Now the employer who wishes to employ an overseas national must have to now obtain a licence from the home office. There are various requirements for various natures of establishments that they need to be fulfilled before being considered for the issuance of a licence by the home office.

1. Who can apply for the licence?

Any establishment in the UK can make an application, if they are considering sponsoring overseas nationals to work in the UK (TIER 2) or if they wish to become a sponsor for Temporary workers (TIER 5) or if they wish to enrol students in their educational establishments (Tier 4).

2. Fees

The establishment who wishes to apply for a licence need to pay a fee to the UKBA for the processing of its application. It is £1000 for large establishments and £300 for small businesses.

3. Procedure after submitting the application

The establishments need to make an application for a licence by filling out the on line application available at UKBA website and then sending the required documents in original together with the appropriate fee. This can only be done by a person authorised to make this application as legal representatives cannot make this application on behalf of the establishments.

The action plan of the home office, on receipt of the completed and signed application form and the payment for processing the application, is to consider the application under the specified criteria, consider whether they require visiting the business premises of the applicant or require further documentary evidences from the applicant and then give their decision. The decision can be one of the following:

• Issuance of a licence giving the establishment an A rating
• Issuance of Licence giving the establishment a B rating; with action plan how they can be upgraded to an A rating
• Refusing the application giving detailed reasons.

Once the application processed and the UKBA approves the application, a licence will be issued to the establishment giving them A or B ratings. This licence willbe valid for 4 years time and the establishment must renew the licence if they wish to continue to employer the overseas nationals or wish to employ more persons using the sponsorship process.

• A – Rating: This rating will be given to those establishments who fulfils all the requirements of the application and pose no threat or risk to the aims of the management migration. The Employers having an A rating will enjoy benefits of using all the options and also be able to certify its prospective employees for maintenance purposes. This means that its employees (overseas) will not be required to fulfil the maintenance part of their application under sponsorship, if they have been sponsored by an A rated employer.
• B- Rating: This rating is given to those establishments who pose a risk to the aims of the management migration and they have got some lackings in their documentations. Any B rated establishment could apply for being upgraded to A rate and an A rated establishment could also be down graded to a B – rating due to various factors.

Once a license is issued, the establishment willthen be able to issue sponsorship certificates to its prospective employees who willthen need to use the certificate to obtain leave to remain or entry clearance in line with the said sponsorship certificate.

4. Persons Involved in the Sponsorship Process:

• Authorising officer: This must be the person who is a responsible and competent person in the establishment and is willing to take full responsibility throughout the process of obtaining licence for the establishment and also in issuing sponsorships to the prospective employees of the establishment. This person is responsible for all acts / omissions / performances / non performances done by the following three personals.
• Key Contact person: This can be the AO or any other person working for the company or even the Legal Representative (An OISC registered Advisor or a Solicitor) of the Establishment.
• Level 1 User: This can be the AO or any other person working for the company or even the Legal Representative of the Establishment. This person enjoys vast authority of communication with the UKBA and is also allowed to use the management system in full, as authorised by the AO (if he is a different person).
• Level 2 User: This can be the AO or any other person working for the company or even the Legal Representative of the Establishment. This person`s activities are limited to the issuance of the sponsorship certificate and also to report to the Home office about any migrant`s activities.

5. Sponsorship Certificate

This will be a virtual document and willbe in the form of a reference number rather than a certificate or a document. This will be issued by the sponsor once the resident labour market test has been done (no need for RLMT if the position falls under shortage occupation list or it is a intra company transfer or the prospective employee has been working at the same position for at least 6 months while working on the basis of having IGS / PSW visa).

This certificate will be valid for use for three months and if the prospective employee does not use the certificate, it will automatically become invalid and the employer needs to re-issue the certificate.

6. Resident Labour Market Test

This is the process under which the employer needs to advertise the vacancy and check whether he can find any suitably qualified resident worker who is willing and able to take the job. The employer does not need to under this process if:

• The position falls under shortage occupation list
• The overseas worker is already working for the company at the same position for more than 6 months
• The establishment is sponsoring an existing employee working for their overseas branch (Intra Company Transfer).

There are however few requisites of this process that the employer must follow to issue a valid sponsorship certificate. We can advise and represent our clients throughout this procedure.

7. What services we can offer?

• We can advise on the procedure of making the application to obtain a licence.
• We can act as the Key Contact or Level 1 User or Level 2 User of the establishment.
• We can be in direct contact with the UKBA in regards to issuing the sponsorship certificate and update them on behalf of our client (the employer) regarding any activities of the migrant.
• We can make representations to increase the limit of the sponsorship certificates, if there is a genuine need of the business.
• We can assess the job and the applicant and advise on the likelihood of getting the applicant sponsored under Tier 2.
• We can advise the applicants on making their leave to remain / entry clearance applications in line with the sponsorship certificate.
• We can also advise the applicants for inviting his / her families on dependant visas.
• We can lodge an appeal (in-country only) or make a request for an administrative review if the applicant`s application is turned down for some reason.
• We can advise in making permanent residence (ILR) applications for those who have already completed their five years period in the UK.

Whatever the case, we are here to help, assist, advise and represent our clients in relation to obtaining the licence, maintaining the licence, upgrading the licence and also in relation to the immigration matters of its existing or prospective workers.

For further information and free assessment please contact us.