An Essential Business Immigration Glossary for Sponsor Licence Applicants and New Key Personnel
Are you a start-up business struggling to get your head around whether you should apply for your first sponsor licence? Are you employed in the Human Resources team and bemused by all the sponsor licence and immigration related abbreviations and terms? You’re not on your own.
If you’re part of a small London restaurant team or busy construction company then you probably think you don’t have the time to get to grips with ‘Home Office speak’ and that you won't understand what a business immigration lawyer is recommending if they use the Home Office terminology. Our business immigration solicitors get that as we don’t understand the language of a professional kitchen or construction site. That’s why we believe in plain English in business immigration law and have put together a glossary of business immigration terms to help you.
UK Online and London Based Immigration Solicitors and Sponsorship Licence Lawyers
For advice on sponsor licences call the expert London immigration lawyers at OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.
The sponsor licence and business immigration glossary
A handy glossary of key sponsor licence and business immigration terms for easy reference.
| Sponsor licence | The licence allocated by the Home Office to enable a business to sponsor an overseas worker |
| Sponsor licence register | The register of sponsor licence holders retained by the Home Office and published by them |
| Sponsor management system | The Home Office online tool that sponsors need to input information into in order to comply with their sponsor licence reporting and recording duties |
| Sponsor licence management services | Professional services offered by Sponsorship Licence lawyers to manage the sponsor licence for your business |
| Sponsor licence audit | An audit undertaken by a Home Office official. The audit can take place prior to or after the grant of the sponsor licence. Audits can be announced or unannounced |
| Sponsor licence key personnel | The key personnel are people appointed to manage the sponsor licence and include the authorising officer, key contact and level one user |
| Sponsor licence suspension | The Home Office can suspend a sponsor licence if it doesn’t think the sponsor licence is being operated correctly or if reporting and recording duties aren’t being fulfilled. If a sponsor licence is suspended a business will lose its A rating |
| Sponsor licence downgrade | A sponsor licence can be downgraded from an A rating to a B rating. If a business gets a B rating it can't continue to recruit new sponsored workers under its sponsor licence |
| Sponsor licence action plan | An action plan issued by the Home Office when a sponsor licence is suspended and the Home Office believe an action plan is necessary to enable the business to regain its A rating |
| Sponsor licence revocation | The early termination of a sponsor licence after a serious breach of reporting and recording duties or failure to act on an action plan. The revocation of a sponsor licence normally leads to a cooling off period of at least 12 months during which time the business can't apply for a new sponsor licence |
| Sponsor licence renewal | A sponsor licence lasts for four years and then needs to be renewed. If it isn’t a business can't continue to sponsor overseas workers |
| Settled worker | A worker who is a British citizen or who has indefinite leave to remain or who has settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme . These workers are not subject to UK immigration control |
| Certificate of sponsorship | The certificate of sponsorship has to be allocated to a skilled worker visa applicant after they have successfully gone through the recruitment process. The certificate of sponsorship isn’t a certificate . It is a reference number that the level one user gets from the sponsor management system and allocates to the work visa applicant. Without the certificate of sponsorship, the visa applicant won't get a work visa |
| Points based immigration system | The new immigration system. Points based applicants for the skilled worker visa need to score at least 70 points on the immigration system |
| Skilled worker visa | The main type of work visa. This visa replaced the Tier 2 (General) visa |
| Senior or specialist worker visa | The visa needed to transfer employees from an overseas company to a UK branch. The business needs a sponsor licence to transfer overseas employees to the UK. This visa used to be called the intra company transfer visa. It is now part of the new global business mobility visa |
| Standardised occupation code (SOC) | A government produced list of occupations and codes – a job has to fall within a SOC to meet the eligibility criteria for a skilled worker visa. As well as each job being allocated a code, each job is also given a ‘going rate for the job’. Employers have to pay the minimum salary threshold or a specified percentage of the going rate (whichever is the higher) for a skilled worker visa applicant to secure a work visa |
| Shortage occupation list | A government produced list of jobs that are deemed hard to fill in the UK because of lack of settled workers to fill them. If a job is on the shortage occupation list it is easier for an employer to sponsor an overseas worker and for the skilled worker visa applicant to get a visa |
| Minimum salary threshold | The skilled worker visa has a minimum salary threshold. The minimum salary threshold depends on the nature of the job and the applicant. For example, the minimum salary threshold is reduced if the applicant is classed as a new entrant or if the job is on the shortage occupation list |
| Immigration skills charge | A fee payable by a sponsoring employer when recruiting a worker on a skilled worker visa. The fee is payable in addition to the sponsor licence application fee and the skilled worker visa application fee |
| Immigration health surcharge | A fee payable by the sponsored employee to cover the costs of healthcare in the UK. The fees are payable whether or not a worker has private health care or doesn’t use the NHS |
The start of a new sponsor licence language
The above is just a few of the terms that you will hear if you decide to apply for a sponsor licence or you are asked to become a member of the key personnel and, for example, act as the level one user.
As proactive Sponsorship Licence lawyers we will make sure you are familiar with the terms you need but we won't bombard you with jargon or overwhelm you with information that you don’t need to know. That way you can get and operate your sponsor licence with the minimum amount of hassle.
UK Online and London Based Immigration Solicitors and Sponsorship Licence Lawyers
For advice on sponsor licences call the immigration team at OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.