Upscaling your business to a certain level is the ultimate goal of every business in today’s timeframe. Businesses in different countries are looking for skilled professionals to grow and achieve their desired ROI. If we specifically talk about the United Kingdom, the UK employers need to obtain a sponsor licence first. This licence allows them to hire migrant workers from all over the world. This licence comes with enormous responsibilities and duties. Not staying compliant with your employer’s duties can result in sponsor licence suspension. That’s why it is essential to understand your role and responsibilities as a licence holder. Employing migrant workers for your UK business can be a necessity, but understanding your sponsor duties is also crucial to fulfil that necessity. However, to understand the legalities, you should always seek professional help from immigration lawyers in the UK.
Fulfilling your duties and understanding your rights are the two crucial aspects of this licence. If your UK business requires more powerful resources to make your presence in the marketplace, it is essential that you must obtain a sponsor licence first. However, there are several responsibilities associated with this licence that are essential to fulfil. Here in this comprehensive guide, we have mentioned a detailed list of rights and responsibilities. Apart from that, we have also described several points that can help you to understand the reasons behind suspension. So what are we waiting for? Let’s delve into this essential piece of information to understand this licence in a better way.
An Overview of Sponsor Licence Suspension
Before going any further, it is essential to know the reasons behind the suspension of your sponsor licence. This licence allows you to hire non-EU or non-EEA migrant workers for your UK organisation. Suspension of sponsor licence prevents you from employing migrant workers and impacts your business operations abundantly. Suspension is not at all beneficial for any UK employer if your most significant resources are from outside the United Kingdom. Your licence may get suspended if you do not fulfil your sponsorship obligations and stay compliant with UK immigration rules and regulations. The Home Office compliance officer ensures that sponsors meet their duties and stay compliant. Sponsors need to be more focused towards their responsibilities and duties. In our next section, we will understand several possible reasons behind the suspension.
Reasons Behind Sponsor Licence Suspension
In this specific section, we will discuss some of the possible reasons behind the suspension of your sponsor licence. These reasons will make you understand where you are lacking in fulfilling your duties. The Home Office will send you a notice stating the reasons behind the suspension of your licence. You must understand those reasons and try to resolve them as soon as possible.
- The UK Home Office can suspend your licence because you have not informed them about changes in your employees’ salaries, job roles, residential addresses, and contact details. That’s why it is essential to have all your employees’ historical contact information and residential addresses. You need to maintain the employee handbook to gather all the crucial information about your migrant workers.
- Another reason for suspension can be inaccurate record-keeping. Not maintaining crucial data of your migrant workers can put you in the situation of licence suspension. To minimise the chances of suspension, it is essential to have a robust human resource system in place.
- The reason behind the suspension of your sponsor licence can be the non-functionality of your website. It should always be in the functional mode, and you must not advertise yourself as a recruitment firm. To avoid the chances of revocation, it is essential that you must appoint key personnel for your business to ensure you are not fooling foul of compliance.
- As a sponsor, you will also be responsible for keeping an eye on your employee’s visa status. If their visa has expired and you are still sponsoring them, it can result in the suspension of your licence. Hence, it is crucial that you must track the visa status of your employees once you employ them for your UK business.
- Not keeping a robust human resource system can also impact your sponsor duties. An HR system is crucial for every UK business to keep records of their migrant workers and manage their attendance. Mismanagement in keeping attendance can also become one of the reasons behind your licence suspension. There must be a check-in and check-out system to track the working hours and attendance of your migrant worker.
- You must inform the UK Home Office through the sponsor management system about every crucial detail that needs to be updated. You must have their data since the day they landed in the UK. You must inform the Home Office through SMS if they didn’t start according to the CoS date.
Know Your Rights During the Suspension
You must understand that suspension of sponsor licence doesn’t mean the end of the world. Even if your licence gets suspended or revoked by the UK visas and immigration, you have several rights that you can implement. These rights are essential to know for every UK sponsor licence holder.
- Suspension of licence doesn’t mean that your current migrant workers will immediately stop their work. You must know that your employed migrant workers can continue their jobs till their visa expires. But one of the most important factors that need to be considered is you can not continue hiring new migrant workers and issue them a certificate of sponsorship after the suspension of your licence.
- If your sponsor licence gets suspended, you will have all the rights to connect with the Home Office during the investigation. During this period, you have the right to provide essential information to the UK visas and immigration to avoid the chances of revocation. You can even ask them to clarify the reasons behind the suspension.
So these are some rights you must know as a UK sponsor. However, if you want more information, it is advisable to get help from immigration lawyers in the UK. There are several immigration legal firms in the United Kingdom, such as A Y & J Solicitors. Their team of expert and knowledgeable solicitors can help you immensely to understand your rights after the suspension and guide you to protect your licence from suspension.
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