Can the Home Office visit my business before granting my business a sponsor licence?

The Home Office has the right to visit and audit businesses who hold existing sponsor licences, as well as businesses who are applying for sponsor licences. In this blog, we will tell you about pre-licence assessment visits and what your business can do to be prepared.

Pre-licence visits are carried out by the Home Office to ensure that you have the necessary systems and procedures in place to meet your duties as a sponsor licence holder. This includes checking that you are carrying out your right-to-work checks properly, that you genuinely need a sponsor licence, that the number of migrants you are looking to sponsor is appropriate to the size and nature of your organisation, and that you are able to comply with all relevant sponsor duties.

To that end, they may ask to speak to key members of your team, such as your Authorising Officer named on your licence application (which is generally the most senior member of your organisation responsible for the recruitment of migrants and the compliance with duties as a sponsor licence holder), as well as examine your HR records and procedures. The visit can be announced or unannounced. It can be to any premise or site you have informed the Home Office of as part of your sponsor licence application. Failure to produce the information requested or the inability to adequately answer questions can have a negative effect on your sponsor licence application. As such, it is important to be prepared for a visit.

At Gherson, we advise our clients on their duties as sponsor licence holders when instructed for their sponsor licence application. If you are feeling anxious about a pre- or post-licence visit, we can carry out a mock audit on your organisation to check that you will be compliant with your sponsor duties and advise you on areas that you can improve.

How Gherson can assist

Gherson’s Immigration Team are highly experienced in advising on UK visa matters. If you have any questions arising from this blog, please do not hesitate to contact us for advice, send us an e-mail, or, alternatively, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn to stay-up-to-date.

The information in this blog is for general information purposes only and does not purport to be comprehensive or to provide legal advice. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the information and law is current as of the date of publication it should be stressed that, due to the passage of time, this does not necessarily reflect the present legal position. Gherson accepts no responsibility for loss which may arise from accessing or reliance on information contained in this blog. For formal advice on the current law please do not hesitate to contact Gherson. Legal advice is only provided pursuant to a written agreement, identified as such, and signed by the client and by or on behalf of Gherson.

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