What do companies need to do now

July 10, 2008 – 4:25 pm

What do companies need to do now

The UKBA is now accepting on-line applications for the company license:

1. Companies need to fully understand their organisational structure within the UK to determine the number of sponsorship licenses required.

  • Companies with a number of entities in the UK will normally be required to apply for a separate license for each entity,

    • However,

  • In some circumstances, they can apply for a single license to cover all their entities. The benefit of applying for one license is that the company will only incur one license fee and will only need to submit one application. The disadvantage of applying for one license when a company has more than one UK entity is that the management of immigration services for the company needs to be centralised and non compliance by one entity can affect all other entities. In order for a company with a number if UK entities to be able to apply for a single license to cover all its entities, it must demonstrate that all the entities that wish to make applications under the new arrangements are owned or controlled by a single UK company. That is, all the entities are owned by a UK Head Office or holding company, all the entities are UK branches of a UK registered company or all the entities are franchises controlled by a company in the UK.

    • 2. Companies need to provide an estimate of the number of first time Certificate of Sponsorship applications and renewals that they will be submitting for the first year after the new system goes live in Autumn 2008. The new Points Based System is not quota based but the UKBA is requesting justifiable estimates and will use these estimates to allocate companies with a certain number of Certificates of Sponsorship. Once a company reaches this limit, if it has not done so already, the UKBA will contact the company to arrange a mutually convenient time for its representatives to visit the company to undertake a compliance audit.

    3. Companies need to identify one person within their organisation (per license) who will be fully responsible for the sponsor licensing application and for ensuring that the UK company meets all its duties under the Points Based Scheme. This person will be known as the Authorising Officer (AO). The AO must be based in the UK and must be a permanent member of the UK company’s staff. They should also be a senior member of staff able to make operational decisions on behalf of the UK company. The UKBA will make a number of checks on the AO, including against the UKBA’s own records and against the Police National Computer. If the AO is found to have been convicted of a criminal offence or have committed an immigration offence, the sponsorship application may be refused.

    For further information and no obligation contact Natascha Clark on:
    e-mail: nclark@hcr.co.uk or tel: +44 (0)1256 313839

    Posted in Relocation |

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