IMMIGRATION SPONSORSHIP FOR EMPLOYERS 2023
03.04.2023
It is rather common for companies in the United Kingdom to hire employees from other countries. In fact, the trend for attracting foreign workers has been consistently becoming stronger for years. An essential part of the procedure relates to obtaining a Sponsor licence that enables the company to sponsor a person to legally come to the country.
Of course, this requires the company to make some preparations. Entrepreneurs should discover the available options for such licences as well as the requirements associated with obtaining them.
SPONSORSHIP LICENCES – POSSIBLE OPTIONS
The most popular option for companies to hire international workers is the Skilled Worker route. It enables the person to legally enter and reside in the country as well as be officially employed by the sponsor. This visa is perhaps the most universal one. For the employee to obtain this visa, the company has to possess a sponsorship licence as well as issue a certificate of sponsorship.
Other popular routes are Senior or Specialist Worker and Graduate Trainee. These routes provide an opportunity for employees of related overseas group companies to carry out temporary work in the UK. Some specific aspects vary between these routes, but all of them will enable the employees to enter the United Kingdom and work here legally.
For some more specific cases, there are several other options the employee can choose from.
THE SPONSORSHIP APPLICATION PROCESS
The most important step in the process requires the company to clearly determine the role for the foreign employee. After that, it will be necessary to select the route for the worker and start preparing the documents required for the selected sponsorship licence. One of the requirements of the authorities is that they should be provided with all the corresponding details regarding the employment. This includes the description of the skills for the role in question as well as the specific workers applying for it. Without delivering the required information, the company is at risk of having their application rejected.
Where there is a group of companies, it is also necessary to approach the process properly. Most commonly, it is better to collectively obtain a licence that would include all the companies in the group. Otherwise, each entity would need to have a separate licence, which might cause some inconveniences in regular operations.
It is also important to take into account the review period of certificates of sponsorship applications as well as the visas provided based on them. The standard time frame for a Skilled Worker visa application is eight weeks. If it is an urgent matter, it is possible to purchase a priority service to shorten this period.
The Home Office performs regular inspections regarding the right to work of the company’s employees. A good step would be to ensure the documents of the current employees are in proper order before initiating the hiring process of foreign workers.
SPONSORSHIP LICENCES IN THE HOSPITALITY SECTOR
The hospitality industry has a special demand for hiring foreign workers. These businesses need all sorts of employees, from managers to head chefs. These companies can hire workers from overseas as long as the wage conditions have been met. The entities in this sector can have difficulties with the process, as the Home Office might be especially scrupulous in its dealing with such businesses. If you want to apply for a sponsorship licence for your hotel or restaurant, we can help you. We have had successful cases in obtaining such licences.
SPONSORSHIP LICENCES FOR START-UPS AND NEW BUSINESSES
For start-ups and freshly launched enterprises, it might be especially tricky to attract foreign employees. This mostly relates to submitting all the documents that are required for obtaining a certificate of sponsorship. We are ready to help new businesses to get through this procedure. Similarly, it is important for new enterprises to ensure records of their current employees are in order before attracting workers from overseas.
In case a start-up is part of a group of companies that already have the corresponding licence, there is a chance they will be able to join that licence. It will most likely take as much time as obtaining a new licence, so it is important to consider both these opportunities before initiating the process.
Our company is willing to help with all stages of the procedure, from obtaining the licence to applying for visas for foreign employees.
