The Benefits of a Sponsor Licence
Applying for a sponsor licence is a big commitment for many small to medium size firms worried about the set-up fees and admin time.
In this blog, our immigration solicitors look at the benefits of applying for a sponsor licence from the Home Office to sponsor overseas workers.
UK Online and London-Based Immigration Solicitors and Sponsorship Licence Lawyers
For sponsor licence and work visa advice call OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.
Why apply for a sponsor licence?
There has to be a driver to apply for a sponsor licence – your business will not want to invest the time and energy needed to make an application unless there are real benefits to applying for a sponsor licence.
Sponsorship Licence lawyers understand that for businesses it is a commercial decision over whether to apply for a sponsor licence after weighing up the pros of a licence and the barriers to making an application. Often an SME size business is so busy firefighting daily problems that they don’t get the time to think through the benefits of applying for a sponsor licence.
It is worth asking:
- Do we have current job vacancies and can we easily fill them?
- Is the calibre of job applicants applying for posts and the new recruits acceptable?
- Could internal or external training improve the calibre of recruits?
- How long will it take and how much will it cost to train new staff to the required skill set?
- Do we anticipate expanding and needing to recruit extra staff? Will the new staff be harder to recruit because of the skills required?
- Will artificial intelligence or software solutions provide an immediate and cost-effective solution to our recruitment crisis?
- Can we recruit any overseas staff without needing to apply for a sponsor licence?
- Can we use an agency and recruit overseas workers on work visas via an agency with a sponsor licence?
- If we do not apply for a sponsor licence will our competitors with sponsor licences have an advantage over us?
It is worth a bit of soul searching and answering those questions as the answers will guide you on whether your business should apply for a sponsor licence.
The answers are specific to your business but our Sponsorship Licence lawyers can advise you on whether a sponsor licence is likely to be able to help you meet your recruitment needs once they have discussed your business sector and your likely job vacancies. That’s because, with the skilled worker visa, the job you are looking to fill with an overseas worker must be on a government list of jobs with an allocated standard occupational classification code.
If you need to fill lower-skilled jobs a sponsor licence may not be the best solution for you but speak to a business immigration lawyer as your assumptions about what amounts to ‘low skilled’ may be incorrect. Your vacancies may be classed as ‘skilled’ for the purposes of a skilled worker visa. For example, in the hospitality sector, jobs such as pastry chef or club steward qualify for a skilled worker visa. In the care sector, jobs such as care assistants qualify for a skilled worker visa. That’s because these are skilled roles and a candidate does not necessarily have to have minimum academic qualifications to qualify for a skilled worker visa.
How a sponsor licence works
A sponsor licence is issued by the Home Office. It gives a UK business the ability to employ overseas workers who need employment with a sponsoring employer in order to have the right to work in the UK.
Without a sponsor licence, a business is restricted to employing British citizens and those with settled status (either indefinite leave to remain or settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme) or those who are subject to UK immigration control but who do not need a sponsor to be able to work in the UK. An example of a non-sponsored route is the graduate visa. There are also visas granted for non-work purposes, such as the dependant visa or the student visa where a visa holder can work without requiring a sponsoring employer but they must comply with their visa conditions. For example, an international student on a student visa can only work on a part-time basis during term time.
There are different types of sponsor licences and getting a sponsor licence does not mean your business will be able to sponsor every time of work visa applicant. A Sponsorship Licence lawyer can talk you through the type of licence you need but the 2 most popular ones are the licences to sponsor skilled worker visa holders and senior or specialist worker visa holders under the global business mobility route.
Sponsor licence shortcuts
There are no sponsor licence shortcuts. If your business has carried out an analysis of its recruitment needs and decided that it needs a sponsor licence then you should not be tempted to:
- Employ people who do not have the right to work in the UK or who need a sponsor and you do not have a sponsor licence – you could be fined up to £20,000 for each illegal worker
- Use an agency to supply you with overseas workers as that is against the immigration rules even if the agency has a sponsor licence
The benefits of a sponsor licence
The benefits of a sponsor licence may not be immediately apparent but over time most businesses appreciate the benefits of:
- A global recruitment pool – as your business is not limited to finding employees from within the UK so can search out the staff you need from a global talent pool
- Staff retention and loyalty – a sponsored worker cannot leave your employment unless they are leaving the UK or are switching to another employer with a sponsor licence. That means they may be less likely to change employers. In addition, sponsored staff can feel a sense of loyalty to an employer who gave them their ‘first break’ by sponsoring them to come to the UK
- A competitive advantage over other businesses that do not have a sponsor licence and who do not have access to the same range of specialist workers or the same ability to find workers to fill hard-to-recruit job roles
One of the barriers to applying for a sponsor licence is concern about the process and the management of the sponsor licence once your business has secured its licence. Our Sponsorship Licence lawyers can guide you through the application process and we also offer a sponsor licence management service for a fixed monthly retainer to make the job of sponsoring overseas workers as straight forward as possible.
UK Online and London-Based Immigration Solicitors and Sponsorship Licence Lawyers
For sponsor licence and work visa advice call OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.
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