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Top leading UK Visa Sponsorship for Employers

February 27, 2023Last Updated: February 27, 2023

6 minutes read

You’ll usually need a sponsor license to employ someone to work for you from outside the UK. This includes citizens of the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland who arrived in the UK after 31 December 2020.

This includes unpaid work, like running a charity.

You will not need a license to sponsor certain groups, for example:

Irish citizens
those with settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme
those with indefinite leave to remain in the UK

Sponsoring someone does not guarantee that they’ll get a visa to work for you in the UK.

Eligibility

To get a license as an employer, you cannot have:

unspent criminal convictions for immigration offences or certain other crimes, such as fraud or money laundering
had a sponsor license revoked in the last 12 months

You’ll need appropriate systems in place to monitor sponsored employees and people to manage sponsorship in your business.

UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) will review your application form and supporting documents. They may visit your business to make sure you’re trustworthy and capable of carrying out your duties.

Sponsorship management roles

You need to appoint people within your business to manage the sponsorship process when you apply for a license.

The main tool they’ll use is the sponsorship management system (SMS).

The roles are:

authorizing officer – a senior and competent person responsible for the actions of staff and representatives who use the SMS
key contact – your main point of contact with UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI)
level 1 user – responsible for all day-to-day management of your license using the SMS

These roles can be filled by the same person or different people.

You can also appoint an optional level 2 user once you have your license. This is an SMS user with more restricted access than a level 1 user, for example they cannot withdraw a certificate of sponsorship.

Suitability checks

You and your staff will be checked to make sure you’re suitable for these roles. You may not get your license if anyone involved in sponsorship has:

an unspent criminal conviction for an offence listed in the guidance for sponsors
been fined by UKVI in the past 12 months
been reported to UKVI
broken the law
been a ‘key person’ at a sponsor that had its license revoked in the last 12 months
failed to pay VAT or other excise duty

You and your allocated staff must also:

be based in the UK most of the time
not be a contractor or consultant contracted for a specific project
not be subject to a bankruptcy restriction order or undertaking, or a debt relief restriction order or undertaking
not have a history of non-compliance with sponsor requirements

Your allocated staff must usually be paid members of staff, or office holders.

Apply for your license

You need to apply online for your licence.

Once you’ve finished the online application, you need to send in:

the submission sheet at the end of the application
your supporting documents, if you’re asked to

Any affidavits or statutory declarations you send must be witnessed by a qualified, independent person – for example, a solicitor, Notary Public, Justice of the Peace, Commissioner for Oaths, or (in Scotland only) a Councillor.

Apply now

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Check whether your worker needs an ATAS certificate

Before you assign a certificate of sponsorship to your worker, you may need to check whether the worker needs an Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) certificate.

Who needs to do this

You’ll need to do this if you’re sponsoring a worker on any of the following:

a Skilled Worker visa
a Senior or Specialist Worker visa (Global Business Mobility)
a Graduate Trainee visa (Global Business Mobility)
a UK Expansion Worker visa (Global Business Mobility)
a Service Supplier visa (Global Business Mobility)
a Secondment Worker visa (Global Business Mobility)
a Scale-up Worker visa
a Government Authorised Exchange visa
an International Agreement visa

If you’re sponsoring a worker on any other visa, you do not need to do anything.

What you need to do

If you do need to check, you must follow these steps.

Check if the worker needs an ATAS certificate.
Answer the question on the certificate of sponsorship, confirming whether or not the worker needs an ATAS certificate. If they do not need an ATAS certificate, you may need to give a brief explanation of why.
If the worker does need an ATAS certificate, you must tell them that they need to get one and include it in their visa application.

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Check if the worker needs an ATAS certificate

The worker will need an ATAS certificate if all of the following are true:

you have a Student sponsor licence
you’re sponsoring the worker in a relevant occupation code
the worker will be carrying out research at PhD level or above in a ‘relevant subject’ – check the relevant subject areas list in the worker sponsor guidance
the worker’s nationality is not exempt from needing an ATAS certificate – check the exempt nationalities list in the worker sponsor guidance

If your worker does not need an ATAS certificate because they will not be doing research at PhD level or above in a relevant subject but all of the other points apply, you’ll need to add an explanation note.

You can either:

add a note to the ‘job description’ field on your certificate of sponsorship
add a sponsor note after you have assigned your certificate of sponsorship

Example explanation note

The worker does not need an ATAS certificate because the role does not involve research at PhD level or above.

If the worker needs an ATAS certificate

You must:

tell the worker that they need to get an ATAS certificate and include it in their visa application
make and keep a copy of the ATAS certificate, once it has been issued

You do not need to add an explanation or a sponsor note if your worker does need an ATAS certificate.

Tell the worker that they need an ATAS certificate

Tell the worker that they must apply for an ATAS certificate and include it in their visa application.

If the worker does not include their ATAS certificate, their visa application will be refused and you may lose your sponsor licences.

ATAS certificate applications for workers can take at least 2 weeks to be processed (3 weeks between April and September).

Make and keep a copy of the ATAS certificate

When the worker has received their ATAS certificate, you must make and keep a copy of the certificate, or the electronic approval notice the worker received from the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).

Also read : Germany 8 Most Effective Free Ways for Foreign Jobseekers to Get a Job.

Certificates of sponsorship

You must assign a certificate of sponsorship to each foreign worker you employ. This is an electronic record, not a physical document. Each certificate has its own number which a worker can use to apply for a visa.

When you assign the certificate to a worker, they must use it to apply for their visa within 3 months. They must not apply for their visa more than 3 months before the start date of the job listed on the certificate.

You may need to check if your worker needs an Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) certificate before you assign a certificate of sponsorship.

Defined certificates

These are for people applying on a Skilled Worker visa from outside the UK.

You must apply for defined certificates for these workers through the sponsorship management system (SMS). You’ll get access to the SMS when you get your licence.

When you get the certificate

Applications are usually approved within one working day. It may take longer if UKVI need to carry out further checks on the information in your application.

Defined certificates will appear in your SMS account once they have been approved. You can then assign them to a worker.

Undefined certificates

These are for Skilled Workers applying from inside the UK, and applicants on all other visas.

When you apply for your licence you’ll be asked to estimate how many undefined certificates you’ll need for Workers and Temporary Workers in the first year.

Also read : The 5 Best Engineering Jobs In The UK With Visa Sponsorship And Relocation Support Apply Now

If you’re sponsoring a UK Expansion Worker

If your licence has a provisional rating, you’ll only be able to assign one certificate of sponsorship. This must be assigned to the authorising officer so they can enter the UK.

Once they’ve got their visa, you can upgrade your licence to an A-rating and request up to 4 additional certificates of sponsorship using the sponsorship management system (SMS).

Certificate costs

You’ll need to pay a fee when you assign a certificate to a worker. How much a certificate will cost depends on the type of sponsor licence you have.

Type of licence	Cost per certificate
Worker (except workers on the International Sportsperson visa)	£199
Temporary Worker	£21
International Sportsperson – where the certificate of sponsorship is assigned for more than 12 months	£199
International Sportsperson – where the certificate of sponsorship is assigned for 12 months or less	£21

If you assign a certificate of sponsorship to a worker on a Skilled Worker or Senior or Specialist Worker visa, you might also need to pay the immigration skills charge.