Tier 4 premium customer service for sponsors

This page provides details of the Tier 4 premium customer service for sponsors.

The Tier 4 Premium Customer Service for sponsors is a new service aimed at educational institutions who want a premium level of customer service and package of benefits.

What is the Tier 4 premium customer service?

The service is designed to:

  • offer your organisation support in sponsoring all overseas students; and 
  • develop a relationship with you and a long-term understanding of your requirements.

Services include:

Named account manager and senior account manager:

  • Each sponsor will have a dedicated account manager and will be given the telephone and email address for that person. The account manager will be your first point of contact if you have a licence or migrant related query or problem. Your account manager will also keep you in touch with changes in policy and process. The service will be available from 8am to 6pm on weekdays.  The service standard is 5 working days.
  • The senior account manager will be responsible for the quality of the service provided, will take on strategic queries from sponsors and be available for annual visits.

Priority treatment on post-licence casework:

  • Requests made through the sponsorship management system will be actioned within 10 working days. In comparison, under current standard service arrangements, such requests are subject to a 4 week service standard for completion.

Management information reports on Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) allocation and outcome of student visa applications:

  • Monthly reports will be sent to out to all Tier 4 Premium Service sponsors.

Student Eligibility checks:

  • With the consent of the student in question, we will provide premium sponsors with cost-free information about the student's immigration history which will assist sponsors in deciding whether they are eligible for Tier 4 leave and the issue of a CAS. These requests will be actioned within 5 working days. 
  • This is only currently available via a subject access request which costs £10 and is subject to a service standard of 40 days.

Pre-paid Highly Trusted Sponsor application:

  • This currently costs £515 per annum.

Sponsor awareness events / access to working groups:

  • An invitation to regional and sector-specific events which focus further on raising awareness of Tier 4 and sponsorship policy.

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What cannot be provided?

While we continually strive to improve our service we cannot;

  • fast track applications; or
  • consider an application outside of the immigration rules

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How much does it cost?

The full range of benefits delivered by the new Tier 4 Premium Customer Service is available for £8,000 per annum.

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Who is eligible?

To apply for the Tier 4 Premium Customer Service you must meet all of the following requirements. You must:

  • currently have Highly Trusted Sponsor (HTS) status;
  • not have been issued with a civil penalty in the past 3 years, and must have paid in full any civil penalties issued before that.

We have the right to remove premium customer service if we take against your licence through our normal compliance activity.

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When will the service be implemented?

In order to ensure the quality of the service, HTS organisations will be invited to apply for the new premium service on a phased basis:

Phase

Eligible sponsors

Open from 
1 AMS pilot sponsors   Tuesday 23 July 3013
2  Publicly funded highly trusted sponsors  Monday 2 September 2013
3 All highly trusted sponsors  Monday 14 November 2013


 

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How do I apply?

Before you apply for the Tier 4 premium customer service you should check whether you are eligible to apply.

You can apply through your sponsorship management system (SMS) account. It is a simple online process and you do not need to send us any supporting documents.

If you also need to renew your sponsor licence, we can work on that at the same time as processing your application for the premium service. In this situation you must pay the fee for premium service and the fee for renewing your sponsor licence.

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Where can I find out more?

If you have any questions, email Tier4PremiumCustomerService@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk or call 030 0123 4699.

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