If you are a UK organization (Public body, SME, Franchise, or Start-up) and are looking to employ foreign workers, temporary workers, or foreign students in the UK. Your organization will need to apply for a sponsorship licence. Once you are granted a sponsorship licence you can issue a certificate of sponsorship (CoS) to the foreign workers, temporary workers, or students who want to work for your organization through the sponsor management system (SMS). Read the blog to know about documents required for UK sponsorship licence.

Appendix A: Documents required

In order to apply for a UK sponsorship licence, you need to submit the necessary documents to the Home Office. Appendix A is the sponsor guidance on the documents and the mandatory documents required to support a sponsor licence application. Appendix A comprises a number of tables that any organization applying for a sponsor licence must work through to determine which documents must accompany their application.

In most cases, a minimum of 4 documents (or, where stated, 4 combinations of any documents) must be submitted including any documents described as ‘mandatory’. You may not need to send
4 documents if you are an organization listed in Table 1.

You must provide extra documents (in addition to the 4 documents listed in the 4 tables from Appendix A) if you are applying under Skilled Worker or T2 Ministry of Religion.

Tables in Appendix A

There are 4 tables in Appendix A that suggest a sponsor licence applicant about the documents they need to submit to the Home Office.

Table 1 

Table 1 sets out some limited circumstances when you may not have to send 4 documents. If you are a public body not listed on the GOV.UK website, you need to only send the documents
described. In some cases, you may not need to send any documents at all, unless there are documents listed in Tables 2 or 3 that are specifically required for your type of organization or the route on which
you are applying.

Table 2

Table 2 sets out the mandatory documents you must send if you are a start-up, franchise, or charity, or if you are subject to regulation, inspection, or monitoring.

Table 3

Table 3 sets out the documents that are mandatory for the route, or routes, on which you are applying.

If you have not identified 4 documents to send to the Home Office after looking at Tables 1, 2, and 3, you must then look at Table 4.

Table 4

Table 4 sets out other documents you can send if you still cannot make 4 documents (this is the minimum number of documents required) from Table 1, Table 2, and Table 3.  

Documents Required

Depending on whether you are a public body, Start-up, SME, or franchise you need to submit a minimum of 4 documents. The list of all the documents is mentioned in all 4 tables of Appendix
A. The list is exhaustive and documents include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Latest corporate bank account statement.
• Latest audited or unaudited annual accounts. Audited accounts are required if your company is legally obliged to file audited accounts.
• Employer’s liability insurance of a minimum of £5 million from an authorized insurer.
• Certificate of VAT registration.
• Evidence of registration as an employer with HMRC such as PAYE number and Accounts Office Reference Number.
• Proof of ownership or commercial lease of business premises or rent agreement.
•  If you are required to be registered with and/or inspected/monitored by a regulatory body to operate lawfully in the UK, evidence of your registration.

Employers applying for a sponsor licence also need to provide information such as the following in their cover letter.

• Explain the reason for making an application for a sponsor licence
• Specify the industry they are operating in
• Mention their weekday opening, closing, and operating hours
• Hierarchy chart of all owners, directors, and board members
• List of the names and job titles of all employees, if the organization has 50 or fewer employees
• Specify the names of everyone who has access to the email address supplied with the online sponsor licence applicatio
•  Provide the contact details for the organization.

Other information in case of a skilled worker being hired must also be submitted. This information includes but is not limited to the following:

• The job title and SOC (Standard Occupational Classification) code for the role
• A job description describing the duties of the role in detail
• Details of skill, qualification, experience, etc. required for the job

If you are looking to apply for a sponsor licence or employ a skilled worker from outside or inside the UK and need assistance, please contact Visa and Migration Ltd on 02034111261 or
email info@visaandmigration.com