Any UK based organization that wants to employ a non-EU or EEA individual in their organization in the UK on Tier 2 or 5 Visa must first apply for a sponsor licence. After the grant of sponsorship licence, the organisation can assign their new employees, with a certificate of sponsorship which is essential for the employees to make an application to the Home Office in order to enter or remain in the UK. An organization applying for sponsor license must provide correct documentation and information required about the employees and once they have obtained the sponsor licence they have certain duties to meet. If they fail to meet these duties their sponsor licence may be suspended, revoked or downgraded.   Compliance The Home Office requires all the organisations applying or holding a sponsorship licence to meet the compliance requirements, which are basically your HR records and other records such as the record of employee absences, their job title, interview records, advertisement records, etc. The Home Office basically wants to see whether the organisation holding or applying for the sponsorship licence is hiring genuine workers they require and not to assist illegal migration. In 2019 the Tier 2 requirements have been relaxed for employers; however, they are still required to be compliant with the Home Office requirements. The Home Office can make surprise visits after granting the licence or even before in some cases. The Home Office questions are mainly –

• Whether the employee is a genuine employee?
• If the employee aware of their job description, duties, working hours and salary?
• How the employees are assigned duties?
• Email communication of employees?
• Whether the employer is keeping mandatory documents in accordance with Appendix A?
• Whether the employer has a record of their employees’ absences and how is the absences schedule?

The Home Office questions can vary depending upon the company’s area of trading. If you are looking for professional advice on compliance requirements call our team on 02034111261.