United Kingdom | Immigration | Welcome changes to Sponsor Management System functions

27th March 2023

Immigration

United Kingdom | Welcome changes to Sponsor Management System functions 

Impact: High

Summary

On 23 March 2023, the Home Office announced that with immediate effect that it is making it easier for sponsors to keep their licence details up to date. Rather than waiting weeks for the Home Office to approve certain licence changes made through the Sponsor Management System (SMS), some changes will now be fulfilled immediately. In addition, sponsors holding a licence on an eligible route will have their annual allocations of Certificates of Sponsorship automatically renewed.

The Detail

Key Personnel Changes

Requests through the SMS to update the details of the following will now be fulfilled immediately: Authorising Officer, Key Contact, Level 1 users

The following requests through the SMS will now be fulfilled immediately, subject to certain criteria being met: Replacing the Authorising Officer, Replacing the Key Contact, Adding Level 1 users

The immediate fulfilment of these requests will apply when:

• The sponsor is A-rated sponsor
• The sponsor’s licence is fully active
• The postcode used for the new Authorising Officer, Key Contact or Level 1 user either matches the postcode of the head office on the licence or, in the case of the Key Contact and Level 1 users, the postcode matches the address of a legal representative organisation which is acting on behalf of the sponsor.

Please note however, that even where requests are fulfilled immediately, the Home Office will still conduct checks and if there are any concerns, will contact sponsors so that another person can be nominated.

Annual allocation of Certificates of Sponsorship

Lastly, sponsors who hold licences on eligible routes will have their annual allocation of Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) automatically renewed. The automatic annual renewal will apply to the following:

• A-rated sponsors
• Sponsors who have an ‘active’ annual allocation status
• Sponsors holding licences on eligible routes (such as Skilled Worker and GBM – Senior or Specialist Worker)

Once a sponsor’s annual allocation is automated, they will be granted the same number of CoS that were assigned by the business in the previous year. As before, sponsors will be able to request an in-year CoS allocation by submitting a request through the SMS if the annual allocation is not sufficient.

What this means

These new automatic functions mean sponsors can keep their licence details as up to date as possible without having to wait for these requests to be approved by the Home Office.

Contact us

For a deeper discussion on the above, please reach out to your Vialto Partners point of contact, or alternatively:

• Ian Robinson, UK Partner: ian.j.robinson@vialto.com
• Andrea Als, UK Director and Solicitor: andrea.als@vialto.com
• Awale Olad, UK Advisory and Manager: awale.olad@vialto.com
• Lucy Vaux, UK Senior Manager and Solicitor: Lucinda.vaux@vialto.com
• Lyudmyla Davies, UK Partner and Solicitor: lyudmyla.davies@vialto.com

Further information on Vialto Partners can be found here: www.vialtopartners.com

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