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 licence. Once granted, you will be able to hire skilled staff from the overseas. However, you will be required to strictly comply with the rules pertaining to the sponsor licence.
When your sponsor loses the licence? what impact does it have on the employees?
Failing to fully comply with the Home Office sponsorship licence or a breach in sponsorship licence 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 sponsor licence can have your licence 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“If you’re involved in the reason why your sponsor lost their licence, your visa will be withdrawn and you’ll have to leave the UK immediately.”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 licence 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 licence.
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 licence 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 licence 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 licence 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.
Are you served with a revocation notice? Get help from SRA-approved Business Immigration lawyers.
Given the limited time frame and the serious implication the licence revocation may have had on your business economic workforce, you need to think strategically and act fast. Therefore, it is always highly recommended to obtain legal advice from professional experts who can further steer you in the right direction and can help you commute with the Home office to effectively address the compliance issues.
With a time-efficient approach, our Business Immigration Lawyers can help gather substantial evidence to apply for the pre-licence error correction submission on your behalf. If this option fails in overturning the decision, we can guide you and offer our hands-on services through a judicial review. With this assurance, if you are looking for legal representation on sponsorship licence revocation, we can even help you. Contact our friendly staff via a call at 0800 048 7573 or feel free to drop us an email at contact@axis.laywer