team to advise that the request has been accepted and will be considered by the team. Prior to the request being dealt with the priority service fee needs to be paid. The business has seventy-two hours to make a payment. If payment is not made within that time limit, then the priority request will expire, although a repeat application can be made.

The priority service fee

The fee for use of the priority change of circumstances service is £200 per application. Sponsorship Licence lawyers say that use of professional sponsor licence management services can sometimes avoid the need for use of the priority service as the professional sponsor licence managers can anticipate the need for requests and submit them before they become urgent.

Why are priority service requests refused? 

There are several reasons a priority service request may not be dealt with or may be refused by a Home Office official, such as:

• The request may not be of a nature that that the priority service request team deal with.
• The priority service request team may not be able to deal with the application as they have met the sixty per day quota.
• The priority service request was made outside of the opening times of weekdays from 9 am to 5 pm.

Priority service processing times

A priority service request will be considered within five working days of payment of the priority service fee. The five day turn around is not guaranteed especially if the request is complicated or more information is needed to process the application.

Sponsorship Licence lawyers advise that there are many ways that UK business owners can make the sponsor licence system work better for them, whether that is by use of a professional sponsor licence management service or priority services.

UK Online and London Based Immigration Solicitors and Sponsorship Licence lawyers

For advice on any aspect of immigration law call the immigration team at OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.