5 questions our clients ask us most
Often employees have their own right to work in the UK, either because they are a UK citizen or ‘settled person’ or they might have status under the EU Settlement Scheme. If not, you might be able to sponsor them to work in the UK. There are many different types of sponsorship though, and each has specific eligibility criteria and compliance obligations.
1. Is sponsorship right for my business?
Sponsorship is expensive, time consuming and comes with a lot of responsibility. However often it is the only way to fill a vacant role in the UK and bring talent to your business. Before you explore sponsorship you should check if the candidate you want to employ already has, or could apply for, a right to work in the UK through a personal immigration route, such as through the High Potential Individual, Graduate, UK ancestry scheme or Youth Mobility Scheme to name a few.
2. What kind of licence should I get?
This depends on the structure of your business and the role you are looking to sponsor. The most common licence is the Skilled Worker licence and this enables a UK business to employ people in vacancies that are at least A-level equivalent and above in terms of skill level, provided the salary meets the minimum levels. A Global Business Mobility licence can be used to bring graduates or higher skilled employees to work for a UK entity for a temporary period (again providing the salary levels are met). However these employees must be employed by an overseas entity that is linked by common ownership or control with its UK counterpart. Other licences must be used for specific types of work, for example professional sportspeople must be employed by a sponsor holding a International Sportsperson licence.
3. How long does it take to get a licence?
It currently takes on average 8-10 weeks to apply for a licence. However it is possible to speed up the process if you can make use of the priority service. There are 30 priority slots available each day on a first come first serve basis and if you get a slot, the licence application will be processed within 10 working days.
4. How much does it cost?
If you are a small or charitable business, the licence costs £536. If you are a medium or large business the licence costs £1,476. There are further costs involved once the licence is in place. Each time you want to sponsor someone you will need to issue them with a certificate of sponsorship (up to £239) and you may need to pay the Immigration Skills Charge (up to £1000 per sponsored employee per year).
5. What is involved in being a sponsor?
The Home Office views sponsorship as a privilege and it comes with lots of responsibility. The main compliance obligations are to keep full and proper records of your business and each person you sponsor, and to report information about your business and sponsored workers in a timely manner. Being a sponsor also means you need to know your way around immigration rules in general, in particular knowing how to conduct fully compliant right to work checks and avoid illegal working.
Please reach out to our business immigration team for information on fees and guidance.
