My company has just completed the acquisition of another business and some of their employees have Skilled Worker visas. Do I need to do anything?

When you acquire a business, there are various steps you need to complete to ensure both businesses remain compliant with their sponsor duties if one or both have a UK migrant sponsor licence

The steps that you need to complete will depend on various factors.

Many businesses underestimate the immigration work involved in mergers and acquisitions. It is important to loop in your immigration service provider as soon as possible, so they can advise on the steps both businesses need to take and by which deadline.

A sponsor licence is not transferable, so what happens to either businesses’ licence (as applicable) will depend on various factors, such as if there is a change in direct ownership, if all or part of, or the controlling number of shares in, the organisation has been sold, if the organisation is partly or wholly taken over by another organisation, or if parts of the business are splitting out to form new organisations. This list is not exhaustive.

These events have to be reported to the Home Office via both organisations’ electronic sponsorship management system (if they have licences) within 20 working days of the change to the structure occurring. Failure to report can result in one or both licences being downgraded or revoked. If the acquiring business does not have a sponsor licence, and migrants from the acquired business are moving over, a sponsor licence has to be applied for within 20 working days of the takeover.

Where sponsored migrants from the acquired business move over to the sponsor licence of the acquiring business, the original licence will be made dormant to allow for future reports to be made to the Home Office in relation to those migrants. The acquiring business will need to report the transfer of the new sponsored migrants to the Home Office.

Where there is a change in direct ownership of the acquired business, their sponsor licence will usually be revoked (if they have one). An application for a new sponsor licence will then have to be made once the deal has been concluded.

How can we help?

Gherson’s Corporate Immigration team has extensive experience in all aspects of UK work visas and Sponsor Licences, and would be happy to assist. Please do not hesitate to contact us to discuss your options, send us an e-mail, or, alternatively, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, 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 don’t 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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