Things to know about Home Office compliance visit

A Home Office compliance visit is done to ensure whether an approved or prospective sponsor is or will be able to adhere to their sponsor’s duties and UK immigration law. An approved sponsor is a UK-based company or organisation that holds a valid sponsorship licence. A sponsor licence is required to hire foreign workers or international students. But in order to keep hiring foreign workers, sponsoring international students, and maintain a UK sponsor licence, an organization must comply with its sponsor’s duties.

During a compliance visit, the Home Office staff checks whether the sponsor has people and systems in place and that the sponsor’s duties are being met and the system is robust. If the officials find against it, the Home Office may penalize the organisation or suspend, or even revoke the sponsor licence or refuse a new sponsor licence application.

What is a Home Office Compliance Visit?

Home Office compliance officer visits a sponsor or proposed sponsor’s premises to ensure:

• That a licensed sponsor is complying with their sponsorship obligations, for example, maintaining accurate employee records, completing right-to-work checks correctly, and employing workers per immigration rules.
• That a prospective sponsor has the necessary systems and procedures in place to comply with their sponsorship obligations.
• Whether the information given on the sponsor licence application is correct.
• Whether the sponsor is complying with their obligations to prevent illegal working.

Home Office Compliance Visit – Things to Know

A Home Office compliance visit (sometimes announced and sometimes unannounced) is an inspection process. It may take place when an organisation applies for a sponsor licence or at any time after they have become a licensed sponsor.

In this article, we will discuss some important things to know about a Home Office compliance visit.

1. Pre-licence Compliance Visit –

During a pre-licence assessment visit, the Home Office staff must check:

• Whether the potential sponsor has the necessary and robust HR systems in place to be able to carry out their sponsor duties once they are granted a sponsor licence.
• The number of foreign workers or students they want to sponsor is appropriate to the size and nature of the potential sponsor’s organization.
• Whether there is any evidence to suggest that the potential sponsor would pose a threat to UK immigration control.
• Any areas of concern relating to the potential sponsor’s application that require further inspection, for example, verifying the original documents that they did not submit with their application.
• If the potential sponsor has applied for a licence under a skilled worker route, they must offer a genuine job that meets the correct skill and salary level threshold.

2. Post-licence Compliance Visit -

During a post-licence compliance visit, the Home Office staff must assess the following:

• The sponsor’s HR systems and key personnel (an Authorising officer, a key contact, and at least one level 1 user) to ensure they are complying with their sponsor duties.
• Whether the sponsor or any of the sponsor’s activities pose a threat to UK immigration control.
• Whether the original number of CoS or CAS sponsor requested on their sponsor application or annual request is still justified.
• Whether those working or studying with the sponsor are meeting the conditions of their leave to stay in the UK.
• Whether the sponsor continues to have a trading presence.
• Whether there were genuine vacancies for recruiting sponsored workers and vacancies met the requirements of the relevant immigration route in respect of skill and salary threshold.

3. Possible Outcomes –

The assessment officer, after conducting a compliance visit, may decide one of the following:

• To approve the sponsor licence or, in the case of an existing sponsor, they will retain their current licence status.
• To refuse the sponsor licence application or, in the case of an existing sponsor:

           o Reduce or remove their allocation of CoS or CAS
           o Downgrade workers and temporary workers' sponsors' licence to a B-rating with a time-limited action plan
           o Issue student sponsors with a time-limited action (downgrading to a B-rating does not apply to Student sponsors)
           o Suspend or revoke their sponsor licence
The compliance officer’s assessment could also help decide if a sponsor qualifies for premium customer service.

4. Announced and Unannounced Visits –

The UKVI official can make an announced or unannounced visit to a licensed sponsor or a potential sponsor’s premises. The sponsors must allow UKVI staff, on demand, access to any of their premises or sites under their control. However, diplomatic or consular premises are not necessarily required to provide access on demand. If a sponsor does not allow the UKVI staff access on demand, the staff should record in their visit report that the sponsor was non-compliant. This may result in the sponsor licence being refused or revoked.

5. Routine or Intelligence Led Compliance Visit –

The Home Office visit may be a routine inspection before and/or after assigning a sponsor licence to an organisation. The visit can also be intelligence-led. Intelligence-led visit refers to a situation where the Home Office initiates a visit to an organisation based on information or intelligence, indicating potential non-compliance with their sponsor duties, which they have received and believe warrants a compliance visit. These visits are often unannounced.

6. Time Taken for a Compliance Visit –

A Home Office compliance visit may usually take from 2 to 3 hours to complete. However, it can take considerably longer. It may take longer depending on the reasons for the visit, for example, whether it is a pre-licence visit or post-licence visit, the size of the business, and the number of sponsored staff in the organisation.

7. Preparing for a Compliance Visit –

Sponsor should ensure that their HR records are up to date, they are fulfilling the sponsor duties promptly, carrying out right-to-work checks correctly, the key personnel understand their compliance obligations and will be available on the Home Office compliance visit day, level 1 user has updated the information on the SMS (Sponsor Management System). Regular (internal, or by someone independent of the business) mock audits can help identify and resolve potential issues before a Home Office compliance visit.

8. Challenging the Outcome of a Home Office Compliance Visit -

If the Home Office suspends or revokes a sponsor licence following a compliance visit, an employer, depending on the circumstances, may have the opportunity to submit representations or apply for a judicial
review. Employers should seek legal advice promptly.

If the Home Office refuses a sponsor licence application of a potential sponsor, they cannot challenge it through an appeal. However, they may request a review for a caseworker error within 14 days.
The Home Office may have refused a sponsor licence application for small reasons, such as missing documents or failure to provide information requested by a deadline for reasons beyond the potential sponsor’s control. In such scenarios, potential sponsors may be able to reapply straight away. Otherwise, they need to check if there is a cooling-off period imposed on them. If a cooling-off period applies (it varies between 6 and 12 months), the potential sponsor can reapply only after the cooling-off period ends.

How Can We Help?

We advise an array of businesses in the UK, from any type to any size, looking for sponsorship solutions — for example, start-ups, multinationals, owner-managed businesses, SMEs, and business proprietors.
Whether you are a sponsor or a potential sponsor, you will invariably face a Home Office compliance visit. We help ensure that you are granted (in case of a fresh application) or retain (in case of an existing
sponsor) your sponsor licence. We conduct a mock audit for your organisation, creating a real compliance visit situation to prepare you for an actual compliance visit (announced or unannounced). If you need our services related to a Home Office compliance visit, you can call us at +44 (0)20 3411 1261.