Your sponsor licence refused means that you (as a business or organisation) applied for it in order to recruit foreign workers, but the Home Office refused your application. The refusal will prevent you from sponsoring overseas workers under worker or temporary worker routes such as the Skilled Worker Visa, the Health and Care Worker Visa, or the Seasonal Worker Visa.

Without a valid sponsor licence, you cannot assign a CoS (Certificate of Sponsorship) to the foreign workers who require sponsorship to be able to apply for a relevant work visa.

Your sponsor licence refusal also impacts the applicant, as their visa application nay be refused unless they make a new application with a different employer who has a valid sponsor licence and a CoS. Generally, this depends according to circumstances and an application may be submitted without a CoS and Home Office can be requested to place the application on hold until a decision is reached.

Common reasons for refusal of sponsor licence

There can be several reasons why your sponsor licence application was refused. Errors can be on your part or may have been committed by the caseworker working on your application. 

You may have made one of the following errors due to which your sponsor licence was refused.

• You provided false/incorrect/misleading documents or acted in bad faith;

• There were insufficient processes and personnel at your end to comply with your sponsor duties;

• You have a relevant unspent criminal conviction;

• You are legally banned from acting as a director of a company or being involved in the management of a company for a specified period;

• You failed to demonstrate that you are a genuine and legally operating business in the UK;

• There is no trading presence of your business in the UK;

• You previously held a sponsor licence that was revoked

• You are unable to meet the eligibility criteria to be a sponsor under the visa category you applied for; 

• You do not have robust compliance in place; 

• The employment is not genuine; 

• The organisation does not have sufficient funds to pay the salary of the sponsored employee; 

• You did not provide mandatory information in Appendix A

Impact of your sponsor licence refused

If your sponsor licence application is refused, it can have significant consequences for your business, particularly if you rely on recruiting overseas workers. Without a valid sponsor licence, you cannot sponsor most foreign nationals under worker or temporary workers routes such as the Skilled Worker visa, the Health and Care Worker visa, or the Seasonal Worker Visa.

Here are the common factors that can affect your business as a result of a sponsor licence refusal.

You cannot sponsor overseas workers

• Disruption in your recruitment plans and difficulties in hiring skilled workers within the required timeframe.

• Postponement of your projects.

• You may have to incur additional costs in:

• Addressing the reasons for refusal. 

• Receiving legal or professional advice. 

• Making a new sponsor licence application. 

• You might have to repeat your entire recruitment processes if overseas candidates can no longer be hired.

• You may have to wait for a cooling-off period (usually 6-12 months) before reapplying.

• You may face increased Home Office scrutiny of any future applications.

• Refusal may affect your business expansion plans, project delivery, service levels, and workforce planning.

• Refusal may impact your overseas expansion plans.

• Potential loss of job applicants.

Cooling-off period

Importantly, if you have received a civil penalty for reasons such as you failed to comply with immigration laws, particularly by employing someone who does not have the legal right to work in the UK, then you should not re-apply for a fresh sponsor licence for 12 months from the date on which the penalty became payable. 

In some cases, the cooling-off period may be of up to five years. For example, if your business/organisation has been issued with two or more civil penalties for employing illegal workers, serious compliance breach previously.

Can you challenge a Sponsor Licence refusal?

If you think that your sponsor licence was refused due to either a caseworker error or as a result of supporting evidence that you sent as part of your application not being considered by UKVI, then you can request the correction of that error and, if appropriate, you can submit a new online sponsor licence application.

On the other hand, if you believe that the sponsor licence refusal decision was unlawful, unreasonable or procedurally improper, then you can apply for a Judicial Review (JR) of the refusal decision. The JR process is generally expensive as it is a last resort to challenge a decision and, in some cases, it may be best to submit a new application.

You can also simply re-apply for a new sponsor licence provided there are no cooling off restrictions. Re-applying straight away is possible if the Home Office rejected your sponsor licence application because you could not submit documents or information requested within a deadline for reasons beyond your control or because a representative submitted your online application.

How does a Sponsor Licence refusal impact visa applicants?

When your sponsor licence is refused, the consequences are not just limited to your business but can extend and affect prospective employees who were expecting sponsorship from you.

They may be impacted in one of the following ways:

• Because you cannot assign a CoS, most overseas workers cannot apply for a Skilled Worker visa or other sponsored work visas.

• The applicant may have to postpone their plans until you successfully obtain a sponsor licence or they secure sponsorship from another Home Office-licensed sponsor. 

• If the Home Office refuses your sponsor licence application, you may be unable to proceed with the recruitment, and hence you may have to withdraw the job offer to an overseas worker.

• Applicants may incur costs related to their professional qualifications or registrations, taking English language tests, any document translations, travel arrangements, and any immigration advice they have taken.

• Applicants may have to restart the job search process, attend further interviews, which can delay their career progression.

• Your sponsor licence refusal can also affect the applicant’s family plans.

How can Visa and Migration help?

We understand that a sponsor licence refused can be detrimental, particularly if your business depends on skilled migrant workers.

We have expert immigration lawyers who can help you make a successful sponsor licence application, or if your application has been refused, they can help you challenge sponsor licence refusals.  We assist businesses/employers in the UK to identify any caseworker errors that have led to your sponsor licence refusal decisions and assist you in challenging or making a new application (if appropriate) against a sponsor licence refusal decisions. 

We also assist you in preparing fresh applications for sponsor licences following previous refusal decisions.

For expert advice and queries on refusal of sponsor licence and remedies for them, you can call us at +44 (0)20 3411 1261 or write to info@visaandmigration.com