How do I sponsor a migrant worker?
Downgrading sponsors from an A to a B rating
This page explains how we can downgrade your sponsor licence to a B rating.
Most sponsors who employ migrant workers are honest and will comply with their duties. However, we have a duty to ensure that we deal appropriately with the minority who do not comply.
We will downgrade you from an A rating to a B rating if:
- you have certified that a migrant will not claim state benefits, and that migrant then does claim state benefits, with your knowledge;
- you fail to provide any documents listed in Appendix D of the sponsor guidance, to a compliance officer within the specified time limit;
- as a result of information available to our compliance officers, we are not satisfied that you are using the processes or procedures necessary to fully comply with your sponsor duties;
- you are a food business that is required to be registered by an appropriate food authority and either you have never registered, or you have, but that registration has been withdrawn;
- you pay any of your migrants sponsored under Tier 2 (General) and/or Tier 2 (ICT) in cash;
- you fail to assign a new Certificate of sponsorship (CoS) (and conduct a resident labour market test where applicable) to any migrant that needs to make a change of employment application (see the sponsor guidance for when a change of employment application is required);
- you assign a Tier 2 (General) CoS stating that the vacancy was in a shortage occupation, when it was not;
- you assign a Tier 2 (General) CoS for a job that is on the shortage occupation list for Scotland only, and the job is not based in Scotland;
- you assign a Tier 2 (General) CoS stating that the job is exempt from the resident labour market test (as set out in the Guidance for sponsors) and it was not;
- the test you conducted did not meet the requirements set out in the Guidance for sponsors; or
- you had not conducted a test.
We may downgrade your licence if you, or a relevant person, have been convicted of serious offences to do with how you run your business and this makes us doubt your suitability as a sponsor (such as a conviction under the National Minimum Wage Act or for benefit fraud). We do not take into account convictions that are spent under the provisions of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. (Convictions may become 'spent' after specified periods of time from the date of conviction if there are no further convictions during that time. Spent convictions are disregarded for certain purposes.)
In the circumstances above, we will take into account, among other things, how serious the offence was, the penalty the court imposed and, if the offence was committed by an individual member of staff, any action you took against that person.
We may also downgrade your licence to a B-rating if:
- you sponsor more than five migrants in the Tier 2 (ICT - Graduate Trainee) category with start dates in the same financial year;
- you fail to keep any of the documents specified in the Guidance for sponsors
- you fail to comply with any of your sponsor duties.
The B-rated sponsors page explains the consequences of having a B rating, including the need to follow a sponsorship action plan.
See also
Terms explained
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A rating
This term is applied to a sponsor under the points-based system for coming to the United Kingdom to work, train or study. It is the rating awarded by us when a sponsor joins the register of sponsors.
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B rating
This term is applied to a sponsor under the points-based system for coming to the United Kingdom to work, train or study. It is the rating awarded by us when a sponsor joins the register of sponsors. A B rating is a transitional rating for a sponsor who is under a sponsorship action plan.
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Certificate of sponsorship
A 'virtual document' assigned by a licensed sponsor to a migrant who wishes to work for them in the UK. The migrant must quote the certificate of sponsorship reference number when applying for permission to enter or remain in the UK under Tier 2 or Tier 5 of the points-based system or, where the migrant is a Croatian national, when applying for worker authorisation.
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Civil penalties
A requirement to pay money that can be imposed for an offence without the need for a court conviction.
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Spent convictions
Convictions for criminal offences may become 'spent' after specified periods of time from the date of conviction if there are no further convictions during that time. Spent convictions will be disregarded for certain purposes. They will not normally be taken into account when assessing whether someone is of good character. Convictions that are not yet spent are known as unspent convictions and will be taken into account when assessing good character.