How Much Does It Cost to Apply for a Sponsor Licence?
How Much Does It Cost to Apply for a Sponsor Licence?
Blog Article
How Much Does It Cost to Apply for a Sponsor Licence?
In the contemporary setting where businesses face intense competition, companies in the United Kingdom tend to recruit talent from different countries in a bid to compete effectively in the market. For firms who wish to employ foreign people, it is necessary to obtain a sponsor licence. It is imperative to appreciate the expenditure that comes along with this process for effective planning and finances control. This publication sets forth the costs of visa sponsorship applications in detail, explaining the costs and expenses companies need to know.
What is a sponsor licence?
Essentially, a sponsor licence is an authorisation that enables UK business owners to employ foreigners under different classifications of visas, for example, Skilled Worker visa, Intra-Company Transfer visa, and so on. Firms who have obtained a sponsor licence have the duty of monitoring and maintaining the employees they have sponsored within the United Kingdom in accordance with immigration rules. It is important to note that, although a company may wish to hire foreign workers in order to enhance its operations, there are steps that need to be taken to first apply for and obtain a sponsor licence.
Application fees – Sponsor Licence
When businesses ask, "how much does it cost to apply for a sponsor licence?", one of the elements that shall be considered the most is the application fee. The fee differs from one narcissistic organizational composition to another. The Home Office has stipulated clear guidelines on what is termed as a “small” business category and a “large” business category which drastically changes the costs.
Costs Associated with Small Firms and Non-profits
The fee to obtain a sponsor license for small businesses and non-governmental organizations is £536. A small business shall mean the following:
An annual turnover of below £10.2 million
Less than 50 employees
Total worth of assets not exceeding £5.1 million
This fee can also be advantageous to charities. This includes charities, not for profits, and colleges.
2. Fees for Large Organizations
For Sponsor Licence applications, large corporations are charged a more expensive fee of £1,476. Any organisation that does not fall under the small business category defined above will be classed as a large organisation and will be charged the higher rates.
The fee includes costs associated with reviewing and processing the applicants' licence and is deemed paid and non-refundable, regardless of whether the outcome of the application is success or failure. For this reason, applicants' businesses have to make sure that they first satisfy all the conditions of eligibility and have all the documents required prior to applying.
Additional Expenses: Costs of Sponsorship – Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS)
Apart from the initial application processing fee, businesses need to also consider the cost of assigning Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) to individual employees. CoS is a reference number given to a foreign worker by the sponsoring company, which allows the foreigner to apply for a visa. The worker is not allowed to work legally in the UK without a proper CoS.
The costs associated with charging a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) are determined by the category of worker the employer is applying for:
- For skilled workers (which includes Skilled Worker visa category), each CoS charges £199.
- For temporary workers (which consists of visa types such as Seasonal Worker visa), the charge is £21 for every CoS.
These charges are specific to the international worker and shall be incurred afresh every time an employer sponsors a new international employee, hence such a cost recurrence should be considerations in the business safe especially if several foreign workers will be recruited.
Immigration Skills Charge
How much does it cost to apply for a sponsor licence, and the Immigration Skills Charge (ISC) is another major amount that sponsors have to bear in consideration. This is a tax that Australian firms have to pay to the government when they recruit high skilled workers outside the country. The aim of the ISC is for organizations to contribute towards the upskilling of local labour rather than solely focusing on bringing in foreign labour.
The ISC also has a trigger whenever a Certificate of Sponsorship is allocated and is dependent on the scale of operation of the company;
- - Small size businesses and charities: £364 for the first year and £182 for every subsequent extension of six months.
- - Large scale considerations: £1,000 for the first 12 months and £500 for every following period of six months.
The ISC applies to most employment beneath Skilled Worker visa as per the category imposed by Transnational Worker policies except for a few cases like those for jobs at PhD level or inter-company switches specifying certain terms and conditions.
Legal and Consultancy Charges
A large number of enterprises tend to recruit either immigration solicitors or specialist agencies in charge of taking care of emotions. This is not an obligatory cost, but enlisting the assistance of professionals can be quite useful in meeting the intricate demands imposed by UK Visas and Immigration.
The legal costs will depend on how much assistance is needed. Some businesses only provide basic application reviews, and others handle the entire process agency wise. For example, institutions like ICS Legal organize and provide services for industries or firms engaged in obtaining a sponsor license including the completion of the application, compliance duties and periodic updates.
Depending on the severity of the matter and the number of personnel being sponsored, legal counsel may cost a few hundred pounds to several thousand. While this adds an additional cost further, this can also expedite the process and lessen the chances of mistakes or violations that would lead to the disallowance of an application.
Compliance and Ongoing Responsibilities
After a company successfully applies for and is granted a sponsor licence, it must observe certain compliance measures before being allowed to keep its licence. And according to these obligations, no fines or suspension would be placed on the company, and no licence would be withdrawn. While there are costs associated that are not directly related to the submission of the first application, these costs are however very important to business that intends to employ foreign workers.
Here are some illustration responsibilities of compliance:
Tracking the attendance and performance of each employee: The sponsors have to ensure that the foreign employees under them abide by the terms of their visa, and report when there are any changes in employment to UKVI.
Keeping of records: The employers need to maintain thorough and up to date records of all the workers that have been sponsored including their working rights and visa status.
Duties to report TN: UKVI has to be informed by sponsors of changes which affect the business substantially or its sponsored employees like change of positions or salaries or immigration status.
To make sure the rules are followed may mean that one will have to buy HR systems or train staff, hence the cost of obtaining and keeping a sponsor licence goes up.
Renewal Fees
The sponsor licence is normally issued for a duration of four years, after which the license must be renewed. The renewal fee is the same with the initial application fee and is £536 for small businesses and charities and £1,476 for large companies.
In order to properly manage the sponsorship of foreign nationals, it is important for companies to commence the renewal process of the likely expiration of the license in a timely manner. Any failure by the sponsoring company to apply for renewal of the license in a timely manner may lead to a curtailing of the company’s sponsorship rights with legal consequences as well as financial implications for the company.
To conclude, the issue of the cost in relation to sponsor licence application can't be addressed solely by looking at the application fee. While the application fee of the business in question may differ based on its size, there are other costs like the Certificate of Sponsorship, Immigration Skills Charge, and legal fee exclusions that must be looked at.
In considering the available costs and the possible financial investment, businesses will be able to assess whether the process of applying for a sponsor licence is worth it or not in their recruitment methods. It is also advisable to seek the services of firms such as ICS Legal in order to minimize any impediments in the course of the application and more importantly at the maintenance of compliance which allows the organization to continue recruiting skilled foreign workforce.