Obtaining a sponsor licence enables your organisation to sponsor migrant workers or students in the UK. The Home Office will determine whether your organisation is eligible for a sponsor licence by looking at whether you can meet key criteria. Specifically, you must be able to show that:
1. Your organisation is genuine, operating lawfully and is based in the UK. You will need to provide full details of the premises where the sponsored worker will be working.
2. You can appoint key personnel who will have specific responsibilities for the duration of the sponsor licence. These should be members of your organisation based in the UK and will also need to meet character requirements.
3. You will effectively manage your sponsorship duties, through the use of HR systems and practices, and including training key personnel, to ensure that you are compliant with your sponsorship duties.
4. The roles which you are recruiting for are genuine and meet the relevant skill and pay level for the specific visa route.
To demonstrate this key information about your organisation, you will need to provide certain supporting documents; these are set out in Sponsor guidance Appendix A. In most cases, you will need to provide at least 4 documents (although this may not be the case if you are a public body recognised by the UK Government, or a company listed on the London Stock Exchange Main Market).
Once you have submitted your online sponsor licence application, you must provide the following documents:
1. The submission sheet, signed and dated by the authorising officer
2. All mandatory documents listed on the submission sheet (you will select which documents you intend to provide prior to submission)
Appendix A is divided into four main tables. Each table sets out the documents which you must provide, depending on the type of organisation you are:
1. Table 1 – specific bodies and organisations
2. Table 2 – start-ups, franchises, charities and organisations subject to regulation or inspection
3. Table 3 – route-specific documents
4. Table 4 – other documents.
The best way to identify which documents you must provide is to read through each of the tables, starting with Table 1. If you have not identified the 4 documents which you are required to send in Tables 1, 2 or 3, you must look at Table 4; this table sets out all other documents which you can send to bring your total number of documents to a minimum of 4.
If the purpose of your licence is to enable you to sponsor workers on the Skilled Worker or T2 Minister of Religion route, you will also need to provide the following information, in accordance with Appendix A:
1. Why you are applying for a sponsor licence;
2. What sector you operate in;
3. What your opening/operating hours are;
4. An up to date hierarchy chart, or a list of all employees, depending on the size of your organisation.
For the jobs which you wish to fill, and which you intend to assign a Certificate of Sponsorship to, you will need to provide further information, including the job title and occupation code, duties and skills, experience and qualifications required for the role.
These documents must be provided within 5 working days of the date on which your sponsor licence application was submitted. You can do this via email. It is important to include all of the mandatory documents listed on the submission sheet; failure to do this may mean that your application is invalid and will be rejected.