SPONSORSHIP LICENSE TO
RECRUIT PEOPLE FROM
OUTSIDE OF THE UK
What's Sponsorship Licence?
A sponsorship Licence is a type of permission required for a company in the UK to bring qualified personnel from abroad. It allows the licence holders to send
a ‘Certificate of Sponsorship’ to skilled workers.
The Licence holder can employ the skilled worker for a short time, long-term or permanent. They also decide the length of a skilled worker’s visa (up to 5 years) and can apply to extend their employee’s visa if necessary.
This visa leads to settlement after 5 years of continuous residency for
the Skilled Worker(s) and their dependants, if there are any.
Eligibility
Sole Trader and Limited companies can apply for this license. No minimum turnover is required. To get a licence as an employer, you cannot have:
• unspent criminal convictions for immigration offences or certain other crimes, such as fraud or money laundering
• had a sponsor licence revoked in the last 12 months
Job suitability
By obtaining right sponsor licence, companies may employ workers under following categories; skilled worker, health or care worker, worker on any type of “Global Business Mobility” visa (senior or specialist worker, graduate trainee, secondment worker, UK expansion worker or service supplier), worker on a government authorised exchange, seasonal worker, worker on an International Sportsperson visa, worker on an international agreement, creative worker, charity worker, minister of religion or religious worker.
Certificate of Sponsorship (COS)
The company that obtains the Sponsorship License will have access toa system that allows them to assign a COS number for each employee they will bring.
The employee
ACCORDING TO HOME OFFICE SCORING SYSTEM, THE APPLICANT MUST GET AT LEAST 70 POINTS.
MANDATORY 50 POINTS:
POINTS
POINTS
POINTS
ADDITIONAL 20 POINTS:
POINTS
(salary, experience, etc.)
Additional Jobs
Provided that they work less than 20 hours a week and stay outside the main work hours, Skilled Worker can do additional work that falls under the profession code specified in the Sponsorship certificate or the Shortage Occupation List. It does not need to inform the Home Office.
If the additional job does not fit the definition above (if a person is working more than 20 hours for a job, it’s not considered a side job), they will need to obtain a new Sponsorship Certificate and apply for a visa again for this additional job.
MOST APPLICATIONS ARE DEALT WITH IN LESS THAN 8 WEEKS