For Employers Immigration
The onus is on employers to establish that all potential and existing employees have the right to work in the UK before employing them, and while they remain employed.
If you want to employ someone who resides outside the UK or does not have settled status here in the UK, then your business will require a Sponsorship Licence to support that individual’s Skilled Worker Visa application.
In addition, if you are looking to bring a member of your team from a non-UK office to the UK to work rather than a visit, you will need a Sponsorship Licence to support that member of staff’s visa application too.
To ensure you follow the correct procedures, our specialist immigration solicitors can provide legal advice and make your immigration process as safe and stress free as possible.
Immigration & Work Visas
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How Loch Law can help
The team at Loch Law can assist your business with workplace immigration issues, including applying for, and managing your Sponsorship Licence, as well as assisting the individual move forward with their Visa application.
We are here to make the process efficient and straightforward for you.
A typical process for applying for a Sponsorship Licence and Skilled Worker Visa is as follows:
- Initial Advice – We will meet with you either virtually or in person, to understand what it is you want to achieve and advise on what’s the best approach for your business;
- Employer Sponsorship Licence – We will explain what documents we need from you and we will draft the application;
- Certificate of Sponsorship – Once your Sponsorship Licence is approved, we will assist the employee appointed into the key responsibility role to then to apply for and assign the Certificate of Sponsorship to the individual you are sponsoring;
- Skilled Worker Visa Application – We can provide the individual you are supporting with guidance and support in their application for their Visa;
- Dependents – We can assist with helping with dependent Visa applications too.
- Ongoing Support – We will continue to support your business to ensure you meet all your sponsorship requirements.
Our experts are here to keep you safe even when you face your toughest business immigration challenges.
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Flexi-Retainer
Our flexi-retainer provides access to commercial and bespoke HR and legal solutions. The benefits of a retainer package include:
- An affordable way for businesses to access all of Loch Law’s services;
- If the services aren’t needed for a month, the time allocation rolls over to the next;
- Based on a fixed monthly fee, which allows you to manage finances, but also have the flexibility to buy in other services when you need them;
- Pick a package which suits your needs now, and move onto another arrangement at any time.
Are there requirements to being a Sponsor?
There are a number of requirements to become a Sponsor and the Home Office may arrange a compliance visit to ensure that the Sponsor licence is genuinely required and the business understands and is able to comply with the following duties:
Reporting various matters to the Home Office within a prescribed timeframe (such as absences or or changes in the sponsored employee’s or the employer’s circumstances);
Record-keeping (including retaining copies of passports, contact details, adverts and recruitment documentation)
The Home Office monitors compliance on an ongoing basis and it may undertake an audit at any time to ensure the business is complying with its duties. Visits can be impromptu or pre-arranged. Sponsors will be required to show that they have systems in place to prevent illegal working and to comply with their sponsor duties. Information about sponsored employees will also need to be readily available for inspection by the Home Office.
Failure to comply with Sponsor duties can lead to severe penalties, including revocation of the Sponsor Licence, which would result in all sponsored individuals having their leave curtailed to 60 days, at the end of which they would have to leave the UK if they had not found a new sponsor.
What constitutes a ‘Skilled Worker’?
A skilled worker is anyone who has special skill, training, or knowledge which they can apply to their work.
This route of immigration is available to skilled migrants with a job offer from a UK employer which holds an appropriate sponsor licence. Critically, employers must only sponsor migrant workers where there is a genuine vacancy and must keep documents to show this is the case.
In order to qualify for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker route, the role must:
- Be a genuine vacancy;
- Be in an eligible occupation (as set out in the ‘Appendix Skilled Occupations’ of the Immigration Rules);
- Meet certain minimum salary requirements (in most cases, this will be £25,600 or the ‘going rate’ for that particular role, whichever is higher;
- Be sufficiently skilled (at or above “RQF Level 3”, which is A level qualifications or equivalent).
In addition, applicants must meet minimum English language requirements and, if they are applying from outside of the UK, hold a prescribed level of funds (although employers can choose to underwrite this financial requirement).
There can be significant costs associated with Skilled Worker visas and these costs (together with the visa processing times) need to be factored into recruitment processes.
A Skilled Worker visa can be issued for an initial period of up to five years but, provided the individual continues to meet the eligibility requirements, they can apply to extend their visa as many times as they like. This route also allows the individual to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain (i.e. the permanent right to live and work in the UK without restriction) after five years, provided various criteria have been met.
As experienced providers of clear, easy-to-understand business immigration advice, our team will be more than happy to discuss your requirements with you.
My business asks candidates about the right to work, and their immigration status prior to shortlisting. If it is apparent that we have enough UK candidates, we do not shortlist the non-UK candidates. Does this practice pose any risks to our business?
Yes. If the question is asked as a means of filtering out non-UK applicants or as a blanket policy to exclude non-UK applicants from the recruitment and short listing process, then this recruitment practice increases the risk of discrimination claims.
