Immigration

As a registered sponsor, immigration compliance is compulsory. There are onerous duties in relation to reporting of migrants’ whereabouts and any change of circumstances.

We can offer training, guidance and support throughout the duration of your sponsor licence to ensure compliance with all sponsor duties.

Compliance & Training

The High Potential Individual visa is an exciting category designed to enable those who have been awarded a degree level qualification from an institution on the Global Universities List within the last 5 years to come to the UK.

This route allows applicants to bring their dependant partner and children with them, subject to meeting requirements. Applicants can live and work in the UK without needing to be sponsored for a period of 2 or 3 years, depending on the circumstances. This route does not lead directly to settlement in the UK. However, after this initial period, applicants can switch to an alternative visa category should they wish to remain in the UK.

How we can help

We have extensive experience of preparing successful High Potential Individual visa applications on behalf of our clients. We pride ourselves on the presentation of our applications to the Home Office. You can be assured that your application process will be managed in a professional and organised manner.

The purpose of an immigration audit is to identify and resolve any areas of non-compliance in your organisation. It is an assessment and review of HR documents, systems, and processes to ensure compliance in readiness for sponsorship and for potential visits from the Home Office.

All organisations that are sponsors are eligible to have an inspection at any point in their licence lifetime.

In nearly all corporate transactions, a licensed sponsor needs to take action to remain compliant with their sponsorship duties and avoid the risk of having the licence downgraded or even revoked. Failure to act can have a devastating impact on the business and their sponsored migrants whose leave to remain can be curtailed to 60 days. In addition to the compliance duties, the organisation must also consider its obligations under the prevention of illegal working regime.

Sponsor Licences are not transferable between organisations. It is therefore important to consider the impact on sponsor licences and migrant workers during corporate transactions. What happens to the business, the sponsor licence and sponsored workers depends on whether:

• There is a change in direct ownership
• You sell all or part of, or the controlling number of shares in your organisation
• You are wholly or partially taken over by another organisation
• You are restructuring to form new organisations

The International Sportsperson visa route is for an elite sportsperson or qualified sports coach who is internationally established and can make a significant contribution to the development of their sport at its highest level in the UK.

This is a sponsored route, and therefore the business requires a sponsor licence. The route has both short-term (up to 12 months) and long-term (over 12 months) options.

There’s a two-stage process to obtain a visa in this route:

1. Obtain a Governing Body Endorsement from the Governing Body for the relevant sport; and
2. Apply for entry clearance or permission to stay under the International Sportsperson visa route.

There are a wide variety of long term work visas that have the potential to convert to British Citizenship if the correct processes are followed. These visas are granted depending on your skill, industry and the current labour need in the UK. Some roles are in shortage in the UK and these companies often have sponsor licences to allow them to hire skilled workers from outside of the UK. You can find all you need to know below.

• British National Overseas Visa
• Expansion Worker Visa
• Global Talent Visa
• Health and Care Worker Visa
• Innovator Founder Visa
• International Sportsperson Visa
• Minister of Religion
• Representative of an overseas business visa
• Scale-up Worker Visa
• Skilled Worker Visa

If you plan to get married or regisiter a civil partnership, or give notice thereof, and do not intend to settle in the UK after, you will need to apply for Marriage Visitor Visa.

This visa is valid for 6 months once approved.

The Tier 2 Minister of Religion route is for an authorised person who has been sponsored to perform and conduct religious worships and faith-based organisation.

Applicants are required to score at least 70 points in total to successfully apply for the required visa and they can claim the following points under the heads of Attributes, English Language and Maintenance.

Applicants can stay up to a maximum of 3 years and 1 month, or the time given on your Certificate of Sponsorship plus 14 days, whichever is shorter. After the initial grant of leave, you can apply to extend your stay in the UK.

This visa is applicable where you need to visit the UK for a paid engagement where you have been invited as an expert in your profession by a UK-based organisation or client.

The purpose of an immigration audit is to identify and resolve any areas of non-compliance in your organisation. It is an assessment and review of HR documents, systems, and processes to ensure compliance in readiness sponsorship and for potential visits from the Home Office.

UK employers who are registered sponsors or are applying for registration under the Sponsor Licence route can expect, during the course of the licence or the application process, to receive a visit from a compliance officer of the Home Office sponsor licensing team.

To prevent Home Office scrutiny and penalties we can offer a mock audit to ensure the following:

• That the processes and HR systems and practices in place enable you to meet your sponsorship duties
• Compliance with an employer’s legal responsibilities towards the prevention of illegal working and any other relevant legislation

Full compliance will secure an ‘A’ rating licence from the sponsor team. Non-compliance could lead to the loss of your licence, failure to grant a sponsor licence, and/or a fine.

This visa has replaced the Tier 2 (Inter-company Transfer) long-term staff visa. The senior or specialist worker visa is for senior managers or specialist workers in an organisation who are being transferred to the UK from an overseas entity of a UK company to undertake specific work.

This route does not lead to settlement, but it does allow for dependants to join the main applicant.

Length of Stay on a Senior or Specialist Worker visa:

In the Senior or Specialist Worker visa, the maximum period of leave is a cumulative total of 5 years in any 6-year period or 9 years in any 10-year period for high earners.

A variety of work opportunities and engagements may bring you to the UK on a short term basis in order to carry out your work commitments. These visas include:

• Creative Worker Visa
• Domestic Worker Visa
• High Potential Individual Route
• Start-up Visa
• Youth Mobility Scheme Visa

We can help you apply for whichever visa you need on and individual or corporate basis.

A Skilled Worker Visa allows an individual to legally enter the UK to live and work. It requires you to have a job with an approved employer.

The employer must hold a Sponsor Licence and be able to offer a skilled position to an individual who requires sponsorship if they are unable to fill the role from within the resident labour workforce.

Individuals will be able to work, volunteer, take on additional part-time employment, and study in the UK. The main applicants dependants will be eligible to join them on this visa. It does lead to British Citizenship.

All organisations wishing to recruit migrant workers will require a Sponsor Licence. In order to sponsor migrant workers an organisation must obtain a Sponsor Licence.

Prior to obtaining a sponsor licence, you will need to ensure you are compliant and meet requirements.

The Sponsor Management System exists to fulfil record keeping and reporting duties that all sponsor licence holders need to comply with.

As a Sponsor Licence holder, you will need to appoint people within the organisation to fulfil three key roles on the Sponsor Management System. We can act as your legal representatives in fulfilling some of these duties.

The Standard Visitor Visa is applicable for those who wish to travel for tourism, business, study (courses up to 6 months) and other specific, permitted activities. During your application process, you will need to specify what your purposes are for travel and then upload specific documents and meet requirements related to that purpose.

The Standard Visitor Visa and it’s sub-categories are valid for 6 months.

A transit visa is applicable for people passing through the UK on their way to another country. There are two types of transit visas which is dependent on whether or not you will need to pass through border control during your changeover.

A work visa gives an individual who is not a British citizen the legal right to live and work in the UK. There are a variety of work visa types according to industry, economic need and labour shortages. Each visa has strict requirements and guidelines.

Explore Work Visas