If you are a UK-based eligible business/employer and you are looking to hire foreign workers, you are required to apply for a valid UK Sponsorship license. Once granted, you will be able to hire skilled staff from overseas. However, you will be required to strictly comply with the rules pertaining to the sponsor license.

When your sponsor loses the license? what impact does it have on the employees?

Failing to fully comply with the Home Office sponsorship license or a breach in sponsorship license duties can prove to be detrimental to your business. You may be subject to fines in case of non-compliance activities such as hiring overseas employees illegally within your company. Further mismanagement of the sponsor license can have your license downgraded, suspended, and even revoked.

How employees are affected after their UK sponsor loses its licence depends on your circumstances and whether you are already inside or outside the UK.

If you (employee) are already in the UK

Your visa validity period will be cut short to a 60-day limit. Your sponsorship certificate will become invalid, and you won’t be able to work in the UK.

“If you’re involved in the reason why your sponsor lost their license, your visa will be withdrawn and you’ll have to leave the UK immediately.”

If the employees are outside the UK

It is always advisable to check the status of your UK sponsors, they might not be on the UK registered employers list if their license is revoked or suspended.

Consequently, if you have already applied for the visa, it is likely to be refused. You won’t be able to travel to the UK, even if you have a visa, because it will be cancelled once your sponsor loses its license.

How to respond to a revocation notice?

The outcomes of home office enforcement action are critically dependent on how meticulously you respond to the letter of Sponsor license revocation. While judicial review could be an option to ponder, it’s best to wait until your ‘cooling-off period ends- which may last between 6-12 months until all the liabilities are paid.

However, if you feel that the Home Office has made a mistake in thoroughly assessing your sponsor licence application or your documents are not considered, you can request a review of your application.

Some steps you should take ahead once your sponsorship license is suspended or revoked:

Step 1: Remain cooperative and proactively liaise with the Home office throughout the revocation process.

Step 2: Understand the grounds of the UKVI allegation, as this will help you reshape the response strategically for more favourable outcomes.

Step 3: Gather sufficient evidence to prove that UKVI has made some factual errors that need recorrection or consideration.

Step 4: Request for remedying the compliance issues; this may withdraw your license revocation status, but you’ll still be under the radar for future non-compliance activities

Step 5: Wait for the UKVI decision; ideally, this might take 20 working days to hear from the UKVI caseworkers.