Over the last year, there has been a lot of talks regarding the UK businesses applying for a sponsor licence. There are many people who have been wondering why are the government and various immigration solicitors are pushing for businesses to apply for a sponsor licence immediately.
As we all know that the UK decided to leave the European Union and since Brexit has been creating waves both within the UK and the European Union in general. With Brexit, the free movement within the European Union came to an end and now if any UK business wants to hire any non-UK employee then they would need a sponsor licence to do so.
The sponsor licence just like everything has been divided into two parts, tier 2 and tier 5. Tier 2 is also known as the worker category under which people are hired for long-term jobs. On the other hand, the Tier 5 category is for temporary employment. They both have further been divided into sub-categories that businesses can choose from according to the relevance to them.
Everything has a very simple process and if you complete all steps one by one, you can have a sponsor licence in about 6-8 weeks. This application can now be made virtually and does not require you visiting government offices. All you need to do is make sure before making the choice of applying that your business is eligible for a sponsor licence or not. You will have to choose the type of sponsorship too as mentioned above, tier 2 or tier 5.
Sponsorship Management Roles
Once you have made a decision on the type of sponsorship, it is very important to hire or appoint someone to manage your sponsorship licence duties. It is a very tedious process and has to be handled properly as missing any one thing can lead to cancellation of your licence. There are 3 major hirings or appointments that you need to do. First is a level 1 user, who will be responsible for all the management of day-to-day tasks and updates. Second, a key contact who will be your point of contact with the UK Visas and immigration office and the third is the account manager who will be responsible for everything and will take care of the SMS. You can hire one person to manage everything or three different people, it will be your responsibility and choice.
The last but not the least complete your application and pay the fee. Sounds simple but it isn’t. It is advisable for you to hire an immigration solicitor to help you through the process.
Chances of Rejection
The chances of rejection of a sponsor licence are 2 out of 10 proverbially. The only reasons any application is rejected is either your business has a history of convictions like money laundering or if your precious sponsor licence was revoked due to any reasons.
Approved
Once approved you will be able to hire people from across the globe. To hire people you will have to make sure that they also are eligible under the visa requirements of the British Government like good character, language, etc. Every certificate of sponsorship that you assign costs about €199. Also, the time and energy you spent on finding the perfect candidate should not go to waste if they get rejected while applying for a tier 2 visa.
Hope this helped clear all your doubts regarding the hiring of employees from overseas. Do visit https://www.gov.uk/ to see if your company or business is BREXIT ready.
