What will happen to my visa if my employer loses their sponsor licence?
In order to be eligible to apply for a Skilled Worker visa to work in the UK, you must have a confirmed job offer from an approved sponsor. UK businesses that have been approved by the Home Office to sponsor migrant workers are issued with a ‘sponsor licence’ which enables them to issue Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) to migrant workers they wish to employ.
In order to obtain a sponsor licence, employers must meet the eligibility criteria and go through an extensive application process to prove to the Home Office that their business has appropriate systems in place to monitor and report on migrant workers.
Once the sponsor licence has been granted, employers must uphold an ongoing set of responsibilities known as ‘sponsor duties’. Failure to comply with these requirements could result in the employer losing their sponsor licence. Although it is your employer’s responsibility to ensure they are compliant, as a visa holder your ability to stay in the UK could be affected if your sponsor loses their licence.
When your visa could be affected
The action of revoking a sponsor licence is generally reserved for the most serious compliance breaches, and means that the licence will be cancelled entirely. If your visa sponsor loses their sponsor licence, you will have to leave your job and leave the UK, unless you make a new visa application to stay in the UK.
You could also be affected if:
- Their sponsor licence is suspended: If the Home Office believes an employer is breaching their sponsor duties and/or poses a threat to immigration control, their licence may be suspended pending further enquiries. Depending on the outcome of the investigation, the licence will either be reinstated or revoked (cancelled).
- They’re taken over: Sponsor licences are not transferrable between businesses. Therefore if a company changes ownership, the new owners must apply for a new sponsor licence in order to take over the sponsorship of any existing migrant workers.
- They don’t renew their licence: Sponsor licences are valid for four years at a time. If your employer fails to successfully apply for a renewal once their licence expires, they cannot continue to sponsor you.
What happens to you depends on whether you’re already in the UK when your employer’s sponsor licence changes.
If you’re already in the UK
If you are already in the UK and your sponsor loses their licence, your CoS will be cancelled and your visa will be limited to 60 days (or however long you have left on the visa if it’s less than 60 days). You will have to leave your job and leave the UK unless you make a new visa application within that time. If you are involved in the reasons why your sponsor lost their licence, your visa will be withdrawn and you’ll have to leave the UK immediately.
If your sponsor’s licence is suspended, you can continue working during the period of suspension if you have already started work. Likewise, if you have travelled to the UK but have not yet started work, you will still be able to start work as long as the licence is not revoked by the time you travel. If you have applied to extend your visa, your application will be placed on hold and won’t be processed until the suspension ends.
If you’re outside the UK
If you are outside the UK and your sponsor or proposed sponsor loses their licence, you will not be able to travel to the UK and start work. If you have applied for a visa your application will be refused. Likewise, if you already have a visa but haven’t travelled to the UK, your visa will be cancelled and you won’t be allowed to enter if you travel to the UK.
If your sponsor’s licence is suspended, your visa application will be placed on hold until the end of the suspension if you are awaiting a decision on a submitted application. If you already have a visa but haven’t travelled to the UK, you will be contacted by UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) about what you need to do next.
If your sponsor’s business is taken over or they don’t renew their licence
Your visa will be limited to 60 days (or however long you have left on the visa if it’s less than 60 days) if:
- your employer doesn’t renew their sponsor licence
- following a takeover of your old employer’s business, your new employer doesn’t apply for a sponsor licence within 28 days.
You will have to leave your job and leave the UK unless you make a new visa application within that time.
If you have permission to come to the UK but haven’t travelled yet, your visa will be cancelled and you won’t be allowed to enter the UK.
A note to employers on the importance of compliance
Compliance is an integral part of the UK’s sponsorship system, and employers are expected to play their part in preventing abuse of the immigration rules. The ability to recruit talent from anywhere in the world is seen as a privilege, and one that can be taken away from those employers who are not seen to be taking their sponsorship obligations seriously.
Non-compliance can have severe consequences not only for the business, but also for employees as we have explained above. Having their visa cancelled and being forced to leave their job and the UK can be an extremely distressing experience for migrant workers, particularly those who have relocated with families and paid a significant amount of money in immigration fees. Such extreme circumstances can easily be avoided by ensuring your business regularly reviews its compliance practices.
Smith Stone Walters has created a free guide to help employers understand and comply with their duties as a licenced sponsor. To download your digital guide, please click here. Or to learn more about how we can help your business with immigration compliance, please contact us today.
