Understandably, small business owners may be frightened at the idea of exposing their business under the scrutiny of the Home Office. When applying for a sponsor licence for the first time, the general requirements and list of mandatory documents may feel overwhelming, especially for companies which have started trading not long before they decide to hire overseas nationals.
Recently, City Legal was approached by a client worried about their sponsor licence application. The company, incorporated only two years before, was running an accountancy firm assisting local businesses with Payrolls, Book-keeping and providing advice on UK financial regulations. Having been running his company for a relatively short time, and being his business newly established, our client was worried that the Home Office would not deem his company suitable to sponsor migrant workers in the UK.
How did City Legal help?
Backed-up by years of experience, City Legal provided the client with clear guidance on the key points required by the Home Office, when evaluating business suitability for approving a Sponsor Licence application. The client was reassured that whilst it is true that the trading history of a company has an influence in a sponsor licence application, certain aspects of its operations & systems in place for recruitment as well as HR management play a more substantial role.
City Legal assisted the client in collating all the relevant supporting documents including mandatory ones, required to evidence a genuine and trustworthy business profile as well as adequate evidence of business presence within the industry. Moreover, we assisted the client in submitting its business case to the Home Office, providing detailed information on the company’s background, the purpose of their Sponsor Licence application and requesting for an immediate Unrestricted Certificate of Sponsorship to ensure uninterrupted employment of their Credit Control manager, who at that time was residing in the UK on a student visa due to expire soon.
We then assisted the client in preparing for the compliance inspection and ensured that client’s HR systems and business practises are in line with Home Office & industry standard. We received a successful outcome for the client’s business further to the inspection in a few weeks’ time. The total process took less than the 8 weeks of the processing time stipulated for a licence application. The Certificate of Sponsorship was also awarded with immediate effect, allowing the client’s employee to apply for a Tier 2 (General) visa.
If your business requires assistance in applying for a sponsor licence or manage an existing licence, please contact our corporate immigration team on 0330 058 3929.
