How do I sponsor a migrant worker?
Tier 2 (General)
This page explains which organisations are eligibile to be sponsors under the Tier 2 (General) category of the points-based system.
The sponsor is normally the employer and is responsible for paying the migrant. In certain circumstances (for example, in parts of the creative sector), migrants may meet all of the Tier 2 criteria even though there is no direct employer/employee relationship - but there must still be a sponsor who is able and willing to take on all of the sponsorship duties.
Sometimes there is a clear statutory relationship between the employer and a publicly funded body which has powers to intervene in the running or funding of the employer. In this case, the publicly funded body with powers to intervene can be the sponsor.
(For example, a local authority has certain reserve powers of control and direction over otherwise self-governing schools, even though it is not the paying body or the employer of teachers in those schools - so the local authority can be the sponsor for migrants employed as teachers. And a strategic health authority in England may, through its deanery or provider/commissioning organisation, have funding control of the further specialised training posts for doctors and dentists within NHS trusts, even though it is not the paying body; in such a case, the deanery can be the sponsor.)
If a migrant is not a direct employee of the sponsor, we will look especially closely at the arrangement to ensure that the sponsor can fulfil all of the sponsor duties. We will monitor the sponsor to ensure that it is fulfilling its duties, and we will take appropriate action if we find that it is not.