Applying for a licence

Under the Workers and Temporary Workers sponsorship system, UK-based employers are required to apply for a licence from the Home Office if they wish to sponsor workers from overseas.

If granted a sponsor licence and one or more (‘undefined’) Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS), the sponsor must issue the CoS itself, once it is happy that the relevant criteria are met. For Skilled Worker sponsors, where an individual will be applying from overseas, the sponsor must first request and obtain a ‘defined’ CoS from the Home Office. Issuing a CoS will not guarantee that the applicant will be able to work for an employer, as they have to then submit an entry clearance or permission to stay application which have their own separate, although in most cases linked, points-based and additional criteria (as set out in the Immigration Rules).

Sponsors are subject to significant responsibilities. The relevant Sponsor Guidance gives a long list of sponsor duties and responsibilities which sponsors must meet on an ongoing basis. A prospective sponsor must be confident that it has sufficiently efficient and robust HR systems to be able to comply with these.

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Latest Immigration News

Lords Committee criticises lack of advance information on immigration policy changes

The House of Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee has criticised the Home Office for failing to provide sufficient information in support of measures set out in its latest Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules HC 977, which sets out significant changes to immigration policy. The Statement tightens the Skilled Worker visa route by removing care workers/senior care workers from the list of occupations eligible to recruit migrant workers form overseas and tightens conditions for granting Skilled Worker visas—affecting around 180 occupations (which could lead to a 40 drop in grants). The Committee highlighted the lack of consultation and the absence of an impact assessment, which it says severely undermines parliamentary scrutiny. It called for the impact assessment to be published before the end of the current summer recess. The Statement also closes two schemes which assisted Afghans who supported UK operations and aims in Afghanistan, including through resettlement. A submission to the Committee argued this would permanently abandon people in need, especially in light of a 2022 data breach recently revealed through the lifting of a superinjunction. The Home Office responded that most eligible applicants had already applied and that 95% of current applications were found ineligible. The report states that the Committee had previously repeatedly requested the Home Office to provide sufficient information when laying new legislation with potentially significant consequences, but ‘despite acknowledging this to be correct practice’ it had failed to do so again. It includes a link to detailed submissions sent to the Committee by the Work Rights Centre, the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association and the Home Office.

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