Sponsor licence holders must comply with their sponsor’s duties, one of which is to retain the relevant documents listed in Appendix D. If a sponsor fails to comply with their record-keeping duties, their sponsor licence may be downgraded, suspended, or even revoked. Any negative change in the sponsor licence can impact the employees whom that employer has sponsored. For example, their leave to remain may be curtailed. This can operationally disrupt, cost, and damage the organisation’s reputation.
Appendix D is an appendix to the full policy guidance on sponsoring a worker, temporary worker, or sponsoring student. It lists the documents and the time during which you must remain them to comply with your sponsor's duties. Appendix D applies to the sponsors hiring foreign workers under the skilled worker visa, temporary worker visa, and global business mobility visa routes. It also applies to organisations sponsoring students.
You must retain the documents listed in Appendix D throughout the period they sponsor workers or students.
In relation to sponsored workers or students, all relevant documents listed under Appendix D must be kept for either one year from the date your sponsorship for the migrant or student ended or the date a compliance officer has examined and approved these documents, if it has been less than one year since you ended your migrant’s or student’s sponsorship – whichever is earlier.
You can keep the documents either as paper copies or in an electronic format. You must be able to make them available to the Home Office whenever they request.
There are five main areas of Appendix D.
1. Evidence of Right to Work
2. Evidence of Recruitment
3. Evidence of Salary
4. Evidence of Skill Level
5. Additional Required Documents, and
6. Evidence for Students and Child Students (for Student Sponsors)
As a sponsor you need to retain these documents related to the worker you are sponsoring. Under each area mentioned here you need to retain the related evidential documents. Let us see the documents you need to keep as a sponsor under each area.
‘Right to work checks’ means keeping evidence that you have checked that each worker you have sponsored has the legal right to work in the UK and do the work in question for you. You must carry out these ‘right to work checks’ before the worker starts working for you. This is your fundamental duty as a sponsor. It also established a 'statutory excuse' against potential liability for a civil penalty for hiring illegal workers.
If a worker who you are sponsoring is not your direct employee but is employed by a related organisation (the sponsor guidance should permit this), it is the responsibility of that organisation to carry out right-to-work checks to establish a statutory excuse. However, you must carry out your own check or obtain and retain a copy of the right-to-work check conducted by the relevant organisation.
If you are sponsoring a worker and engaging that worker in a genuine self-employed capacity, you do not need to establish a statutory excuse under illegal working legislation. However, you must still carry out these checks and retain evidence of it to ensure that the worker has the legal right to work in the UK and is eligible to do the work you have sponsored them for.
If you are sponsoring a self-employed worker but the worker is engaged by another organisation (the sponsor guidance should permit this), you can either carry out your own check or ask that organisation to carry out the check. In this scenario, you should obtain and retain the relevant evidence from that organisation.
You need to check this if:
You must confirm the worker entered the UK during their visa’s validity period. In most cases, you can check the date of entry of a worker by looking for an entry stamp in their passport from an immigration officer. This will normally be endorsed on the worker’s visa. You must make a record of the entry date and retain a copy of the stamp.
If the worker is eligible to enter the UK without a visa under the creative worker visa concession they must show they have permission to work for you. You can confirm their permission if they have a ‘leave to enter’ stamp from an immigration officer on their passport.
You must be able to show the Home Office that there is a genuine vacancy for which you have recruited your sponsored workers. For some routes, before employing a foreign worker you must have carried out a formal resident labour market test, or ensured through other steps that you are protecting a suitable settled worker. If you have hired for other routes, where no formal resident labour market test is there, you must still be able to explain (with evidence if required) how you recruited the worker.
The full list of documents as evidence of recruitment is extensive, and you can find them in Part 2 of the Appendix.
You must retain the following documents where a formal resident labour market test was required:
If you did not advertise the role, you must be able to explain (and provide evidence wherever possible) how you identified the suitability of the worker for the job.
You can issue a certificate of sponsorship only if the job you have offered is eligible for it. This includes meeting the relevant minimum salary threshold and paying a suitable rate of pay.
You will be required to retain the copies of the following documents:
a. Copies of the worker’s payslips, showing the name, NI number, tax code, any allowances paid, and deductions made.
b. Evidence of the salary paid to each worker, showing the transfer of each payment into the named worker’s bank account or onto their pre-paid card, for example, a FOREX card.
c. A copy of employment or service contracts between the sponsor and the worker, which clearly shows all the following:
d. You must keep evidence of the value of those allowances paid to the workers as part of their salary package, unless they are clearly shown in a contract of employment or contract for services, or on the worker’s payslips.
e. Any additional documents specified in either the Immigration Rules or in a separate code of practice at the time the worker was assigned a Certificate of Sponsorship.
You can only assign CoS to workers where the job is suitable for the skill levels of the workers.
This means that you must check that all the workers you sponsor have the required skills, academic qualifications, or professional accreditations to do their jobs.
You must obtain and retain copies of documents showing this.
a. A detailed and specific job description in which the duties and responsibilities of the post are outlined. This must include the skills, qualifications, and experience required for the post.
b. Copies of the worker’s relevant qualifications such as degree certificates to confirm the worker’s skill level to do the job.
c. Copies of any registration and/or professional accreditation and/or any confirmation letter the worker must have to do their job. For example – if the worker is a doctor, proof of registration with the General Medical Council.
d. You must retain details of the worker’s technical or specialist skills that are coming to the UK under the entourage provisions of the Creative Worker route.
Beyond the documents related to the evidence of right to work, recruitment, salary, and skill levels you must also you must retain, as per Appendix D, a copy of all of the following, to the extent they are relevant:
a. A copy of the worker’s National Insurance (NI) number, unless they are exempt.
b. A history of the worker’s contact details. This includes their UK residential address, personal email address, and telephone number (mobile and/or landline)). This must always be kept up to date.
c. If the worker is a child aged under 18, you must make a copy of a letter from the child’s parents or one parent in case of sole legal responsibility or legal guardians, giving their consent to the arrangements that have been made with regard to the child’s application, travel, reception, and care arrangements in the UK.
d. A copy of the worker’s Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check where required for the role undertaken by the sponsored worker.
e. A record of the worker’s absences, which may be kept electronically or manually.
f. Any other document set out in the relevant route-specific sponsor guidance or, where relevant, Appendix Creative Worker Codes of Practice or the Sporting Code of Practice.
g. If you are licensed on the GBM (Global Business Mobility) – Service Supplier route, you must keep a copy of any contract you have awarded for the supply of service to you and either the tender document for that contract or if it was not formally tendered then the evidence of how the contract was awarded.
h. If you are licensed on the GBM (Global Business Mobility) – Secondment Worker route, you must keep a copy of any relevant agreement or contract for goods or investment to which both you and the overseas business are parties.
i. If any worker you are sponsoring needs to have an ATAS (Academic Technology Approval Scheme) certificate for the role they are undertaking, you must keep a copy of their ATAS certificate or the electronic approval notice received from the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office.
j. If you are sponsoring a child below school-leaving age on the Creative Worker route you must provide evidence that you (or the person or organisation responsible for the event or production) obtained a child performance licence from the local authority.
k. If you are a ‘PB1 sponsor’ sponsoring workers on the Government Authorised Exchange route, a record of the information you gave to the worker about their sponsored role.
You must also keep various documents for each migrant student sponsored under the points-based system. These documents include but are not limited to the following:
a. Copy of each sponsored migrant’s current passport.
b. An electronic copy of the migrant’s eVisa.
c. Record of the migrant’s absence/attendance either electronically or manually.
d. A history of the migrant’s contact details to include UK residential address, telephone, and mobile number. This must be kept up to date with any changes to these details.
e. Where the student is required to hold an ATAS clearance certificate, you must keep a copy of the certificate or the electronic approval notice you received, from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
As you can see the list of documents you must obtain and retain as per the Appendix D sponsor license records is exhaustive. However, you must keep them to comply with your sponsor’s duties and responsibilities. If you fail to keep them for the time required your sponsor license may be downgraded, suspended, or even revoked.
We help you understand the documents you need to keep as per your visa route, workers'or students' specific documents, etc. We also help you understand how you can get those documents and in what format you are required to hold them. If your organisation needs helps with compliance and documents maintenance our team can assist you in this and explain how you can maintain the documents in order to meet the compliance requirements. For more assistance on Appendix D sponsor licence records, you can call us at +44 (0)20 3411 1261.
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