Sponsor & Immigration Audits

If you are a sponsor licence holder, you will be inspected by the Home Office at some point during the validity period of your licence. This is to make sure that the information you gave as part of your sponsor licence application is accurate and that you are able and continuing to comply with the duties and responsibilities of a licensed sponsor.

UKVI may also visit your business premises to carry out checks before a decision on your sponsor licence application is made. Our immigration barristers can draw on their experience of Home Office compliance requirements to conduct an immigration audit of your business ahead of any Home Office inspection.

What happens during a Home Office compliance visit?

When UKVI compliance officers visit your business premises they will check that:

• Information that has been given to UKVI is accurate and complete
• You are able to offer employment at the Tier 2 skill level
• You are genuine and trading or operating lawfully in the UK
• There are no reasons to believe you represent a threat to immigration control
• You are committed to, and actually are, complying with all the duties of sponsorship
• You can expect your record keeping, reporting and immigration status monitoring processes and documentation to be reviewed in order to ensure that you remain compliant

The compliance officer may not give an indication of their assessment or your ability to comply with sponsor duties during the visit.

What else do I need to know about sponsor compliance visits?

The Home Office may check sponsors at random. These visits can be announced or unannounced.

If your migrant workers perform their employment duties at a third party’s office, it is your responsibility to ensure that the third party is aware of the possibility of unplanned and unannounced visits and checks being conducted at their premises and ensure their full cooperation.

If the compliance officers discover a problem before making a decision on your sponsor licence application then the application may be refused.

If the compliance officers find discrepancies in your application after a decision has already been made to grant or renew your sponsor licence, they will take action against you. This could result in your licence being revoked, suspended, or downgraded, with repercussions for sponsored employees.

The ratings of all licensed sponsors are on the Home Office website. A downgrade could result in negative publicity and reputational damage.

If the Home Office considers that you have attempted deception in your sponsor licence application then this could result in prosecution.

How an immigration audit by our immigration advisers can help

Our immigration advisers can draw on their experience of Home Office compliance requirements to conduct a mock immigration audit of your business in advance of any Home Office inspection.

Offering invaluable insights into Home Office practice and procedure, an immigration audit by our advisers will ensure that you, as a sponsor, are operating in compliance with the Government’s immigration compliance regime and are well prepared for a Home Office visit.

During our mock immigration audit, a specialist business immigration barrister will:

• Verify information that you gave on your sponsor licence application
• Check your document management and record-keeping systems to ensure that you are complying with all of your sponsor duties (or will be able to comply if your licence application has not yet been decided)
• Review the personnel files of any sponsored migrants to identify any deficiencies and areas for improvement
• Interview any of your employees involved in the recruitment of migrant workers to prepare them for the type of questions that a Home Office inspector is likely to ask
• Speak to any migrant workers to determine whether they are familiar with the terms and conditions of their UK visas
• Conduct checks on other workers to ensure you are complying with your obligation to prevent illegal working
• Following our mock immigration audit, you will receive a comprehensive written report prepared by the immigration barrister who conducted the audit identifying risk areas and providing expert recommendations for improvement.

If required, we can undertake a follow-up immigration audit to further assess any changes that have been implemented.