Apply for A Sponsorship Licence through our Business Immigration Solicitors

Yes, we are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and must adhere to their professional conduct standards at all times. We are regularly audited and always work in our clients’ best interests.

Certain permitted paid engagements will now be incorporated into the Standard Visitor Visa. Where individuals are invited as experts by UK-based organisations or clients to come to the UK, they will be permitted to travel and visit the UK under the Standard Visitor Visa. However, it is essential to note that visitors must have arranged the permitted paid engagement before traveling to the UK and must undertake the activity within 30 days of their arrival in the UK.

The Spring Budget 2023 has expanded the scope of permitted business activities under the Business Visitor Visa. The changes include recognising remote work as a permitted activity, lifting restrictions on working directly with UK clients under intra-corporate contracts, and broadening activities for legal professionals, scientists, researchers, and academics.

Yes, the amendments now recognise remote work as a permitted activity. However, the work conducted remotely in the UK must be related to the visitor’s overseas employment and should not be the primary reason for their visit to the UK and cannot be for a UK entity.

• As an employer you need immigration advice for two main reasons:

  • Ensuring you do it correctly and as quickly as possible. The immigration rules are always changing and as a business you should not be spending time focused on ensuring your visa applications are correct or wasting your time and cost having to re-apply because you did it wrong. You should be focused on growing your business and not answering your employee's questions about visa's. Leave the administrative tasks to people who are experts, who can do it correctly and who can be the point of contact for your employees for all visa questions, again giving you more time to focus on what is important, your business!

  • Directors can personally be sent to jail for 5 years and pay an unlimited fine if found guilty of employing someone who they knew or had ‘reasonable cause to believe’ did not have the right to work in the UK. Your business can be penalised if you employ someone who does not have the right to work, and you might have to pay a civil penalty (fine) of up to £45,000 for each illegal worker and up to £60,000 for repeated breaches.

• As an individual, you do not need to stress about filling in the incorrect information and worrying about your application being rejected alongside the stress of starting a new job. We can provide a stress free and fast paced service which will ensure your application is submitted correctly to allow you to start working as soon as possible. We will also be your main point of contact for the 100's of questions you will have about your visa application, without bothering your new employer.

Depending on your specific field of employment there are a few options available to you, the most common route is the Skilled Worker visa. A Skilled Worker Visa allows an individual to come to or stay in the UK to an eligible job with an approved employer. This Visa has replaced the Tier 2 (General) work Visa. Other options are the Global Business Mobility Visas, Innovator Founder Visa, and Start-up Visa.

You should also consider whether you may have access to ancestry visa or citizenship routes.

This can be done! You may be able to bring your spouse and/or children with you to the UK if you have been granted a right to work in the UK. Your spouse and/or children will need to each apply for a Dependent Visa, which is subject to proving financial requirements and other supporting documents which we can assist with!

Yes we can! Our services extend to assisting individuals who are already in the UK looking to apply for a new visa, switch to a different visa or extend their current visas. We can also assist you with applying for settlement.

If you wish to employ a candidate who is not a settled worker (or is already sponsored by another company but requires new sponsorship), or who does not otherwise have immigration permission to work for you in the UK, you will need to be authorised by the Home Office to sponsor them in order to employ them. This authorisation is known as a ‘sponsor licence’, and employers who hold a sponsor licence are known as sponsored / authorised employers.

We can assist you in managing your right to work checks, preparing for Home Office compliance visits, managing the Sponsor Management System (SMS), and providing guidance on what HR practices should be in place to ensure your business meets its sponsor obligations (failure to do so could lead to your sponsor licence being revoked).

Depending on your specific field of employment there are a few options available to you, the most common route is the Skilled Worker visa. A Skilled Worker Visa allows an individual to come to or stay in the UK to an eligible job with an approved employer. This Visa has replaced the Tier 2 (General) work Visa.

You should also consider whether you may have access to ancestry visa or citizenship routes.

When UK employers are granted with a sponsorship licence (a licence which enables an employer to sponsor foreign workers to come and work in the UK) there are prescribed duties imposed upon them by the Home Office. Any breach of these duties will grant the Home Office the power to revoke the company’s sponsorship licence and, in many instances, lead to further repercussions. Unsurprisingly, the Home Office does not take breaches in sponsor compliance lightly as companies who fail to uphold their duties are a risk to UK immigration control.

Learn more.

A Home Office press release, published on 16 June 2023, reported that they had deployed over 300 immigration officers on over 150 enforcement visits in one day in a bid to crack down on illegal working in the UK. Immigration Enforcement officers made arrests of 105 foreign nationals found working without the required right, during 159 illegal working visits (a link to the full press release is included here). It is clear that the Government intends to increase compliance checks and prevent illegal working in the UK which is in line with their five-point plan to tackle illegal migration which was unveiled earlier this year. Now, more than ever, it is important that you are protecting your business and avoiding unnecessary risks by conducting the prescribed right to work checks.

Learn more.