UK Immigration Lawyers Review the Statistics on Sponsor Licence Application Refusals by the Home Office
There was a time when if your business was organised and had great admin systems in place you stood a good chance of securing a sponsor licence from the Home Office to recruit overseas workers without immigration legal advice from specialist UK Immigration Lawyers. Recent Home Office statistics show that even the most efficient of sponsor licence applicants need an experienced London Immigration Lawyer on their side.
Legal assistance for UK immigration and business sponsorship
For sponsorship and immigration advice call our visa lawyers in London on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.
The Home Office statistics on sponsor licence applications and refusals
The Home Office has published information on sponsor licence applications and refusals from July to September 2024.
You can read the report here but the troubling key points for businesses and UK immigration law firms are that in the period July to September 2024:
- The Home Office received 8,299 sponsor licence applications
- Out of the 8,299 applications received, 3,245 of the applications were refused
- Nearly 40% of sponsor licence applications were refused in the quarter to September 2024
Our Immigration Solicitors say the statistics are deeply concerning because:
- Historically there was an average sponsor licence refusal rate of around 20%
- The sponsor licence application refusal rate has almost doubled
However, we stress that we have never had a 20% refusal rate (let alone 40%). Sponsor licence applicants need to bear in mind that the Home Office statistics do not break down the refusal rates between those applicants who did not use an immigration solicitor, those who used a lawyer but not a specialist in sponsor applications and those who used an experienced UK Immigration Lawyer.
Why are sponsor licence applications refused by the Home Office?
Businesses might assume that sponsor licence applicants are no longer using solicitors or specialist immigration lawyers to prepare their licence applications for them because of economic pressures. That might go some way to explain the near doubling in statistics for sponsor licence refusals but it is only half the story.
OTS Solicitors have noticed a change in the Home Office processing of sponsor licence applications. There was a time when if an application and paperwork were adequate, a licence was granted. Those days are over. Companies now need an excellent application supported by all relevant paperwork and evidence that they have the systems in place to properly manage their licence. The Home Office won't assume that key personnel can ‘learn on the job’ and sort out the procedures as they start to recruit workers on Skilled Worker Visas and Health and Care Worker Visas and allocate certificates of sponsorship.
Is there an agenda in operation at the Home Office? The drive to reduce net migration may be one explanation. There is also a focus on some sectors, such as the adult care sector or hospitality. It's almost as if all businesses now need to prove that they don’t exploit overseas workers in the UK on Skilled Worker Visas or Health and Care Worker Visas. Historically, this issue was deemed so rare it was dealt with if an issue arose rather than as a hurdle to secure a first sponsor licence application.
Why does a sponsor licence refusal matter to your business?
Your company may think that it is worth ‘having a go’ and submitting their sponsor licence application prepared by their busy HR director. However brilliant your HR staff are at overseas recruitment and HR functions it is unlikely that they know the immigration rules and Home Office guidance on sponsor licence applications inside out in the same way as an immigration lawyer.
You may think that a refusal doesn’t matter but, unless you use the Home Office priority service, an application can take months for the Home Office to process. That’s a time when your business can't sponsor new employees from overseas on Work Visas. When the refusal letter from the Home Office arrives, there is then a 6-month cooling-off period before you can reapply for a sponsor licence. Again, time is wasted and during the delay, your competitors may have secured their licences and recruited the staff needed to secure new work streams and revenues.
Sponsor licence compliance and Home Office enforcement is on the rise
Your business cannot relax once it has secured its sponsor licence, safe in the knowledge that it no longer has to apply to renew the licence every four years.
The Home Office statistics show an increase in the number of sponsor licences being suspended or revoked. In the third quarter of 2024, the Home Office:
- Revoked 513 licences
- Suspended 509 licences
- Quarter 3 of 2024 equates to a near 700% increase in revocations compared to quarter 3 in 2023
- Quarter 3 of 2024 equates to around a 450% increase in sponsor licence suspensions compared to quarter 3 in 2023
If the statistics were not food for thought, the government has indicated that it plans to increase:
- The maximum cooling-off period (the time when a business cannot apply for a new sponsor licence after a sponsor licence revocation) from 12 months to two years
- The time spent on an action plan (where a sponsor licence has been suspended) from three months to a year
- Compliance action
These steps need to be considered, alongside the increased fines for employing people who do not have the right to work in the UK. Your company could face massive fines if it did not carry out a right-to-work check using the latest guidance.
What businesses with sponsor licences need to do
The key message from the UK government and experienced UK Immigration Solicitors is that sponsor licence holders can't relax once they have secured their licence. That advice applies even if your company isn’t designated as high risk for compliance action. High-risk sectors include the care sector and hospitality.
Your company should not assume that just because it isn’t riding roughshod over the rules and doing its best that the Home Office won't take enforcement action. It's frustrating that the immigration rules and sponsorship compliance regulations are not easy to understand or follow. If you have diligent HR staff you may still want to invest in the use of a Sponsor Licence Management Service or Immigration Law Training to provide the dedicated advice and support you need.
Help with UK sponsor licence applications and refusals
If you are left reeling from these statistics then our Immigration Solicitors for sponsor licences in London are here to provide solutions.
Our Legal 500 recommended immigration team provide:
- Proactive pre-application advice so you only submit a licence application when we advise you are ready to do so
- Sponsor licence application legal advice including use of the sponsor licence priority service
- Sponsor Licence Management Services so your HR team can focus on HR and not immigration rules
- Immigration Law Training so your key personnel and HR staff are kept up to date with the technical stuff they need to know if they choose not to use a Sponsor Licence Management Service
- Emergency compliance advice if your sponsor licence is at risk of suspension or revocation
Legal assistance for UK immigration and business sponsorship
For sponsorship and immigration advice call our experienced London-based Immigration Lawyers on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.
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