As many Sponsor Licence holders will be aware, every April the Authorising Officer will be contacted by the Home Office to apply to renew the company’s allocation of Certificates of Sponsorship.
All remaining Certificate of Sponsorship allocations will be deleted on 5 April 2016, and replaced with the newly requested allocations. If a Certificate of Sponsorship is required beyond this date, a Level 1 user will need to submit a request, with the authority of the Authorising Officer. Should the company need to assign a Certificate of Sponsorship shortly after 5 April 2016 we would advise that the remaining allocation (if available) is used to avoid any issues with delayed allocations being issued on or after the renewal date.
The Company will need to consider the number of employees whose visas are due to expire within the following year as well as any potential new hires.
There is no fee for the request of additional allocations. When requesting the allocation, the number of allocations must be reasonable in comparison to the size of the company and existing number of non EEA-migrant employees. It is possible that if the number of allocations requested is deemed too high, that the Home Office may not issue the full number requested and instead issue an amount they feel reasonable.
It is advisable to submit the annual renewal request at the earliest possible opportunity to minimise the risk of current allocations expiring, prior to the new allocations being issued. If the current available allocations expire, the company will not be able to assign a Certificate of Sponsorship until a renewal request is approved.
Should you require a further allocation increase throughout the year prior to the annual renewal in April 2017, you will be able to request this provided that you have made the initial annual request.
There is a common misconception that a sponsor requesting a renewal of their annual allocations of Certificates of Sponsorship, is also the renewal of the Sponsor Licence, when in fact this is not the case. If the Company’s Sponsor Licence is due to expire the Company will be required to make a separate request to renew the Licence.
Should you or your employer require any assistance with the management of your Sponsor Management System please do not hesitate to get in contact with the Corporate Immigration Department at Gherson.