Duties of a Tier 2 Sponsor licence holder

Holding a tier 2 sponsor licence allows you to employ staff from abroad. With this flexibility comes a responsibility to abide by the criteria as set out by the Home Office. In this article, we will look at the requirements and responsibilities of sponsor licence holders and how they can maintain best practice.

The Home Office is cracking down on compliance with sponsor licences and it is imperative that you ensure compliance. There are significant punishments for businesses that do not take compliance seriously and with an increase in visits, it is more important than ever to understand your responsibilities.

Benefits:

There are significant benefits to being able to hire staff from outside of the UK. This is especially true in specialised professions where you can source talented staff from around the globe. Many businesses cannot source their specialised staff locally: with a sponsor licence, you remove that problem.

The benefit of the scheme is that you can produce certificates of sponsorship (COS) that allows your would-be staff to apply for a tier 2 visa. Thus you can aid their route into the country and be fully involved in bringing them to the country.

Responsibilities:

With the all of the benefits of sponsor licensing, there are also some drawbacks. There is a heavy burden of responsibility for compliance. You can help to ensure compliance by ensuring yo take care of the following:

• Keeping significant records of the movement of your staff (this includes holidays and significant periods outside of the country)
• Reporting any concerning behaviour (high sickness levels etc.)
• Nominate specific people to care for the compliance of sponsored migrants.

This is only a small snapshot of the overall compliance needs of the sponsor licence. In order to maintain an A rating, licence holders need to ensure that they are fully conversant with the rules and maintain strict compliance. With an increase in premises visits, it is important that you are fully compliant.

Conclusion

The tier 2 sponsor licence provides significant flexibility for employers: but the strict conditions mean that it must be well maintained to ensure compliance. For large companies, their HR professionals will likely take charge of the running of the scheme: but for SME's there are significant benefits in outsourcing to lawyers such as our company. You can ensure compliance by entrusting your sponsor licence responsibilities to us. We can ensure that you remain compliant and keep your records safe and secure for you.

How we can help

Our specialist immigration solicitors can help with compliance and take some the problems out of holding a sponsor licence. By project managing your needs, we can help build a framework which gives you the benefits of a sponsor licence and the freedom to run your business.

So if you would like to talk to someone about sponsor licensing or indeed any other immigration issue get in touch. Our knowledgeable lawyers can help you.