Guidance

Workers and Temporary Workers - guidance for sponsors part 1: apply for a licence (accessible)

Updated 23 September 2022

Version 08/22

This document forms part of the collection ‘Workers and Temporary Workers: guidance for sponsors’ and provides information for employers and businesses on how to apply for a licence to employ and sponsor individuals on the Worker and Temporary Worker immigration routes.

This version of the guidance is valid from 22 August 2022.

About this guidance

This document provides information for employers and other organisations on how to apply for authorisation (a licence) to sponsor an overseas national on the Worker and Temporary Worker immigration routes.

The Worker routes are:

• Skilled Worker

• Global Business Mobility – Senior or Specialist Worker (this has replaced the Intra-Company Transfer route from 11 April 2022)

• T2 Minister of Religion

• International Sportsperson

The Temporary Worker (or ‘Temporary Work’) routes are:

• Charity Worker

• Creative Worker

• the following Global Business Mobility (GBM) routes:

Graduate Trainee (this has replaced the Intra-Company Graduate Trainee route from 11 April 2022)

UK Expansion Worker (this has replaced the unsponsored Sole Representative provisions of the Representative of an Overseas Business route from 11 April 2022)

Service Supplier (this has replaced the provisions for contractual service suppliers and independent professionals on the International Agreement route from 11 April 2022)

Secondment Worker (this is a new route from 11 April 2022)

• Government Authorised Exchange

• International Agreement

• Religious Worker

• Scale-up (this is a new route from 22 August 2022)

• Seasonal Worker

For further information about these routes, including the names of their predecessor routes and any transitional arrangements, see the relevant route-specific guidance.

There is a further Temporary Work route, known as the Youth Mobility Scheme. You cannot apply to be a sponsor on this scheme. For further information, see the ‘Youth Mobility Scheme’ page on GOV.UK.

Structure of the sponsor guidance

This document forms part of the guidance collection ‘Workers and Temporary Workers: guidance for sponsors’ (or ‘sponsor guidance for employers’ for short). The guidance is structured as follows:

You should read all parts of the guidance to ensure that you understand your duties and responsibilities as a licensed sponsor.

If you are new to sponsorship, you may find it helpful to read the relevant route- specific guidance first.

You can find all documents on the ‘Guidance for employers and educators’ page on GOV.UK.

This guidance is subject to change. If you have printed or downloaded a copy of this guidance, check the version number and date against the current version published on GOV.UK to ensure you are referring to the most up-to-date version.

You can find previous versions of the sponsor guidance on the National Archives website.

Main parts

The 3 main parts are:

• Part 1 (this document): tells you how to apply for a sponsor licence, the requirements you must meet, how we consider your application, and what happens if we refuse your application

• Part 2: Sponsor a worker – general information: tells you about the processes you must follow to sponsor a worker once you have obtained your sponsor licence

• Part 3: Sponsor duties and compliance: tells you about your duties and responsibilities as a sponsor and the action we will take if you breach, or are suspected of breaching, these duties, including if you act in a manner that is not conducive to the public good

Appendices

The relevant appendices are:

• Appendix A: this tells you the documents you must submit to support your sponsor licence application

• Appendix B: this is a list of immigration offences we will take into account when considering your suitability to hold a sponsor licence

• Appendix D: this tells you about your record-keeping duties as a licensed sponsor

Route-specific guidance

These documents contain detailed information on sponsoring workers on specific routes:

• Sponsor a Skilled Worker

• Sponsor a Global Business Mobility Worker

• Sponsor a Minister of Religion or Religious Worker

• Sponsor an International Sportsperson

• Sponsor a Charity Worker

• Sponsor a Creative Worker

• Sponsor a Government Authorised Exchange Worker

• Sponsor an International Agreement Worker

• Sponsor a Scale-up Worker

• Sponsor a Seasonal Worker

Contacts

If you think the guidance has factual errors or broken links, you can email the Business Helpdesk.

If you have any queries about the application process, you can call us on 0300 123 4699, or email the Business Helpdesk.

Version number and publication

Below is information on the version number of this guidance and when it was published:

• version 08/22

• published on 22 August 2022

You can view previous versions of this guidance on the National Archives website.

Changes from the last version of this guidance

This version replaces version 04/22 (published on 11 April 2022). The guidance has been updated to:

• reflect the introduction of the new Scale-up route on 22 August 2022, as set out in Statement of Changes HC 1118 (published on 15 March 2022) and amended by Statement of Changes HC 1220 (published on 29 March 2022)

• clarify that we may undertake digital compliance inspections as well as, or instead of, on-site compliance visits

• make other minor changes

Details of the changes are set out below (where a paragraph number appears in square brackets, this relates to the previous version of the guidance):

• About this guidance, L1.11 [L1.12], L3.3, L7.2, L8.5, L8.7: updated to include reference to the new Scale-up route

• Glossary: new definitions of ‘compliance check’, ‘compliance visit’ and ‘digital compliance inspection’ added; definition of ‘settled worker’ deleted (now defined with reference to section S1 of Part 2 of the sponsor guidance)

• L1.7, L1.8 : minor drafting amendments to the description of licence types

• L1.10 : general description of ‘Worker routes’ deleted

• [L1.11] : paragraph deleted and subsequent paragraph renumbered accordingly

• L1.11 [L1.12] : updated to reflect the inclusion of the poultry sector within the Seasonal Worker route

• L3.3, L3.10, L7.9, L7.23, L8 (introductory text), L8.5, L8.8, L8.15, L8.16, L8.17, L8.19, L8.20, L9.24 : updated to include reference to digital compliance inspections and make other minor clarifications

• L4.9A [L4.10A] : paragraph number corrected

• L6.7 : minor drafting amendment to clarify that the requirement to be a regulated or an authorised immigration adviser applies only where that person is providing immigration advice or immigration services as defined in legislation

• L6.8, L6.10 : minor drafting amendments

• L8.29 : reference to Provisional rating deleted (as it would not be possible for such a sponsor to be licensed on other routes)

• L9.19, Annex L1(r): amended to reflect there is no ‘cooling-off’ period if a licence application is refused solely because the organisation does not meet the definition of a ‘qualifying Scale-up sponsor’

• L10.12 : minor drafting amendments

• throughout: formatting and other minor housekeeping changes

Glossary

The glossary below contains a list of terms and phrases commonly used across all parts of the sponsor guidance for employers, and their definitions.

Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS)

An electronic document with a unique reference number issued by you (the sponsor) to a worker via the Sponsorship Management System, or a confirmation of sponsorship, issued by you (the sponsor) using the successor to the Sponsorship Management System. A CoS confirms the details of the job for which you will be sponsoring the worker.

The worker must have a valid CoS before they can make a successful application for entry clearance, permission to enter or permission to stay.

Cancellation of permission (formerly ‘curtailment of leave’), and derived terms

This is when the Home Office cancels or shortens a person’s entry clearance or permission such that they will have a shorter period of, or no, permission remaining.

This could happen, for example, if the person breaches their conditions of stay, is convicted of a criminal offence, or you fail to comply with your sponsor duties.

Permission may be shortened to expire within a specified period of time (usually so that the person has 60 days’ permission remaining) or, in more serious circumstances, cancelled entirely.

Compliance check

A check to satisfy us that you are complying with, or if not yet licenced are capable of complying with, your sponsor duties as detailed in Part 3: Sponsor duties and compliance. A compliance check can include, but is not limited to, any of the following:

• a compliance visit

• a digital compliance inspection

• a review of evidence or information from our own records, evidence or information you have previously submitted to us, and any evidence or information we request from you as part of a check

Compliance visit

Where we visit you to perform a compliance check. This includes visiting any branches or sites under your control, or any relevant client site or third party where your sponsored workers will be working.

Digital compliance inspection

Where we carry out a compliance check by verifying your trading presence digitally, and conducting interviews with you using remote video conferencing facilities. This includes interviewing anyone coming under the general definition of ‘you’, or any of your sponsored workers and may involve you having to present evidence prior to, during or after the video conference interview.

Entry clearance

A visa or entry certificate, usually in the form of a vignette (sticker) in the holder’s passport, which provides evidence of the holder’s eligibility for entry to the UK. Commonly referred to simply as a ‘visa’.

A valid entry clearance grants the holder permission to enter the UK on arrival.

Global Business Mobility (GBM) route

Any of the following routes:

• Senior or Specialist Worker

• Graduate Trainee

• UK Expansion Worker

• Service Supplier

• Secondment Worker

For further information, see Sponsor a Global Business Mobility worker.

Permission

Means either permission to enter or permission to stay.

Permission to enter

Has the same meaning as ‘leave to enter’ under the Immigration Act 1971.

Permission given to a person to enter the UK – this could be via a valid entry clearance, a grant of permission by an immigration officer, or a grant of permission via an automated ePassport Gate (where the passenger is eligible to use that facility).

Permission to stay

Has the same meaning as ‘leave to remain’ under the Immigration Act 1971 (and includes a variation of leave to enter or remain and an extension of leave to enter or remain).

Permission given to a person who is already in the UK.

Relevant offence

Any offence listed in Annex L4 of this guidance.

Settled worker

See ‘Who needs to be sponsored’ in section S1 of Part 2: Sponsor a worker.

Note: you have a legal responsibility to check that your employees or prospective employees have the legal right to work in the UK and do the work in question: see Right to work checks: an employer’s guide on GOV.UK.

Settlement

Permission given to a person to enter or stay in the UK on a permanent basis. Also known as ‘indefinite leave to remain’.

UKVI

UK Visas and Immigration, an operational command of the Home Office.

We or Us

The Home Office.

Working days

Any day other than a:

• Saturday

• Sunday

• UK bank holiday

You or Your

The sponsor organisation or prospective sponsor organisation, including any:

• owner

• director

• Authorising Officer

• Key Contact

• Level 1 User

• person involved in your day-to-day running

See the ‘Key Personnel’ section for a definition of ‘Authorising Officer’, ‘Key Contact’, and ‘Level 1 User’.

L1. Sponsorship: an introduction

This section tells you what a sponsor licence is and provides a brief overview of the immigration routes on which you can sponsor workers.

What is sponsorship?

L1.1. If you wish to employ a person who is not a settled worker, or who does not otherwise have immigration permission to work for you in the UK, you will need to be authorised by the Home Office. This authorisation is known as a ‘sponsor licence’, and employers who hold a sponsor licence are known as ‘sponsors’.

L1.2. You do not need a sponsor licence to employ certain categories of person, including:

• Irish citizens (with very limited exceptions)

• people who have been granted settled or pre-settled status on the EU Settlement Scheme

• people with indefinite leave to enter or remain in the UK (also known as ‘settlement’)

L1.3. This is not a complete list. For more information on who does, and does not, need sponsorship, see section S1 of Part 2: sponsor a worker.

L1.4. A worker must have an offer of a job which meets the relevant criteria from an approved sponsor before they can make a valid application to enter or stay in the UK on the Worker or Temporary Worker routes. The sponsor confirms this by assigning a Certificate of Sponsorship to the worker.

L1.5. Sponsorship plays two main roles in a worker’s application for permission to enter or stay in the UK:

• it provides evidence that the worker will fill a role for the sponsor in an occupation that’s eligible for the route on which they’re being sponsored

• it involves a pledge from the sponsor that it accepts all of the duties of sponsorship

L1.6. Individual persons are not eligible to be recognised as sponsors, unless they are sole traders who wish to sponsor someone to work in their business.

Routes on which you can be licensed

L1.7. When you apply for a licence, you will be asked which immigration route, or routes, you wish to sponsor workers on. You can apply to be licensed on as many routes as you feel appropriate for your business or organisation.

L1.8. For convenience, these routes are classified as either ‘Worker’ or ‘Temporary Worker’ routes.

L1.9. There is a brief description of these routes below. For more detailed information, refer to the route-specific guidance.

Worker routes

L1.10. The ‘Worker’ routes are:

• Skilled Worker: this allows employers to recruit people to work in the UK in an eligible skilled occupation which meets the salary and going rate requirements

• Global Business Mobility – Senior or Specialist Worker: this is for senior managers or specialist employees being transferred by their overseas employer to a branch in the UK; it has replaced the Intra-Company Transfer route

• T2 Minister of Religion: this for a person who has a key leading role within their faith-based organisation or a religious order in the UK

• International Sportsperson: this for an elite sportsperson or qualified coach who is sponsored in a role where they will make a significant contribution to the development of sport at the highest level in the UK

Temporary Worker routes

L1.11. The Temporary Worker routes are:

• Charity Worker: this is for a person who wants to come to the UK to do voluntary work with a charitable organisation for no more than 12 months

• Creative Worker: this is for a person who wants to work within the creative sector (for example, as an artist, dancer, musician or entertainer, or as a model in the fashion industry) in the UK for up to 12 months (with the possibility to extend for up to a maximum of 24 months if working for the same sponsor)

• the following Global Business Mobility (GBM) routes:

  • Graduate Trainee: this is for employees being transferred to the UK by their overseas employer as part of a graduate training programme for a managerial or specialist role with their overseas employer; it has replaced the Intra-Company Graduate Trainee route

  • UK Expansion Worker: this is for overseas workers establishing a branch or subsidiary of their overseas employer in the UK; it has replaced the (unsponsored) sole representative provisions of the Representative of an Overseas Business route

  • Service Supplier: this is for overseas workers providing a service under contract to a UK business as a contractual service supplier or an independent professional under an eligible trade agreement; it has replaced the provisions for contractual service suppliers and independent professionals on the International Agreement route

  • Secondment Worker: this is for overseas workers being seconded to the UK as part of a high-value contract or investment by their overseas employer; this is a new route

• Government Authorised Exchange: this is for a person who wants to come to the UK on an approved scheme for a period of no more than 12 or 24 months (depending on the scheme)

• International Agreement: this for a person who wants to come to the UK to provide a service covered under international law, such as private servants in diplomatic households or employees of overseas governments and international organisations – workers sponsored on this route can stay in the UK for a maximum period of 2 years

• Religious Worker: this for a person who wants to support the activities of religious institutions in the UK by conducting religious work, such as working in a religious order or undertaking non-pastoral work for a religious organisation, for a maximum of 2 years – the work must not include employment as a minister of religion

• Scale-up: this route allows employers who are in a sustained period of high growth to recruit people to work in the UK in highly skilled roles

• Seasonal Worker: this is for workers in the horticulture or poultry sectors doing seasonal work in the UK with a sponsor (who must be an approved scheme operator)

  • for up to 6 months in any 12-month period for horticulture work

  • for a period of time commencing no earlier than 3 October and ending no later than 31 December each year for poultry work

L2. Sponsorship: your responsibilities

This section provides an overview of your duties and responsibilities as a licensed sponsor.

Guiding principles

L2.1. Sponsorship is based on two main principles:

• sponsorship is a privilege, not a right – this means that those who benefit most directly from employing migrant workers must:

  • play their part in ensuring the immigration system is not abused

  • comply with wider UK law

  • not behave in a manner that is not conducive to the public good

• overseas nationals who apply for permission to enter or stay in the UK to work are eligible, and a trustworthy and licensed employer genuinely wishes to employ and sponsor them

L2.2. When a sponsor is granted a licence, significant trust is placed in them. With this trust comes a direct responsibility to act in accordance with the UK’s immigration laws, all parts of this sponsor guidance, and with wider UK law, including, but not limited to:

• UK employment law, such as payment of National Minimum Wage, holiday and sickness pay, maximum working hours, health and safety, and trade union and worker rights

• preventing illegal working

• safeguarding children – see below

L2.3. We have a duty to ensure all sponsors discharge these responsibilities, and we will take compliance action when it is considered that a sponsor has failed to do so, or otherwise poses a risk to immigration control. Part 3: Sponsor duties and compliance contains detailed guidance on your duties as a licensed sponsor and the compliance action we can take if you fail to meet those duties.

Behaviour that is not conducive to the public good

L2.4. There is also a wider responsibility for sponsors to behave in a manner that is consistent with our fundamental values and is not detrimental to the wider public good. The Home Office will not license organisations whose actions and behaviour are not conducive to the public good. Such actions and behaviour include, but are not limited to:

• fostering hatred or inter-community division

• fomenting, justifying or glorifying terrorism

• rejecting the rights of, or discriminating against, other groups or individuals on the basis of their sex, age, disability, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, marital or civil partnership status, race, or religion or belief (including lack of belief)

L2.5. The Home Office will refuse a sponsor licence application or take the appropriate compliance actions if a prospective or existing sponsor is engaging, or has ever engaged, in such behaviour or actions. The compliance action taken will depend on the gravity of the behaviour and actions but could include compliance actions up to and including revocation of your licence.

Safeguarding children

L2.6. Under section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009, we must have regard to the need to safeguard children and to promote their welfare when exercising immigration functions. The administration of the sponsor licensing regime supports our immigration functions, whilst not itself constituting such a function. We do not consider that section 55 of the 2009 Act imposes a general duty upon us to consider the welfare of children of sponsored migrants when making decisions about licensing. However, we do consider it appropriate to ensure sponsors, and prospective sponsors, have suitable care arrangements in place for any child under 18 who will work for them in the UK, or will otherwise be under their care or supervision. These include arrangements for the child’s:

• travel to the UK

• reception when they arrive in the UK

• arrangements while in the UK, as well as parental consent to these arrangements

L2.7. If we are not satisfied you have suitable arrangements in place (where required), we will refuse your sponsor licence application. If you already hold a licence and we find out you do not have suitable arrangements in place (where required), we will revoke your licence.

L2.8. You must have a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check on any of your workers undertaking a ‘regulated activity’ for children. See the ‘Regulated Activity in relation to Children’ page on GOV.UK for information on this. If your sponsored worker requires a check, they must show you their certificate of good character or criminal record check. If you require a check, you must ensure it is carried out.

Creative Workers below school-leaving age

L2.9. If you are, or intend to, sponsor children below school-leaving age on the Creative Worker route to take part in films, plays, concerts or other paid public performances, or that take place on licensed premises, or paid modelling assignments, you must apply for a child performance licence from the local authority. If you are not responsible for producing or organising the event, you must ensure that the person or organisation responsible for the event has obtained a child performance licence for the child before the event. See ‘Sponsor a Creative Worker’ for further information.

Abuse of sponsorship arrangements

L2.10. UKVI will consider information about abuse of the sponsorship arrangements, including behaving in a manner that is not conducive to the public good, investigate it and, if appropriate, tell the relevant authorities. UKVI will also take action against you (the sponsor). This could include downgrading your licence, suspending your licence, or revoking it. There is more information in Part 3: Sponsor duties and compliance.

L2.11. We treat any allegation of abuse of the sponsorship system in the strictest confidence. Anyone with information can contact us by emailing the Business Helpdesk. Immigration offenders can also be reported via the ‘Report an immigration crime’ page on GOV.UK.

L3. How sponsor licensing works

This section provides an overview of the requirements you must meet to be eligible for a sponsor licence, how we consider applications, and what you must do to keep your licence.

Applying for your licence

L3.1. You apply for your licence by completing the online application form and submitting the supporting documents specified in Appendix A of the sponsor guidance. You must pay a fee for your application. The amount you pay depends on the type of licence you are applying for, the size of your organisation, or whether you have charitable status. For further information on the application process, see section L6 of this guidance.

L3.2. Before you apply, you should:

• read this document and the relevant route-specific guidance to ensure you understand and will be able to meet the requirements

• decide which routes you wish to be licensed under – see section L1 of this document for a general overview of the various routes available, and the route-specific guidance for more detailed information

• appoint an Authorising Officer to manage your application and nominate a Level 1 User – see section L4 of this guidance for guidance on Authorising Officers, Level 1 Users and other Key Personnel

• if you have multiple branches or sites, decide which branches of your organisation you would like to employ and sponsor workers at and whether you want individual branches to hold their own licence – see section L5

• decide how many workers you are likely to sponsor in your first year – this will determine how many Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) you will need

• ensure you will be able to send all relevant supporting documents listed in Appendix A of the sponsor guidance within 5 working days of submitting your application – see section L7 for further information on supporting documents

Considering your application

L3.3. Before we can grant you a sponsor licence, we need to establish that you:

• are a genuine organisation operating lawfully in the UK – to prove this, you must provide certain documents or information specified in Appendix A of the sponsor guidance (note that if you are applying on the UK Expansion Worker route, you must not have an existing active trading presence in the UK but must have a UK ‘footprint’ – see section GBM3 of Sponsor a Global Business Mobility worker for details)

• are honest, dependable, reliable, and are not engaging and have not engaged in behaviour or actions that are not conducive to the public good – to judge this, we look at your history and background, the Key Personnel named in your application, and any people involved in your day-to-day running

• are capable of carrying out your sponsor duties and evidencing your compliance in a timeframe and manner set out in section C1 of Part 3: Sponsor duties and compliance – we judge this by looking at your current human resources and recruitment practices to make sure you will be able to fulfil your sponsor duties, and we may conduct a compliance check on you before your licence is granted

• meet any relevant route-specific requirements – for example, if you are applying under the Skilled Worker route, the Scale-up route or any of the Global Business Mobility (GBM) routes, you must be able to offer genuine employment that meets the skill level and any salary requirements of the route

• otherwise meet the eligibility and suitability criteria

Deciding your application

L3.4. Applications may be rejected as invalid, refused, or granted with an A- Rating (or, in the case of the UK Expansion Worker route, a Provisional rating). Section L9 of this guidance has more information about the decision we may make on your application. See Section L8 for information about sponsor ratings.

L3.5. If you do not submit mandatory documents with your application or you do not pay the full fee, your application will be invalid and we will reject it without further consideration.

L3.6. If you do not meet all of the eligibility and suitability criteria, we will refuse your application and you may not be eligible to re-apply for 6 months (longer in certain circumstances) – see ‘Cooling-off period’.

L3.7. If your application is approved, your organisation’s name will be added to the Register of Sponsors on GOV.UK. You will be given access to the sponsorship management system (SMS) and will be able to sponsor workers who meet the relevant criteria by assigning them a CoS.

Maintaining your licence

L3.8. If granted, your licence will be valid for 4 years, unless we revoke it or you surrender it before then. The 4 years will run from the date your licence is granted. You must apply to renew it before the 4 years has expired if you wish to continue sponsoring workers. We reserve the right to take action against you if we have reason to believe you pose any risk to immigration control or that you are acting, or have acted, in a way that is not conducive to the public good.

L3.8A. If you are granted a UK Expansion Worker licence, you must normally have established a UK trading presence within 2 years of the date the licence was granted and have applied to add at least one other route to your licence. If you have not done so, we will also review whether you are continuing to meet the requirements of that route. If you are not, we may

revoke your licence. See section GBM3 of Sponsor a Global Business Mobility worker for further information.

L3.9. As a licensed sponsor, you must meet certain duties, such as telling us if your sponsored workers don’t start their employment or are absent without permission for a significant period. You must keep records for the workers you sponsor, including up-to-date contact details and evidence of their right to work in the UK. You must also give any documents to us, within the timeframe specified, if we request them.

L3.10. We will continually monitor your ability and willingness to comply with your duties. We will make regular checks with HMRC to ensure you are paying your sponsored workers appropriately, and we may also:

• set a limit on the number of CoS you can assign (or reduce your allocation to zero)

• conduct a compliance check

• refer cases for civil penalty action or possible prosecution if we find evidence you may have employed workers illegally

L3.11. If you fail to comply with your duties, or become no longer eligible or suitable to hold a sponsor licence, we may take action against you, including:

• downgrading your licence rating – see Sponsor ratings for further information

• reducing the number of CoS you can assign (or setting your limit to zero)

• suspending your licence while we investigate further

• revoking your licence

• in serious cases, reporting you to the police or other relevant authorities

L3.12. Part 3: Sponsor duties and compliance has more information about your duties as a licensed sponsor, how to renew your licence, and the action we will take if you breach your sponsorship duties or act in a manner that is not conducive to the public good.

L4. Key Personnel

This section tells you about appointing ‘Key Personnel’ in your organisation, what responsibilities they have and the requirements they must meet.

Note: if you are applying under UK Expansion Worker, you must also refer to section GBM3 of Sponsor a Global Business Mobility worker for additional guidance on appointing Key Personnel.

General rules on Key Personnel

L4.1. The online sponsor application form requires you to give certain responsibilities to members of your staff, some or all of whom will have access to the sponsorship management system (SMS) after a licence is granted. We call these people ‘Key Personnel’ and there are 4 roles:

L4.2. Only level 1 and 2 users will have access to the SMS. If the Authorising Officer or Key Contact requires access, they must also be set up as a Level 1 or Level 2 User.

L4.3. Each of your Key Personnel must:

• be based in the UK for the period they fill the role you have appointed them to – there is an exception to this requirement on the UK Expansion Worker route where the Authorising Officer may be based overseas from the time you apply for your licence until they enter the UK with a valid entry clearance for the purpose of work on the UK expansion of your business

• not have any unspent criminal convictions as set out in Annex L4 of this guidance

• be a paid member of your staff or engaged by you as an ‘office holder’, unless one of the following exceptions applies:

  • a Level 1 or Level 2 User can be an employee of a third-party organisation to whom you have contracted some or all of your human resources function; however, we will reject your application if you do not have at least one Level 1 User who is an employee, partner or director in your organisation

  • a Level 2 User can be a member of staff supplied to you but employed by an employment agency

  • an ‘overarching’ sponsor licensed under Government Authorised Exchange can appoint Level 2 Users within the individual organisations taking part in the exchange programme

  • an insolvency professional who has been appointed, because you have gone into administration, liquidation, or administrative receivership can fill any Key Personnel role

  • a UK-based representative can fill any Key Personnel role except the role of Authorising Officer; however, you must first appoint the representative via the SMS before you can add them as a Level 1 or Level 2 User

For a definition of the term ‘office holder’, see the ‘Employment status’ guidance on GOV.UK.

L4.4. None of your Key Personnel can be:

• a representative who is not based in the UK

• a contractor or consultant who is contracted for a specific project

• subject to a Bankruptcy Restrictions Order or Bankruptcy Restrictions Undertaking

• subject to a Debt Relief Restrictions Order or Debt Relief Restrictions Undertaking

• legally prohibited from being a company director

L4.5. You must name your Authorising Officer, Key Contact and Level 1 User on your sponsor licence application form. These roles can be filled by the same person or a combination of different people. There can be only one Authorising Officer and one Key Contact, but you can appoint more Level 1 Users once you have been granted a licence (unless you have a Provisional rating). Level 2 Users can only be appointed by a Level 1 User, so you can only add a Level 2 User after your licence has been granted. If you are applying on the UK Expansion Worker route, and the Authorising Officer will also be a sponsored worker, that person must be appointed as the Level 1 User when you apply for your licence.

L4.6. You must give contact details for your Key Personnel, both when applying for a licence and when changing any Key Personnel or adding new ones after we have granted your licence. The contact address given for each of your Key Personnel must be either your main address or that of any branch or head office you are including in, or have subsequently added to, your licence. All email addresses you provide for each of your Key Personnel must be secure, personal to, and only accessible by, the named individual. You must also provide their National Insurance number if they have one.

L4.7. Where you are appointing a Level 2 User who is an employee of a third- party organisation engaged by you to deliver all or part of your human resources function, the address provided must be the main business address of the third-party organisation.

L4.8. Where you are appointing a UK-based representative to the Key Contact role, the address must be the representative’s main business address.

L4.9. Subject to the exception below, SMS users must not assign a CoS to themselves or to a close relative or partner. A close relative or partner is:

• a spouse or civil partner

• an unmarried or a same-sex partner

• a parent or step-parent

• a son or step-son

• a daughter or step-daughter

• a brother, step-brother or half-brother

• a sister, step-sister or half-sister

• a nephew, niece, or cousin

• an aunt or uncle

• a father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, son-in-law or daughter-in-law

L4.9A. The only exception to this is where you are applying on the UK Expansion Worker route, and your Authorising Officer (and Level 1 User) is an employee of the overseas business and will be a sponsored worker. In this scenario, that person must assign a CoS to themselves in order to make an application for entry clearance. See section GBM3 of Sponsor a Global Business Mobility worker for further information.

L4.10. You are responsible for anything done by anyone you have set up as a user of the SMS, including representatives. If we are considering taking action against you, we will treat anything done by a representative on your behalf as if it were done by you. You may want to take precautions by checking the identity of any representative you appoint and ensuring they are suitable to do the activity required. If you do not meet your responsibilities, we will take compliance action against you.

Checks we make on your personnel

L4.11. We will always make checks on Authorising Officers, Key Contacts and Level 1 Users, and may check other people falling under the general definition of ‘you’ or ‘your’. These include checks against our records and the Police National Computer (PNC). We will make these checks when considering your application and may repeat them at any time during the validity period of your licence. We will also carry out checks if new individuals take up these roles in your organisation. The outcome of these checks will, or may, influence the decision we make on your application, or the status of your existing licence.

L4.12. We will refuse your licence application (or revoke your licence if you already have one) if our checks reveal that anyone falling under the general definition of ‘you or your’:

• has an unspent criminal conviction for a relevant offence, as defined in Annex L4 of this guidance

• has an outstanding civil penalty for employing illegal workers, breaching the ‘right to rent’ scheme, or certain other immigration-related offences

• subject to limited exceptions, is legally prohibited from becoming a company director

L4.13. This is not a comprehensive list. See Annex L1 for a full list of reasons for which we will refuse an application for a sponsor licence, and Annex C1 of Part 3: Sponsor duties and compliance for a full list of reasons for which we will revoke an existing licence.

L4.14. We will normally refuse your licence application (or revoke your licence if you already have one) if our checks reveal that anyone falling under the general definition of ‘you or your’:

• has an unspent conviction for an offence not listed in Annex L4 but which we believe to be of relevance to your ability to discharge your sponsor duties

• has been issued with a relevant civil penalty (other than those which result in automatic refusal or revocation)

• has previously been named as Key Personnel at any sponsor organisation where an application for a licence was refused within the last 6 months or where a licence has been revoked within the last 12 months

• is, or has been, an owner, director or Authorising Officer of a sponsor institution that has been ordered to pay costs to the Home Office in any legal proceedings, and those costs have not been paid

• is acting, or has acted, in a manner that is not conducive to the public good

L4.15. This is not a comprehensive list. See:

• Annex L2 for a full list of reasons on which we will normally refuse a licence application

• Annex L3 for a list of reasons on which we may refuse your licence application

• Annex C2 of Part 3: Sponsor duties and compliance for a full list of reasons on which we will normally revoke an existing sponsor licence

• Annex C3 of Part 3: Sponsor duties and compliance for a full list of reasons on which we may revoke an existing sponsor licence

L4.16. In some cases, rather than refuse your application (or revoke your licence), we may instead:

• limit your Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) allocation, or reduce it to zero

• ask you to nominate alternative Key Personnel

Other persons involved with your organisation

L4.17. We do not routinely undertake checks on persons associated with sponsors who do not fall under the general definition of ‘you’ or ‘your’ but we reserve the right to do so. Such individuals could include employees in positions of responsibility who are not directors or Key Personnel, and individual financiers involved in the running of your organisation. We may ask you for information on such individuals as part of the application process. Their conduct, where relevant, may be taken into account when deciding your application.

Key Personnel roles: eligibility and description

L4.18. The paragraphs below explain what each of the Key Personnel roles (Authorising Officer, Key Contact, Level 1 User, Level 2 User) entails and who is eligible to fill them.

Authorising Officer

L4.19. When you apply for a licence, you must appoint an Authorising Officer. The person you nominate to this role must be the most senior person in your organisation responsible for the recruitment of all migrant workers and ensuring that you meet all of your sponsor duties. If you do not recruit the workers you sponsor, this role must be filled by the most senior person responsible for your activity as a licensed sponsor. If there is more than one person who could fill this role, you must decide which one to nominate. You are responsible for the actions of your Authorising Officer, so you should ensure you are confident that they understand fully the importance of this role.

L4.20. The Authorising Officer is also responsible for deciding how many of your staff need to have access to the SMS and what level of permission they can have. They are responsible for the activities of all SMS users and must comply with our requirements for using the system. If they fail to do this, we will take action against you.

L4.21. The Authorising Officer does not have automatic access to the SMS. If they require access to the system, they will need to be set up as a Level 1 or Level 2 User, as well as being an Authorising Officer. This can be done by naming them as the Level 1 User on your application, or adding them as an additional Level 1 User or as a Level 2 User after your licence has been granted. The Authorising Officer is responsible for the activities of all SMS users, so you must have a system in place to check these activities. We recommend that the Authorising Officer checks the CoS assigned to workers at least once a month.

L4.22. You must have an Authorising Officer in place throughout the life of your licence. The nominated person must always meet the requirements set out in this guidance. If you fail to have an Authorising Officer in place who meets our requirements, or you fail to tell us of a change in Authorising Officer, we will take action against you.

L4.23. For guidance on how to add an additional Level 1 or Level 2 User, or tell us of a change in Authorising Officer, see SMS Manual 2: manage your sponsorship licence. For additional guidance on appointing an Authorising Officer on the UK Expansion Worker route, see section GBM3 of Sponsor a Global Business Mobility worker.

Key Contact

L4.24. The Key Contact is usually the person who acts as the main contact between us and you. We will contact them if we have any queries about your sponsor licence application, the documents sent, or the payment. We may also contact your Authorising Officer if necessary.

L4.25. The Key Contact does not have automatic access to the SMS. If they require access to the system, they will need to be set up as a Level 1 or Level 2 User. This can be done by naming them as the Level 1 User on your application, or adding them as an additional Level 1 User or as a Level 2 User after your licence has been granted. See SMS Manual 2 for guidance on how to do this.

Level 1 User

L4.26. The Level 1 User is responsible for carrying out your day-to-day sponsorship activities using the SMS. Level 1 Users can perform the following actions in SMS:

• assign CoS to workers

• ask for an increase in the number of CoS you can assign (your CoS limit)

• ask for more Level 1 Users and add Level 2 Users to the SMS or remove them

• tell us about minor changes to your details

• tell us of changes of circumstances on the SMS

• report worker activity to us – for example, inform us if a worker goes missing or does not come to work

• withdraw CoS

• tell us of changes to work addresses

• change user details

• view information about your licence and Key Personnel

• access key messages we post from time to time

• apply to renew your licence and track the progress of your application

• apply for premium customer service and track the progress of your application

L4.27. The Level 1 User can be the same person as the Authorising Officer or be another person, or other persons, in your organisation.

L4.28. When you first apply for a sponsor licence, you can only nominate one Level 1 User and they must be an employee, director or partner. Once you have a licence you can use the SMS to nominate more Level 1 Users. We will perform checks on new Level 1 Users before we give them access to the SMS. These include checks against our records and the Police National Computer.

L4.28A. If you are applying under UK Expansion Worker, and your Authorising Officer is based overseas at the time of application, that person must also be named as your Level 1 User. You can only change or add more Level 1 Users when you have obtained an A-rating for your licence. For further guidance on appointing a Level 1 User on the UK Expansion Worker route, see section GBM3 of Sponsor a Global Business Mobility worker.

L4.29. You can decide how many Level 1 Users you need. The Authorising Officer is responsible for their conduct, so we recommend that you do not have more Level 1 Users than you really need. You should make sure you have at least enough to be able to cover periods of leave or sickness.

L4.30. You must have at least one Level 1 User in place at all times during the life of your licence. It is not possible for you to meet all of your sponsor duties without one. If we find you do not have any Level 1 Users in place after your licence has been granted, we may revoke your licence.

L4.31. You must have at least one Level 1 User who is an employee, a partner or a director. If you have more than one Level 1 User, any additional Level 1 Users must be one of the following:

• a paid staff member or office holder within your organisation

• an employee of a third-party organisation engaged by you to deliver all or part of your HR function

• a UK-based representative

L4.32. They must not be any of the following:

• a contractor

• a consultant who is contracted for a specific project

• a temporary staff member supplied to you by an employment agency

• an undischarged bankrupt

L4.33. You must always have a minimum of one Level 1 User who is a settled worker. The only exceptions to this rule are if:

• you are a diplomatic mission or international organisation licensed under the International Agreement route; or

• your Authorising Officer is a person with valid entry clearance or permission to stay as:

  • a Representative of an Overseas Business

  • a Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur) migrant

  • a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) migrant

  • a Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent) migrant

  • a Start-up migrant

  • an Innovator

  • a Global Talent migrant

  • a UK Expansion Worker

Level 2 User

L4.34. Level 2 Users have fewer permissions than Level 1 Users. Level 2 Users can perform the following actions in SMS:

• create and assign CoS to workers

• report worker activity to us in respect of any CoS they have personally created and assigned, or which have been transferred to them by a Level 1 User

L4.35. Level 2 Users cannot report on CoS assigned by Level 1 Users.

L4.36. You can decide how many Level 2 Users you need. The Authorising Officer is responsible for them, so we recommend that you do not have more Level 2 Users than you really need.

L4.37. A Level 2 User may be any of the following:

• a paid staff member or office holder within your organisation

• an employee of a third-party organisation engaged by you to deliver all or part of your HR function

• a temporary staff member supplied to you by an employment agency

• a UK-based representative L4.38. They must not be:

• a contractor

• a consultant who is contracted for a specific project

• an undischarged bankrupt

L5. Organisations with multiple branches

This section provides information on how you can apply for a licence if you have multiple branches or sites.

Guiding principles

L5.1. The sponsorship system is based on a direct relationship between a sponsor and the person they are sponsoring to work in the UK. This allows a sponsor to fulfil its sponsorship duties effectively.

L5.2. Organisations have a wide range of corporate structures and collaborative arrangements for delivering business in partnership with others. These are permitted under this guidance, but they must not distort or dilute the relationship between a sponsor and a worker that underpins the effective functioning of the sponsorship system.

L5.3. To ensure the sponsorship system works effectively where there are multiple branches or collaborative arrangements, the relationship between branches and organisations must be open and transparent so that the sponsorship of workers can be monitored effectively.

L5.4. Arrangements or partnerships that circumvent the Immigration Rules or this guidance will be considered to be abuse of the sponsorship system, and compliance action will be taken against the sponsor and/or its partners in such circumstances. If compliance action is taken, this will affect any licence you hold under the Worker or Temporary Worker routes, including all branches and partnerships listed on it.

How you can apply if you have multiple branches

L5.5. If you have a number of different offices, UK-based subsidiaries or entities, locations or campuses, which we call ‘branches’ in this guidance, you can register in a number of ways, including by:

• applying for a single licence that includes your head office and all branches in the UK

• each branch applying for its own licence

• grouping a number of branches under a single licence – for example, a large UK-wide company might find it more convenient to register all of its operations in a particular region under a single licence

L5.6. We may ask for evidence to show that your head office and/or group of branches listed for any Worker or Temporary Worker route are linked by common ownership or control. We assess common ownership or control of branches in the same way we assess it for applications for a licence on the Senior or Specialist Worker or Graduate Trainee route as set out in section GBM2 of Sponsor a Global Business Mobility worker.

L5.6A. If you are applying on any of the Global Business Mobility routes, you must also register details of the linked overseas business from whom workers will be assigned. See section GBM2 of Sponsor a Global Business Mobility worker for further information.

L5.7. We will not allow you to add a branch to your sponsor licence in any of the following circumstances:

• the branch already holds a sponsor licence and it has been downgraded to a B-rating, or suspended whilst we investigate it

• the branch previously held a sponsor licence and it has been revoked within the past 12 months

• the branch is unable to offer a genuine vacancy that meets the suitability criteria for the issue of a licence in the relevant route

L5.8. If you have a number of branches that are individually licensed and we revoke the licence from one of those branches or downgrade it to a B-rating, we will not automatically remove or downgrade the licences from the other branches, but we will investigate them.

L5.9. If you are licensed as a ‘head office and all UK branches’ and we revoke your licence or downgrade it to a B-rating, this will apply to all your branches. If we revoke your licence, none of your branches will be able to sponsor workers. If you are sponsoring workers when your licence is revoked, we will normally cancel the permission they have to be in the UK, because they will no longer be working for a licensed sponsor. See Part 3: Sponsor duties and compliance for information on what happens to sponsored workers if we are considering taking action against you, or if we revoke your licence.

L5.10. If any of your branches later apply for their own licence, we will take into account any evidence of previous abuse or non-compliance, and the reasons for it, when considering their application.

Employment agencies and third-party employment

L5.11. If you are an employment agency or any third party (intermediary) who supplies workers to a client, you can apply for a sponsor licence but only to sponsor workers who will be employed directly by you in connection with the running of your business. You cannot sponsor a worker and then supply them as labour to another organisation, regardless of any genuine contractual arrangement between the parties involved.

L5.12. If you are an employment agency or intermediary and we grant a sponsor licence to you on this basis, but later find the workers you are sponsoring have been supplied as labour to another organisation, we will revoke your licence.

L5.13. If you are a sponsor that wants to employ a worker who has been supplied to you by an employment agency or an intermediary, you can only assign a Certificate of Sponsorship to them if you:

• have genuine responsibility for deciding all the duties, functions and outcomes or outputs of the job the worker is doing

• are responsible for agreeing and paying the worker’s salary

L5.14. See section S1 of Part 2: Sponsor a worker for information on sponsoring workers who are, or will be, working on a contract basis.

Franchises

L5.15. If you have a number of franchises under your control, you can decide whether to apply for a licence as a ‘head office and all UK branches’ or have each franchise licensed individually.

L5.16. If your franchises are separate businesses not under your control (as the parent organisation), each franchise must have its own licence if it wishes to sponsor workers.

L6. Application process

This section describes the process of applying for a sponsor licence.

L6.1. The information in this section applies to all routes. You must also refer to the route-specific guidance relevant to route, or routes, in which you are applying to be licensed.

How we use your information

L6.2. All sponsorship applications are confidential. However, we may use personal information that you provide to us when you apply for a licence, at any time throughout the period of your licence, or in any other dealings with us, in accordance with the Home Office Personal Information Charter.

L6.3. In certain circumstances, information about you or your employees may be passed to other government departments and agencies, local authorities and fraud prevention agencies, such as HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), and Cifas, for immigration purposes, the prevention of fraud and criminality and/or to help them carry out their functions. These bodies may provide the Home Office with information about you and your employees.

Using a representative

L6.4. You must make the application yourself. A representative can help you to fill in your application form (see ‘Choosing a representative’ below) but they must not send it on your behalf. If we find this has happened, we will refuse your application and not refund your fee.

L6.5. You can only appoint a representative at the licence application stage if you also want to appoint them as your Key Contact. You cannot appoint a representative as a Level 1 or Level 2 User at the licence application stage, or as an Authorising Officer at any stage. See the Key Personnel section for further information.

L6.6. If, after being granted a licence, you wish to use the services of a representative, or add them as a Level 1 or Level 2 User, you must appoint them using the sponsorship management system (SMS). We will not deal with any communications from a representative acting on your behalf unless they have been appointed by you.

Choosing a representative

L6.7. If you use the services of a representative – either in connection with your sponsor licence application or in any other dealings with us – they must be based in the UK and, if they will be providing immigration advice or immigration services (as defined in section 82 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 (‘the 1999 Act’)), be authorised to provide such advice or services in accordance with section 84 of the 1999 Act. This means they must be one of the following:

• regulated by the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC)
• a regulated member of a designated professional body or designated qualifying regulator, or working under the supervision of such a person – for the purposes of the 1999 Act, the designated bodies and regulators are the:
  • Legal Services Board (which has oversight of the Law Society, the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, and the Bar Council)
  • Law Society of Scotland
  • Faculty of Advocates
  • Law Society of Northern Ireland
  • Bar Council of Northern Ireland; or
• exempt from the requirement to be regulated (see below)
• otherwise compliant with section 84 of the 1999 Act

L6.8. If a representative provides immigration advice or immigration services on your behalf without being ‘qualified’ under the 1999 Act, they may be committing a criminal offence.

L6.9. Sponsor licence holders are exempted from the general prohibition on providing immigration advice and immigration services to their sponsored workers and their eligible family members, in connection with their applications for entry clearance or permission to enter or stay on a sponsored work or study route, if they meet specified conditions. This exemption is contained in the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 (Part 5 Exemption: Licensed Sponsors) Order 2022. You cannot use this exemption to provide immigration advice or immigration services where the specified conditions are not met – this includes providing immigration advice or immigration services for other purposes, or to any other persons. For further information, see section S6 of Part 2: Sponsor a worker.

L6.10. Anyone who satisfies section 84 of the 1999 Act in this manner must still comply with the OISC Code of Standards.

L6.11. The Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) page on GOV.UK has more information and links to websites for solicitors, advocates, barristers, legal executives and the Community Legal Service.

Fees

L6.12. There is a fee for:

• your initial application for a sponsor licence

• applying to renew an existing sponsor licence

• in some cases, applying to extend the scope of an existing licence (adding routes on which you can sponsor workers)

• each Certificate of Sponsorship you assign

• any additional premium services after your licence has been granted

L6.13. The fee for a sponsor licence depends on the type of licence you are applying for and the size or status of your organisation. You are eligible to pay the ‘small’ fee if you:

• are applying for a licence under the Temporary Worker routes only

• have charitable status – see Sponsor a Charity Worker for a definition of this term

• are subject to the small companies regime as set out in sections 381 to 384 of the Companies Act 2006, or

• are a sole trader (not a company) and you employ fewer than 50 people

L6.14. In all other cases, you must pay the ‘large’ fee.

L6.15. Up-to-date information on fees is available on the GOV.UK website at UK visa fees.

L6.16. The fee is for our consideration of your licence application and will not be refunded if we refuse your licence application or you withdraw it after consideration of it has begun.

L6.17. If you are sponsoring a worker on the Skilled Worker or Global Business Mobility – Senior or Specialist Worker routes, you may also have to pay an Immigration Skills Charge for each worker you sponsor. For guidance on this, see section S5 of Part 2: Sponsor a worker.

Completing the online application form

L6.18. You must register your details online by completing the UKVI Online sponsor application registration. Once you have registered, you will be able to log into the UKVI ‘Sponsor application log in’ page. You must then complete the online application form and submit specified documents to prove you are eligible and suitable. These documents are listed in Appendix A of the sponsor guidance.

L6.19. You should make sure you will be able to send all of your documents to us as soon as you have submitted your application.

L6.20. If you gather all the necessary information before starting, the application should take about 20 to 30 minutes to complete. If you want to keep a copy of it for your records, you must make a note or take a screenshot of what you have included in your application as you complete it because we cannot give you a copy of your licence application.

L6.21. When you complete the online sponsor licence application form, you must choose which routes you wish to be licensed under. You can choose as many routes as you need, provided you are eligible for them. If your application is successful, these will then be the only routes on which you can sponsor workers.

Certificate of Sponsorship allocation

L6.22. The online form asks you for an estimate of the number of Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) you may wish to assign in your first year in each route for which you are applying for a licence. You will need to assign a CoS to any worker you wish to sponsor before they can apply for entry clearance, permission to enter, or permission to stay. You will therefore need to think carefully about how many workers you are likely to employ during the year and why.

L6.23. You must be able to justify your request. If you are applying under Skilled Worker or T2 Minister of Religion, you must provide additional information, as specified in Appendix A to the sponsor guidance, about current vacancies and workers you wish to sponsor. If you are applying under Skilled Worker, you will also need to understand the difference between ‘Defined’ and ‘Undefined’ CoS. For more information, see:

• section S2 of Part 2: Sponsor a worker

• the relevant route-specific guidance

Note: if you are applying under UK Expansion Worker, see section GBM3 of Sponsor a Global Business Mobility worker for guidance on CoS allocations for that route.

After you have submitted your application

L6.24. Once you have submitted your online application, you must send the following documents (by email) to validate it:

• all pages of the submission sheet, signed and dated by your Authorising Officer – this includes a declaration from you that you agree to meet all of the duties associated with being a licensed sponsor

• the mandatory documents listed in Appendix A of the sponsor guidance and on the submission sheet – see section L7 for further information on supporting documents

L6.25. You must also tell us in a covering email or letter accompanying your submission sheet if you (under the general definition of ‘you’ or ‘your’):

• have been suspended or removed from any sponsor register within the last 5 years

• have any criminal prosecutions pending

• are aware that an organisation you have been involved with in a similar role has failed to pay value added tax (VAT) or any other form of excise duty

L6.26. You must send all of these documents to us within 5 working days of the date you complete your online application. You should scan or take pictures of your supporting documents and send them to the email address given on the submission sheet.

L6.27. If any mandatory items are missing or incorrect, your application will be invalid. We reject invalid applications, return them to you without further consideration, and refund the application fee. If you still wish to apply for a licence, you will need to make a new application and pay the fee.

L6.28. If there are any documents specified in Appendix A, other than mandatory documents, missing from your application, or if we require any more documents or information, we will contact you by email. We will give you 5 working days to send the documents or information we ask for. We must receive all the documents or information by the end of the deadline date. If you are sending anything by post, you must respond to our email request by return email, within the deadline, telling us you have posted the information and providing any postal reference or tracking numbers.

L6.29. If you have not contacted us by the end of the deadline date, we will assume that you have not responded and your application will then be refused. If this happens, your application fee will not be refunded. It is therefore very important your Authorising Officer and Key Contact are available while we consider your application to deal with any requests we may need to make. We will always email the person named as your Key Contact if we need any further information or documents. We may also email your Authorising Officer.

Your duty of honesty

L6.30. You have a duty to act honestly in any dealings with us. This includes not making false statements and ensuring that all essential information is disclosed to us when applying for a sponsor licence or assigning or applying for a CoS while you are a sponsor. You must inform us if there is any change in your circumstances while your licence application is pending or after your licence has been granted – for example, if you cease to be registered with the appropriate regulatory body (where required) or you or any of your Key Personnel are convicted of an offence or have a pending prosecution.

L6.31. If we believe that you have knowingly provided false statements or false information with your application, not provided information you held when required to, you pose a threat to immigration control, or you are acting, or have acted, in a manner that is not conducive to the public good, we will refuse your licence application (or revoke your licence if you already hold one).

L7. Supporting evidence

This section tells you about the supporting evidence you must submit with your application and how we verify supporting evidence.

General considerations

L7.1. Appendix A of the sponsor guidance specifies the evidence we need from you to support your licence application. Some of this evidence will be in the form of a document, or combination of documents, you must send to us, and some will simply be an online check that we can do without you having to send a document to us.

L7.2. For certain types of organisation listed in Table 1 of Appendix A (for example, public bodies, companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Main Market, or organisations applying under Scale-up), you may need to send only one document or no documents at all. Most other applications must be supported by a minimum of 4 documents (or combinations of documents), drawn from Tables 2 to 4. This evidence includes:

• for routes other than UK Expansion Worker, proof that you are based in the UK, are genuine and are operating or trading lawfully in the UK (an organisation is deemed to have been ‘operating or trading’ in the UK from the point at which it was incorporated)

• if you are applying under UK Expansion Worker, proof that you have a UK ‘footprint’ (you must not be trading in the UK at the time you apply for your licence), an overseas trading presence, and credible plans to expand to the UK

• if relevant, evidence that you hold the appropriate planning permission or Local Planning Authority consent to run your type and/or class of business at your trading address, if consent is required by your local authority

• if you are required to be registered with or inspected or monitored by a statutory body to operate lawfully in the UK (such as a nursing or care home, financial or insurance business, or healthcare provider), proof that you are registered with the appropriate body – if you are applying as a head office and all branches, or as a group of branches, you must submit evidence for each individual branch within that group

• if you are a food business, proof of your registration with, or approval from, a relevant food authority

L7.3. If you are applying under Skilled Worker or T2 Minister of Religion, you must also provide additional information about your organisation, why you are applying, and the types of job you wish to fill, in addition to the minimum of 4 other items.

L7.4. If you fail to submit the minimum required number of items, we will reject your application. See ‘Ensuring you submit the correct evidence’ at the end of this section for examples on how to select the minimum number of documents.

L7.5. We reserve the right to ask for more documents at any time during the licence application process or the validity period of your licence, and sometimes we may ask for documents which are not listed in Appendix A. If you fail to send us any information, evidence or documents we ask for within 5 working days, your application will be refused and your fee will not be refunded.

L7.6. We may also check any documents you send us, using a standard procedure. We will refuse your application if we find you have sent us any false documents and may refer the matter to the police.

Sending your documents

L7.7. You should scan or take pictures of your supporting documents and send them to the email address given on the sponsor submission sheet.

L7.8. Files can be in PDF (preferred), JPEG or PNG format. File titles should be descriptive and no more than 25 characters long. To minimise file sizes, we recommend you scan them in black and white, or greyscale, not colour. Pictures taken by phone can be saved as Small or Medium size files. You should carefully check the quality of all scans or pictures before sending.

L7.9. If you are unable to provide the submission sheet and supporting evidence digitally, you can contact us using the contact details given on the submission sheet.

L7.10. Any affidavits or statutory declarations you send must have been witnessed by a qualified, independent person – for example, a solicitor, Notary Public, Justice of the Peace, Commissioner for Oaths, or (in Scotland only) a Councillor.

L7.11. Any documents or other evidence that we ask for which are not in English or Welsh must be accompanied by a certified translation. The translator or translation company must confirm in writing on the translation:

• that it’s a ‘true and accurate translation of the original document’

• the date of the translation

• the full name and contact details of the translator or a representative of the translation company

L7.12. In all cases we reserve the right to request original documents or certified copies. Original documents will be returned by Royal Mail Signed For delivery to the address of the Authorising Officer stated in the online sponsor application.

L7.13. If you choose, or we ask you, to send certified copies by post, they must meet the requirements below.

Certified copies

L7.14. If you send certified copies of documents to us by post, the person certifying the documents must be:

• the issuing authority

• a practising barrister

• a solicitor

• a chartered legal executive

• a notary

• a chartered accountant (for certification of financial documents only)

L7.15. The person must not be:

• related to you

• living at the same address as you

• in a personal relationship with you

• employed directly by you

L7.16. The person certifying the document must:

• write ‘Certified to be a true copy of the original seen by me’ on the document

• sign and date the document

• print their name under the signature

• add their occupation, address and telephone number

L7.17. If the document you wish to certify has more than one page, we will accept the document if the pages are bound together and the certification statement includes the number of pages the document contains.

L7.18. Printouts of PDF files are copies of an original document and must be certified in line with guidelines above. The certifier must confirm they have seen the original email containing the file.

L7.19. If a certifier’s details cannot be verified, or the copy does not meet the requirements set out above, the document will be rejected.

Online checks

L7.20. Over time, we will start to make more checks online and we are gradually updating Appendix A to show where we will make an online check instead of asking you to send us a document. Where we can conduct an online check, this will count as one piece of evidence.

L7.21. There may be times when we could do an online check, but we might need you to help us locate the right information. For example, if you need to send us your company accounts, but they are available free to view on your website, you will need to let us know your website address so we can find them. In this example, you must include a covering letter along with your submission sheet and any documents you are sending to us. We will then search your website for the accounts so you don’t have to send them to us.

Standard procedure for verifying documents

L7.22. We may check details or the correctness or genuineness of documents you submit in support of your application with:

• the issuing organisation, like banks, universities and professional bodies

• other government departments in the UK and overseas

L7.23. The procedure for verifying documents is:

• we use a standard format to record the results of enquiries to make sure we record feedback consistently

• if we cannot get an immediate answer to our enquiries, we will normally wait for a maximum of 3 weeks for the information

• we may decide that a compliance officer needs to conduct either a compliance visit or a digital compliance inspection

Outcome of document checks

L7.24. There are 3 possible outcomes of a document check:

Outcome of check	Action we will take
Document confirmed as genuine	We will consider your application as normal.
Document confirmed as false	We will refuse your application, whether or not the document is essential to your application. We will not refund your application fee and we may refer details to the police or other authorities.
Check inconclusive	If we are unable to verify whether a document is genuine or false, we will not consider the document as evidence to support your application and we may ask for further supporting documents.

Ensuring you submit the correct evidence - examples

L7.25. Below are two examples of how an organisation might select the appropriate supporting evidence from Appendix A.

Example 1

You are a sports club and registered charity based in Scotland applying under International Sportsperson. In this example, you must send us 3 documents and we will conduct one online check. This will give a total of 4 pieces of evidence.

1). Appendix A, Table 2 - we must have evidence of your charitable status, but we can check this online on the Scottish Charity Regulator website. This counts as one piece of evidence.

2). Appendix A, Table 3 - we must have evidence of your endorsement from the governing body for your sport. You must send us the relevant document. This counts as one piece of evidence.

3). Appendix A, Table 4 - you must choose 2 more pieces of evidence from Table 4 to bring your total to 4.

Example 2

You are a care home in England applying under Skilled Worker with 3 additional branches included in your application. In this example, there are 7 mandatory pieces of evidence – one online check on your Care Quality Commission (CQC) status, 3 documents from Table 4 and 3 additional online checks on the CQC status of the branches named on your application.

1). Appendix A, Table 2 - we must have evidence that you are inspected by the CQC. We will check this online for each care home included in your application. This means we will do 4 online checks.

2). Appendix A, Table 4 - you must choose 3 more pieces of evidence from Table 4.

L8. How we assess your application

This section tells you how we assess applications for a sponsor licence, the circumstances in which we may conduct a compliance check, and how we assign ratings to sponsors.

Eligibility and suitability criteria

L8.1. All applications for a sponsor licence must meet the eligibility and suitability criteria described below.

Eligibility

L8.2. To confirm you are eligible for a licence, you must provide the supporting documents listed in Appendix A of the sponsor guidance and any additional documents we may request. We ask for these documents to make sure you are genuine and have an operating or a trading presence in the UK (or, in the case of UK Expansion Worker, a UK ‘footprint’). We may verify these documents to confirm they are genuine. For further information, see section L7 of this guidance.

L8.3. If you have no operating or trading presence in the UK (or, in the case of UK Expansion Worker, if you have no UK footprint), we will refuse your application. If we find you have no operating or trading presence in the UK after granting a licence, we will revoke your licence.

Suitability

L8.4. The suitability criteria determine whether we grant or refuse your application, change the sponsor rating of an existing licence, or revoke an existing licence. It may also affect the limits we set for Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) that you can assign.

L8.5. To assess suitability, we look at whether:

• you have human resource and recruitment systems in place to meet, or continue to meet, your sponsor duties, as set out in Part 3: Sponsor duties and compliance – to judge this, we may conduct a compliance check, either before we decide your application or after your licence is granted

• we are able to conduct compliance checks on an immediate, unannounced basis to ensure you are complying with your sponsor duties – note that:

  • this includes checks at any physical addresses where your sponsored workers carry out, or would carry out, their employment duties

  • if access to a third party’s site is deemed necessary by us (either at application stage or later as part of compliance checks), we need to see evidence of arrangements between you and the third party that would ensure full co-operation by that third party

• you meet the specific requirements of the route, or routes, in which you are applying to be licensed – for example, if applying under Skilled Worker, Scale up or the Global Business Mobility (GBM) routes, you can offer genuine employment that meets the skill-level and any salary requirements for those routes

• you have any criminal convictions or civil penalties

• we have any evidence of previous non-compliance by you

L8.6. We will also consider any evidence which suggests you may be a threat to immigration control or have engaged or are engaging in behaviour or actions that are not conducive to the public good, or evidence from a public body of your lack of compliance with their rules.

Genuine vacancy, salary and skill-level

L8.7. If you are applying under the Skilled Worker, Scale-up or GBM routes, we must be satisfied you can offer genuine employment that meets the, salary and skill-level criteria of those routes. See the relevant route-specific guidance for information on this.

L8.8. If your business involves using no (or little) physical office space (a ‘virtual business model’), we will consider the type of work a sponsored worker will be doing and where the worker will be carrying out their employment duties. We may need to conduct a compliance check and/or see contracts between you and any third party.

L8.9. Below are two examples of circumstances in which we may not be satisfied you can offer genuine employment that would meet the requirements of the Skilled Worker route. These examples are not intended to be exhaustive.

Example 1

You do not currently employ, or have never employed, anyone in a role which meets the Skilled Worker requirements. This could be if you are a small retail outlet and currently only have people working for you as shop assistants or in other lower-skilled roles.

Example 2

You tell us you require, or have already sponsored, a person in a role which does not appear necessary for your business – for example, you are a small fast food outlet and you tell us you need, or have appointed, a full-time business development manager, HR manager or publicity manager, but there is no credible need for these roles in your business.

Criminal convictions and civil penalties

L8.10. We will automatically refuse your application if anybody falling under the general definition of ‘you’ or ‘your’ has any unspent criminal convictions for a relevant offence. For a definition of ‘relevant offence’, see Annex L4 of this guidance.

L8.11. You can apply for a licence once your conviction has become spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (as amended from time to time). However, if you previously applied before the conviction was spent and we refused your application for that reason, and the conviction subsequently becomes spent, you will be subject to a cooling-off period when you reapply, which means you may not be eligible for a licence straightaway.

L8.12. We may also refuse your application if you have been convicted of an offence which is not listed as a ‘relevant offence’ but which we consider to be relevant to your ability to carry out your sponsor duties.

L8.13. If you have a criminal prosecution pending, we will put your application on hold pending the outcome, unless we have other reasons to refuse it, in which case we will refuse it without waiting.

L8.14. If you have previously been issued with a relevant civil penalty or charge, you may be subject to a cooling-off period of between 12 months and 5 years once the penalty has been paid in full, depending on the nature of the civil penalty or charge. We will always refuse your application if the relevant penalty or charge has not been paid in full.

Pre-licence compliance checks

L8.15. We use risk assessments to guide our compliance activity and focus that activity on the areas of highest risk. If we know little about you, are concerned about the evidence you have provided, or if information or evidence otherwise comes to light that causes us concern, we will make further checks. These could include checks with other government departments and/or a compliance check.

L8.16. If we undertake a compliance check, we may visit you, and interview you and any relevant personnel, at your main office address and any other physical addresses where your sponsored workers would be carrying out their employment duties (including their home address, if they normally work from home). If we undertake a digital compliance inspection, we may interview you and any other relevant personnel using remote video conferencing facilities.

L8.17. If you operate a virtual business model (with little or no physical office space), it is highly likely that we will conduct a compliance check with your Authorising Officer, which may include a compliance visit to their physical address, before making a decision on your application for a licence.

L8.18. If there are differences between what you told us and what our compliance officer finds during a compliance check, we will let you know whether we need more information before making a final decision.

L8.19. If we have significant doubts about your ability to fulfil your sponsorship duties after a compliance check, we are likely to refuse your application.

Scoring system if we conduct a compliance check

L8.20. If we conduct a compliance check on you, either before deciding your licence application, or after your licence has been granted, we will judge you against the criteria in the table below to decide whether to grant your application (or to allow you to keep your licence if you already have one). For each criterion, we will give a score of ‘met’ or ‘not met’:

Criterion	How we judge this
Human resources systems	Whether you have systems in place that allow you to know when a sponsored worker has not turned up for work or to identify when their current permission is coming to an end.
Convictions and civil penalties	Whether or not you have an unspent criminal conviction for a relevant offence (as defined in Annex L4) or have been issued with a relevant civil penalty.
Migrant compliance	Whether you are employing any workers, sponsored or not, who are in breach of the conditions of their immigration permission – for example, a Student who is working more hours than they are allowed to.
Employment	Whether you can offer employment which meets the criteria for the relevant immigration route (such as genuine vacancy, salary and skill-level).

L8.21. We will grant your licence if you meet all of the criteria above and there are no other reasons in Annex L1, L2 or L3 to refuse your application. If you do not meet all of the criteria, we:

• will refuse your application if any of the circumstances listed in Annex L1 arise

• will normally refuse your application if any of the circumstances in Annex L2 arise

• may refuse your application if any of the circumstances listed in Annex L3 arise

L8.22. For further information on pre-licensing and compliance activity, see:

• Part 3: Sponsor duties and compliance

• Points-based system: sponsor compliance visits (staff guidance)

Sponsor ratings

L8.23. For routes other than UK Expansion Worker, a sponsor licence is rated either ‘A’ or ‘B’. Your licence rating appears on the published register of licensed sponsors on GOV.UK.

L8.24. Subject to the exception for UK Expansion Worker below, an A-rating is awarded when you are first granted a licence on the basis that you have systems in place to be able to meet your sponsor duties and that we trust you to act in a way appropriate to those licensed by us. We will not grant a licence if you are not able to achieve an A-rating.

L8.25. Throughout the validity period of your licence, we will rate you as either A or B, according to our assessment of your ability to comply with your sponsor duties and to act in a way appropriate to those licensed by us. If you are downgraded to a B-rating, you must meet a time-limited sponsorship action plan, for which you must pay and which will set out the steps you need to take to gain or regain an A-rating. If you do not meet the requirements of your action plan within the specified time limit, we will revoke your licence.

Sponsor rating for UK Expansion Worker

L8.26. If you are granted a sponsor licence on the UK Expansion Worker route, you will be given either an ‘A’ or a ‘Provisional’ rating. A ‘Provisional’ rating is awarded if your Authorising Officer (and Level 1 User) is an employee of the overseas business and will be assigning their own Certificate of Sponsorship in order to apply for entry clearance to the UK. You can upgrade to an A-rating once the Authorising Officer has been granted entry clearance and has updated their details on the SMS. See section GBM3 of Sponsor a Global Business Mobility worker for further information.

L8.27. If you have a Provisional rating, and your licence is downgraded to a B- rating, you must comply with an action plan and obtain an A-rating in order to keep your licence. If you fail to do so, we will revoke your licence.

Sponsor rating if you are licensed on multiple routes

L8.28. You will be given a rating for each type of licence that you have (Worker, Temporary Worker and/or Student). That rating will apply to all routes in which you are licensed that are covered by that type of licence – you cannot have different ratings for individual routes. For example, if you are licensed under Skilled Worker and Senior or Specialist Worker (both of which are Worker routes), and we downgrade you due to failings in respect of only one of those routes, your licence rating will show on the register as ‘Worker (B rated)’.

L8.29. If you have more than one type of licence (Worker, Temporary Worker or Student), your rating will usually be the same for each type of licence you hold. In exceptional cases, if we find you are not meeting your sponsor duties in only one type of licence, we will downgrade that licence to a B- rating but you may be permitted to retain your A-rating for the other types of licence you hold.

L8.30. Part 3: Sponsor duties and compliance has more information on downgrading licence ratings and other action we may take against you.

L9. The decision on your application

This section tells you how we will notify you of the decision on your sponsor licence application, additional services you may be eligible for if we approve your application, and what you can do if your application is refused.

L9.1. When we have decided your application, we will write to you to tell you:

• whether we have approved or refused your application

• the reasons for the decision if we have refused your application

L9.2. Decision letters are sent by email to the mailbox of the Authorising Officer stated in the online sponsor application. We will return any original documents you have sent to us by Royal Mail Signed For delivery to the address given for the Authorising Officer in your online sponsor application.

Note: emails from us may be diverted to junk or spam folders, which can be avoided by marking the email domain @homeoffice.gov.uk as trusted in your email settings.

If your application is approved

L9.3. If we approve your licence application, we will tell you in our decision letter:

• the maximum number of Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) you will be allowed to assign – this will be zero if you said in your application that you are unsure whether or when you may need to recruit any overseas workers in the future

• your sponsor licence number (SLN) – this is unique to you and you must quote it in all communications with us

Sponsoring workers

L9.4. Once you are ready to sponsor a worker, you must refer to the relevant route-specific guidance and Part 2: Sponsor a worker for information on how to do this.

Additional services you may be eligible for

L9.5. A-rated sponsors may be eligible for additional services – the premium customer service and the priority change of circumstances service. These are described below.

Premium customer service

L9.6. The premium customer service offers an enhanced level of support for A- rated sponsors. A premium customer has their own dedicated account manager who will provide tailored advice and support. The ‘Premium customer service for employers’ page on GOV.UK has full guidance about this service, including the benefits, costs, eligibility criteria, and how to apply.

L9.7. If you successfully apply for premium customer service, this will be indicated on our public Register of sponsors, where your sponsor rating will show as A (Premium) for large employers or A (SME+) for small and medium enterprises.

Priority change of circumstances service

L9.8. The priority change of circumstances service offers a faster consideration of sponsor change of circumstances requests for A-rated sponsors. The ‘Priority change of circumstances service’ page on GOV.UK has full guidance about this service.

If your application is refused

L9.9. If your licence application is refused, you may be able to:

• ask us to review the decision through the ‘Error correction request’ process, if you believe there has been a simple caseworking error

• apply again – but only after the appropriate ‘cooling-off period’, if applicable, has ended

Error correction request

L9.10. There is no right of appeal against the refusal of an application for a licence. However, if you believe the refusal decision is the result of either:

• a caseworker error – for example, if we have incorrectly applied a cooling-off period and you send evidence to us to show that this is the case

• evidence sent as part of your application not being considered by us – for example, if we have not considered a specific piece of information and you send evidence to show this was received by us

you can send an ‘Error correction request form’.

L9.11. The request must be sent within 14 calendar days from the date of the refusal decision letter. We aim to reply to you within 28 working days of the receipt of your error correction request form.

L9.12. The pre-licence error correction process does not offer a full reconsideration of a decision to refuse a licence application. We will not consider any additional evidence which was not available at the time of application.

L9.13. If we establish that a simple caseworker error has occurred, or a piece of information sent at the time of application has not been considered, we will write to you inviting you to send a new online sponsor licence application. You will need to pay application fee again but, on receipt of your application, we will refund this. Sending a new application is not a guarantee that a licence will be granted.

L9.14. If we maintain our original decision to refuse your licence application, we will write to tell you. The cooling-off period will continue to apply from the date of the original refusal decision. A refusal decision will not be reviewed a second time under this process.

Cooling-off period following refusal, withdrawal, revocation, surrender, civil penalty or conviction

L9.15. If your application for a sponsor licence is refused, you may not be able to make a successful further application until a specified period of time has elapsed since the refusal. This is known as the ‘cooling-off period’.

L9.16. The cooling-off period may also apply in any of the following circumstances:

• you withdrew your licence application while we were undertaking checks on you and it is likely that we would have refused your application had you not withdrawn it

• you previously held a sponsor licence and:

  • it was revoked, or

  • you surrendered it while we were taking compliance action against you (and it would have been revoked as a result of that compliance action)

• you have been issued with a civil penalty or charge specified in the table below

• you have an unspent conviction for a relevant offence

L9.17. The length of the cooling-off period depends on the circumstances.

L9.18. If you apply, or reapply, while you are still subject to a cooling-off period, we will automatically refuse your application, even if the reasons that led to the cooling-off period no longer apply.

L9.19. The table below sets out the length of the cooling-off period according to the circumstances. You must also read the notes below the table.

Circumstance	Length of cooling off period
Your application was refused (or would have been refused had you not withdrawn it) because: your application was sent by a representative you did not provide documents or information we requested by a specific deadline for reasons outside your control you applied to be licensed on the Scale- up route and your application was refused solely because you do not meet the definition of a ‘qualifying Scale-up sponsor’	No cooling-off period (you can apply again at any time).
Your previous application was refused (or would have been refused had you not withdrawn it) for any reason not otherwise mentioned in this table	6 months from the date your application was refused (or the date we notified you that we had accepted your withdrawal request, as the case may be).
You previously held a sponsor licence and it was revoked (or it would have been revoked had you not surrendered it)	12 months from the date of the notice informing you that your licence had been revoked (or the date we notified you that we had accepted your request to surrender your licence, as the case may be).
You have been issued with a civil penalty for employing an illegal worker under either: section 15 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006; or regulation 11 of the Accession of Croatia (Worker Authorisation) Regulations 2013 and that penalty has been paid in full	12 months from the date you paid the penalty in full.
More than one civil penalty has been issued to an owner, a director or an Authorising Officer of your organisation (either individually or collectively) under section 23 or section 25 of the Immigration Act 2014 for authorising occupation of premises under a residential tenancy agreement by an adult who is disqualified because of their immigration status, and those penalties have been paid in full	12 months from the date you paid the penalty in full.
You have been issued with a civil penalty or charge under: section 32 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999: carrying clandestine entrants section 40 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999: carrying passengers without proper documents section 24 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 or the Authority to Carry (Civil Penalties) Regulations 2015: bringing a passenger to the UK in breach of an authority to carry scheme and that penalty or charge has been paid in full	5 years from the date you paid the penalty or charge in full.
Either: you have been issued with 2 or more civil penalties for employing an illegal worker under: section 15 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006; or regulation 11 of the Accession of Croatia (Worker Authorisation) Regulations 2013; or 3 or more civil penalties have been issued to an owner, a director or an Authorising Officer of your organisation (either individually or collectively) under section 23 or section 25 of the Immigration Act 2014 for authorising occupation of premises under a residential tenancy agreement by an adult who is disqualified because of their immigration status and those penalties have been paid in full	We may refuse your licence application for up to 5 years after the date you paid the penalty in full – see notes below this table.
You have (or a person mentioned above has) an unpaid civil penalty or charge for any of the offences listed above and you are (or that person is) still liable once your or their objection and appeal rights are exhausted	Indefinite – we will not grant you a licence while you have an unpaid civil penalty or charge.
You have an unspent conviction for a relevant offence	Until the conviction is spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 If the unspent conviction is recorded against an individual in your organisation, you can reapply for a licence (subject to any other cooling-off period that may apply in this table) before the conviction is spent if that individual: no longer works for you no longer falls under the definition of ‘you’, or does not otherwise have significant involvement in the running or financing of your business For further information, see ‘Checks we make on your personnel’.

Notes on the table above

L9.20. Where more than one cooling-off period is relevant to your circumstances, the longest cooling-off period will apply, as explained in the examples below.

Example 1

Your application was refused because you did not meet all of the requirements of the route in which you were applying (6-month cooling-off period) and because you have recently been issued with a civil penalty for employing an illegal worker, which you are paying off in agreed instalments. In this scenario, you will not be eligible to make a successful licence application until 12 months have elapsed since you have paid the civil penalty in full, as that is the longer cooling-off period.

Example 2

Your application was refused because you did not meet all of the requirements of the route in which you were applying (6-month cooling-off period) and because you have previously been issued with a civil penalty for employing an illegal worker. You paid that penalty in full 10 months ago. In this scenario, the 6-month cooling-off period will apply, as the cooling-off period for the civil penalty will expire in 2 months.

L9.21. Where reference is made to civil penalties issued to “an owner, a director, or an Authorising Officer of your organisation”, this means civil penalties issued to those persons either individually or collectively. For example, if an owner has been issued with one civil penalty, and your Authorising Officer has been issued with another, this will count as two civil penalties against your organisation.

L9.22. Where the table above says that we may impose a cooling-off period of up to 5 years (multiple civil penalties for employing illegal workers or under the right-to-rent scheme), we will take into account a number of factors including, but not limited to:

• the number of civil penalties imposed

• the number of illegal workers or (as the case may be) disqualified adults involved

• the amount of each civil penalty imposed

• the extent to which you co-operated with the Home Office or relevant authorities

• how soon you paid off the penalty, or penalties, or if you complied with any agreement to pay the penalty, or penalties, in instalments

New application after cooling-off period has expired

L9.23. Before you reapply, you must ensure that the reasons we refused (or would have refused) your previous application, or revoked (or would have revoked) your previous licence, no longer apply. The fact that the cooling-off period has expired does not mean we will grant your application – you must fully meet the requirements set out in this guidance.

L9.24. As part of the application process, a UKVI compliance officer may conduct a compliance check on you. If this happens, the officer will undertake relevant checks to establish that you have the necessary systems and procedures in place to meet your sponsorship obligations. If we are not satisfied that you can fully meet your sponsorship obligations or you otherwise remain unsuitable to hold a sponsor licence, we will refuse your application again and you will be subject to a further cooling-off period.

L10. Sponsorship management system

This section tells you about the sponsorship management system and how you can use it to report changes or add routes to your licence.

What is the sponsorship management system?

L10.1. Once licensed, you will be given access to the sponsorship management system (SMS). This online function allows you to carry out day-to-day activities and report any changes to us, such as a change of address. You will also use it to:

• manage or renew your organisation’s licence or services

• create and assign Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) to workers you wish to sponsor

• apply for defined CoS for Skilled Workers

• report changes of circumstances of your sponsored workers, including withdrawal of sponsorship

For further information assigning CoS and your reporting duties, see:

• sections S1 to S6 of Part 2: Sponsor a worker

• ‘Reporting duties’ in section C1 of Part 3: Sponsor duties and compliance

L10.2. The SMS allows users two levels of access – ‘Level 1’ and ‘Level 2’. The level decides the type of access (permissions) the user has to the system and the functions they can perform. See ‘Level 1 User’ and ‘Level 2 User’ in section L4 for more information.

L10.3. Your SMS account is also a source of information about your sponsor licence. You can see details of how many SMS users you have appointed and who they are, the date your licence will expire, the number of CoS left to assign, and when your allocation of CoS will expire. Your SMS account also has a ‘message board’ where we post useful messages, such as information about updates to the sponsor guidance.

L10.4. You need to access your SMS account regularly to review and update your licence details and to keep up to date with the latest news, messages, and any changes that may be coming up. We recommend that your Level 1 User accesses your account at least once a month.

L10.5. When we grant your sponsor licence, we set up your SMS account and send the Level 1 User’s ‘user name’ to your Authorising Officer by post. We send the Level 1 User their password by email. Once your Level 1 User has successfully accessed your SMS account, they can perform a number of functions.

L10.6. SMS users must not give their password to anyone else. If they do, we may revoke your licence.

L10.7. You can find guidance on how to use the SMS under ‘User manuals: sponsorship management system (SMS)’ on the ‘Sponsorship: guidance for employers and educators’ page on GOV.UK.

Your responsibilities as an SMS user

L10.8. You are responsible for your actions and the actions of a representative or employee who assigns CoS on your behalf. Any non-compliance with the rules on assigning CoS will result in us taking action against you. If we find you are employing an illegal worker because your recruitment practices are negligent, we may issue you with a civil penalty and refer your case for prosecution.

L10.9. You must have at least one Level 1 User who is an employee, partner or director of your organisation in place throughout the life of your licence. If we find you have no Level 1 User in place at all, this means you cannot fulfil your sponsor duties and we may revoke your licence. We may also revoke your licence if you have no SMS users in place at all.

Adding routes to your licence

L10.10. Once your licence has been granted, you can apply to add routes to it. For example, if you were originally licensed under Skilled Worker only, you could add Senior or Specialist Worker (or any other route) to your licence, if you meet the relevant requirements.

L10.11. You will have to pay a fee if you:

• are a ‘large’ company (that is, you do not meet the definition of ‘small or charitable sponsor’)

• were originally licensed under the Temporary Worker routes only; and

• wish to add one or more of the Worker routes to your licence

L10.12. The fee will be the difference between the fee for a sponsor licence for the Worker routes and the fee for a sponsor licence for the Temporary Worker routes.

L10.13. There is no additional fee to pay for adding routes if:

• you are a small or charitable sponsor

• you are already licensed under one or more the Worker routes and you paid the large fee when you originally applied; or

• you are licensed under the Temporary Worker routes only and you wish to add other Temporary Worker routes to your licence

L10.14. To add routes to your licence, your Level 1 User must log in to the online sponsor licence application form using your original log-in details or by registering again. They will then fill in a shortened version of the online application form which allows them to apply to add new routes to your licence. The Level 1 User will not be able to change anything else. You must pay the fee (if relevant) and send us any documents specified in Appendix A to the sponsor guidance as mandatory for the relevant route. The Authorising Officer must approve this action, and the Level 1 User must retain the evidence of this approval.

L10.15. You will not be allowed to add routes if your licence is suspended, has a Provisional rating, or is downgraded to a B-rating. See Part 3: Sponsor duties and compliance for information on the circumstances in which we downgrade or suspend licences.

L10.16. There can only be one Authorising Officer and one Key Contact named on a sponsor licence. If you want to apply to add a route to your licence, but you want different people to act as Authorising Officer and Key Contact for that route, you must apply for a new, separate, licence and pay the full application fee.

Annex L1: circumstances in which we will refuse your application

This annex sets out the circumstances in which we will refuse your sponsor licence application.

Unless otherwise stated, ‘you’ or ‘your’ has the meaning given in the Glossary.

a.

You knowingly send any false document with your application. If this happens, and we believe that a criminal offence has been committed, we will refuse your application and refer your case for prosecution.

b.

You have an unspent conviction for a relevant offence listed in Annex L4 of this guidance.

c.

You:

• have been issued with a civil penalty or charge under:

  • section 32 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999: carrying clandestine entrants;

  • section 40 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999: carrying passengers without proper documents; or

  • section 24 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 or the Authority to Carry (Civil Penalties) Regulations 2015: bringing a passenger to the UK in breach of an authority to carry scheme; and

• remain liable for the penalty or charge once your objection and appeal rights have been exhausted; and

• apply for your licence before 5 years has elapsed since the date the penalty or charge was settled (paid in full)

d.

You:

• have been issued with a civil penalty for employing an illegal worker, or illegal workers, under either:

  • section 15 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006; or

  • regulation 11 of the Accession of Croatia (Immigration and Worker Authorisation) Regulations 2013; and

• remain liable for the penalty once your objection and appeal rights have been exhausted; and

• apply for a licence before 12 months has elapsed since the date the penalty was settled (paid in full)

e.

You have not paid an outstanding civil penalty or charge for any of the offences referred to in (c) or (d) above, or any other civil penalty for employing illegal migrant workers, and you are still liable once your objection and appeal rights have been exhausted.

f.

Two or more civil penalties have been issued to an owner, a director or an Authorising Officer of your organisation (either individually or collectively) under section 23 or section 25 of the Immigration Act 2014 for authorising occupation of premises under a residential tenancy agreement by an adult who is disqualified, because of their immigration status, and:

• that person was or is (or those persons were or are, as the case may be) still liable once their objection and appeal rights have been exhausted; and

• you apply for your sponsor licence before 12 months has elapsed since the date the penalties were settled (paid in full)

g.

An owner, a director or an Authorising Officer of your organisation has not paid an outstanding civil penalty issued for authorising occupation of premises under a residential tenancy agreement by an adult who is disqualified, because of their immigration status, for which they are still liable once their objection and appeal rights have been exhausted.

h.

You have previously held a sponsor licence of any type and that licence was revoked by us, or you surrendered that licence while we were taking compliance action against you, in the 12-month period prior to the date of your application.

i.

Any person who falls under the general definition of ‘you’ is legally prohibited from becoming a company director, unless:

• they are only disqualified due to being an undischarged bankrupt; and

• that person has not been appointed as your director, Authorising Officer or Level 1 User

j.

We have asked you to send us any document or information to validate or support your application and you do not send the document or information within the given time limit.

k.

You fail to meet one or more of the requirements of the route, or routes, in which you are applying to be licensed, as set out in the relevant route-specific guidance – for example, if you are applying under Skilled Worker or the Global Business Mobility routes, and we are not satisfied you can offer genuine employment which meets the skill level or salary requirements of those routes.

If you fully meet the requirements of one route, or some routes, in which you are applying to be licensed, but not others, we will only licence you for the route, or routes, in which you qualify.

l.

You do not have in place the necessary human resources systems or other processes to comply with your duties as a sponsor. For example, your internal communications may not be good enough for you to know if a sponsored worker has not reported for work.

m.

Deleted.

n.

You are applying on a route other than UK Expansion Worker and you have no operating or trading presence in the UK.

o.

You fail to meet the requirements set out in the safeguarding children section.

p.

Your application is sent by a representative.

q.

You fail to nominate in your online application form an Authorising Officer and at least one Level 1 User who meets our requirements as set out in section L4 of this document.

r.

You have had an application for a sponsor licence refused within the last 6 months for any reason (or would have had it refused had you not withdrawn the application), unless the refusal was for one of the following reasons:

• your application was sent by a representativer

• you did not provide documents or information we requested by a specific deadline for reasons outside your control

• you applied to be licensed on the Scale-up route and your application was refused solely because you do not meet the definition of a ‘qualifying Scale-up sponsor’ as set out in section SC2 and Annex SC1 of Sponsor a Scale-up Worker

s.

You are applying as an individual person (who is not a sole trader).

Annex L2: circumstances in which we will normally refuse your application

This annex sets out the circumstances in which we will normally refuse your sponsor licence application.

Unless otherwise stated, ‘you’ or ‘your’ has the meaning given in the Glossary.

a.

You have provided a false statement or false information, or have not provided, when required, information that you held, to us or any other Government Department.

b.

You have an unspent conviction for an offence other than a relevant offence listed in Annex L4 which we believe to be of relevance to your ability to discharge your sponsor duties or suitability to hold a sponsor licence.

c.

You have been issued with 2 or more civil penalties in the 5-year period immediately prior to your application for employing an illegal migrant worker.

See ‘Cooling-off period’ in section L9 for further information.

d.

Three or more civil penalties have been issued in the 5-year period immediately prior to your application to an owner, a director or an Authorising Officer of your organisation (either individually or collectively) under section 23 or section 25 of the Immigration Act 2014 for authorising occupation of premises under a residential tenancy agreement by an adult who is disqualified, because of their immigration status.

See ‘Cooling-off period’ in section L9 for further information.

e.

You are or have been an owner, a director or an Authorising Officer of a sponsor organisation which has been ordered to pay costs to the Home Office in any legal proceedings, and those costs have not been paid.

f.

You have previously been named as ‘Key Personnel’ at any sponsor organisation whose sponsorship licence has been revoked in any route within the last 12 months – see ‘Previous non-compliance’ below this table.

g.

You are employing a worker (whether sponsored or not) who is subject to immigration control and that person either:

• does not have permission to enter or stay in the UK; or

• they are working in breach of the conditions of their permission (leave) and you could reasonably have been aware of this breach

We will also refer your case to the relevant Home Office team to consider issuing you with a civil penalty.

h.

The European Union (EU) or United Nations (UN) has imposed sanctions on you which will be contravened by giving you a licence.

i.

You engage in actions or behaviours that are not conducive to the public good.

j.

We have reason to believe that you otherwise pose any risk to immigration control.

Previous non-compliance

Previous non-compliance with the sponsorship system (other than non-compliance which would result in automatic refusal under Annex L1) may result in your application being refused. This could be where it is one of several grounds falling under this Annex or Annex L3, or it is warranted by the actions of any person falling under the general definition of ‘you or your’. We also reserve the right to check individuals involved in your organisation who do not fall under the general definition of ‘you or your’ and to take into account their previous conduct– see ‘Checks we make on your personnel’ for further information.

The action we take will depend on:

• the seriousness of the past conduct (including conduct that led to revocation of a licence) and what you have done to improve the situation

• how long it is since the conduct took place and any mitigating circumstances

• concerns we may have about any of your associated persons or employees, and the role they have within your organisation – in particular, where they have been employed or associated with an organisation that has been removed from the sponsor register for abuse or serious non-compliance within the last 5 years

• in the case of previous criminal conduct, whether we believe this has a bearing on your suitability to be a sponsor – note that we will always refuse your application if anyone falling under the general definition of ‘you or your’ has an unspent criminal conviction for an offence listed in Annex L4

Annex L3: circumstances in which we may refuse your application

This annex sets out the circumstances in which we will consider refusing your sponsor licence application. Generally, we will not refuse your application if only one of these circumstances arises, but we reserve the right to do so, depending on the gravity of the issue. The more of these circumstances that are present, the more likely it is we will refuse your application.

Unless otherwise stated, ‘you’ or ‘your’ has the meaning given in the Glossary.

a.

You have a previous record of non-compliance or poor compliance with the duties of sponsorship. See Annex L1 of this guidance if you have previously had a sponsor licence and it was revoked.

b.

You have previously been asked to provide evidence to allow us to decide whether an organisation was complying with the duties of sponsorship and that information was not provided.

c.

The Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) has removed your authorisation, or the authorisation of any organisation you have been involved with in a similar role (this applies to individuals or organisations that provide immigration advice or immigration services).

d.

You have, or you are aware that a sponsor organisation you have been involved with in a similar role within the last 5 years has, been issued with a penalty for failure to pay VAT or duty.

e.

You have been issued with any civil penalty not otherwise mentioned in these annexes and we believe this is of relevance to your ability to carry out your sponsor duties or suitability to hold a sponsor licence.

f.

You have been issued with a warning notice (not a civil penalty) under section 15 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 (employment of illegal workers) within the previous 5 years.

Annex L4: relevant offences

This annex lists the unspent convictions that we will take into account, as referenced in Annex L1 of this guidance. Note that we will always refuse your licence application if you have an unspent conviction for any of these offences.

Number	Unspent conviction for
1.	Any offence under the following Acts (as amended from time to time): the Immigration Act 1971 the Immigration Act 1988 the Immigration Act 2014 the Immigration Act 2016 the Asylum and Immigration Appeals Act 1993 the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 the UK Borders Act 2007
2.	Any offence listed in Appendix B of the guidance for sponsors.
3.	Any offence listed under Class A (homicide, manslaughter and related grave offences) in Annex 1B: List of offences in class order as defined by the Crown Prosecution Service.
4.	An offence under section 4 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 (soliciting murder).
5.	An offence under section 18 of that Act (wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm).
6.	An offence under section 16 of the Firearms Act 1968 (possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life).
7.	An offence under section 17(1) of that Act (use of a firearm to resist arrest).
8.	An offence under section 18 of that Act (carrying a firearm with criminal intent).
9.	An offence of robbery under section 8 of the Theft Act 1968 where, at some time during the commission of the offence, the offender had in his possession a firearm or an imitation firearm within the meaning of the Firearms Act 1968.
10.	An offence under section 1 of the Protection of Children Act 1978 (indecent images of children).
11.	An offence under section 56 of the Terrorism Act 2000 (directing terrorist organisation).
12.	An offence under section 57 of that Act (possession of article for terrorist purposes).
13.	An offence under section 59 of that Act (inciting terrorism overseas).
14.	An offence under section 47 of the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 (use etc of nuclear weapons).
15.	An offence under section 50 of that Act (assisting or inducing certain weapons-related acts overseas).
16.	An offence under section 113 of that Act (use of noxious substance or thing to cause harm or intimidate).
17.	An offence under section 1 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (rape).
18.	An offence under section 2 of that Act (assault by penetration).
19.	An offence under section 4 of that Act (causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent).
20.	An offence under section 5 of that Act (rape of a child under 13).
21.	An offence under section 6 of that Act (assault of a child under 13 by penetration).
22.	An offence under section 7 of that Act (sexual assault of a child under 13).
23.	An offence under section 8 of that Act (causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity).
24.	An offence under section 9 of that Act (sexual activity with a child).
25.	An offence under section 10 of that Act (causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity).
26.	An offence under section 11 of that Act (engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child).
27.	An offence under section 12 of that Act (causing a child to watch a sexual act).
28.	An offence under section 14 of that Act (arranging or facilitating commission of a child sex offence).
29.	An offence under section 15 of that Act (meeting a child following sexual grooming etc).
30.	An offence under section 25 of that Act (sexual activity with a child family member) if the offender is aged 18 or over at the time of the offence.
31.	An offence under section 26 of that Act (inciting a child family member to engage in sexual activity) if the offender is aged 18 or over at the time of the offence.
32.	An offence under section 30 of that Act (sexual activity with a person with a mental disorder impeding choice).
33.	An offence under section 31 of that Act (causing or inciting a person with a mental disorder to engage in sexual activity).
34.	An offence under section 34 of that Act (inducement, threat or deception to procure sexual activity with a person with a mental disorder).
35.	An offence under section 35 of that Act (causing a person with a mental disorder to engage in or agree to engage in sexual activity by inducement etc).
36.	An offence under section 47 of that Act (paying for sexual services of a child) against a person aged under 16.
37.	An offence under section 48 of that Act (causing or inciting child prostitution or pornography).
38.	An offence under section 49 of that Act (controlling a child prostitute or a child involved in pornography).
39.	An offence under section 50 of that Act (arranging or facilitating child prostitution or pornography).
40.	An offence under section 62 of that Act (committing an offence with intent to commit a sexual offence).
41.	An offence under section 5 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 (causing or allowing the death of a child or vulnerable adult).
42.	An offence under section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006 (preparation of terrorist acts).
43.	An offence under section 9 of that Act (making or possession of radioactive device or materials).
44.	An offence under section 10 of that Act (misuse of radioactive devices or material and misuse and damage of facilities).
45.	An offence under section 11 of that Act (terrorist threats relating to radioactive devices, materials or facilities).
46.	Any offence, not otherwise listed above, of: trafficking for sexual exploitation espionage terrorism (whether an offence under terrorism legislation or an offence which has a terrorist connection) dishonesty (theft, corruption, deception and fraud) tax or excise duty avoidance bribery proceeds of crime money laundering abuse and neglect of children
47.	Any of the following: an attempt to commit an offence specified in this Annex conspiracy to commit an offence specified in this Annex incitement to commit an offence specified in this Annex an offence under Part 2 of the Serious Crime Act 2007 of encouraging or assisting a crime where the offence (or one of the offences) in question is one that is specified in this Annex aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring the commission of an offence specified in this Annex