Sponsor Licence Revoked or Suspended

A sponsor licence suspension is a temporary embargo preventing sponsor licence holders from sponsoring new foreign employees. Your sponsor licence will be suspended if the Home Office believes you’ve reneged on your sponsor duties and could be a possible threat to immigration control.

If the Home Office suspends your migrant worker sponsor licence, you cannot issue certificates of sponsorship to new migrant workers, and your business will be removed from the Home Office’s register of sponsors. However, existing sponsored employees can continue working for you while the UK Visas and Immigration carries out its investigations.

Upon receiving a letter of sponsor licence suspension, it is essential to respond cooperatively and address the reasons for suspension within 20 days of receiving the notice. Failure to do so can lead to the Home Office downgrading or revoking your foreign worker sponsor licence.

Page Contents

• Sponsor Licence Suspension: Overview
• Common Reasons for Sponsor Licence Suspensions
• Sponsor Licence Revocations
• Why are Sponsor Licences Revoked?
• What to Do If Sponsor Licence is Suspended or Revoked
• Implications of Suspended or Revoked Licence for Your Business
• Implications of Suspended or Revoked Licence on Sponsored Workers’ Visas
• How Total Law Can Help
• Frequently Asked Questions

The Home Office may suspend your sponsor licence following scheduled or unannounced compliance visits. The common reasons for this include:

• Failure to prove that your migrant workers meet the required skills and qualifications for the sponsored roles.
• Failure to prove that all positions filled by sponsored migrant workers are genuine vacancies.
• Failure to keep detailed records of foreign employees’ documents, updated contact details, and attendance records.
• Failure to keep the Home Office updated on employees’ compliance with visa conditions or report any problems with your migrant workers.
• Inadequate sponsor management system to monitor and track the immigration status and compliance of foreign workers.
• Failure to notify the Home Office of changes in the immigration status of foreign staff or changes in your business location or operations.

The Home Office reserves the right to revoke your sponsor licence upon noticing a breach in your sponsor duties or non-compliance to other immigration regulations. A suspended licence can quickly wind up being revoked if you fail to address the underlying causes of your licence suspension within the specified timeframe.

However, the Home Office can revoke a sponsor licence without first suspending it in cases of significant immigration violations.

If the Home Office decides to revoke your licence, you’ll be unable to sponsor new employees, and the Home Office will curtail the visas of already sponsored workers. These existing migrant workers will have to leave the UK within 60 days of receiving the revocation notice unless they get a CoS from another sponsor licence holder.

You’ll also be subject to a cooling-off period of 12 months before you can apply for a new sponsor licence.

The Home Office can revoke your sponsor licence for the following reasons.

• You’re found to have given false information in your sponsor licence application.
• Failure to respond to a sponsor licence suspension letter within twenty days of receipt.
• Failure to meet up with the Home Office’s action plan after downgrading your licence to a B-rating.
• Your business goes through a merger, or another company buys your business, and the new company does not apply for a sponsor licence within 28 days of the takeover.
• Your business ceases to trade.
• You’ve received multiple suspensions within a specific timeframe.
• You’ve been found guilty of hiring unqualified or illegal workers more than twice and have exhausted your appeal rights.

The Home Office will suspend your sponsor licence if they have reasons to believe that you have failed in your sponsor duties. Following a sponsor licence suspension,

• You cannot assign Certificates of Sponsorship to new overseas workers.
• The Home Office will put all pending CoS applications on hold.
• After their investigations, the Home Office will decide whether to downgrade or revoke your licence.
• If the Home Office downgrades your licence from an A-rating to a B-rating, they’ll provide you with an action plan to rectify the situation. You must pay for the action plan within ten days of your licence downgrade.
• UKVIS will remove your business from the list of licenced sponsors during the suspension period.
• You’ll still need to apply for licence renewal if your sponsor licence is due to expire during the suspension.
• You’ll also still have to perform your sponsor licence duties.

While the Home Office conducts investigations, you must correct the shortcomings and provide sufficient evidence to prove your compliance with sponsor licence duties. You’ll have your licence reinstated upon demonstrating adequate sponsor licence compliance.

The implications are more severe in the case of a revoked sponsor licence. If your sponsor licence is revoked,

• You cannot issue Certificates of Sponsorship to new foreign employees, impeding your ability to recruit needed talent.
• Your business will be taken off the list of sponsors.
• All already issued CoS will be revoked, and you will lose all existing sponsored migrant workers. This can result in business difficulties, lower productivity, and a lag in business growth.
• You can only apply for a new sponsor licence after a cooling period of about 12 months.

A sponsor licence revocation or suspension affects both employers and employees alike. In the case of a suspended sponsor licence,

• Existing sponsored employees are free to continue working.
• Sponsored migrant workers who have arrived in the UK and are due to start are free to do so.
• All visa extension applications of your existing sponsored workers may not be considered during the suspension period.
• Sponsored workers yet to enter the UK will not be allowed entry.

A revoked sponsor licence will affect both existing and new overseas employees. If your licence is revoked:

• The Home Office will curtail the visas of existing sponsored workers, and they’ll be required to leave the UK within 60 days unless they find alternative sponsorship. However, the curtailment will not apply to those whose visas expire in less than 60 days from revocation. They will be unable to extend their visas.
• Sponsored workers already in the UK due to start work will also have their visas curtailed, and those yet to arrive will be denied entry.