Sponsor Licensing, Compliance Audit & Related Service
Do you employ migrant workers?
If you are an UK employer who employs migrant workers or if you do intend to employ migrant workers then please read the information below.
Sponsor Licence
New laws were introduced in late 2008, which now require employers to apply for a Sponsor Licence to UKBA if they want to sponsor migrant workers or wish to extend the Work Permit visas of their current staff who were previously granted a work permit and this visa is now coming up for renewal.
We offer a full support and advice service for employers on how to apply for UKBA Sponsor licence.
In addition to this we also provide full in-housing training on how to be 100% compliant with Sponsor Licensing requirements.
Compliance Audits
Is
your organization complying with the current immigration legislation, on only
employing people with a right to live & work in the UK? Did you know that
employing someone who does not have a right to live & work in UK can result in
on the civil penalty fines of up to £10,000 per person and also criminal
charges against you?
If you are not sure that the staff you employ have a right to live & work in UK
and need more assistance with this, then please contact us and we can provide
you with detailed advice on how to be compliant with the new legislation in
relation to your current staff and any future staff that you may employ.
OVUK provide following two types of service for corporate immigration
compliance;
Compliance Audit & Checks : Our legal experts can visit your offices and conduct a compliance check on all the employees within your organization to ensure that your organization is compliant with the current immigration legislation. We also provide customized solutions to ensure that your recruitment policies and employment procedures are compliant with current immigration legislation
Compliance Retainer : We can also offer the compliance audit and checks service on a regular interval as per your convenience so that you do not have to worry about employing someone who is in UK on a visa with limited leave to remain. This service helps the employers to be free from the burden of making periodic and ongoing checks on the immigration status of employees who are in UK in a non settlement category such as students, working holiday makers.
Resources; Information on Illegal working regulations and how to prevent these can be found from the following UKBA link;
What are civil penalties?
The Immigration authorities introduced a civil penalty / fining system for employers who employ illegal workers in February 2008. This came about after a legal change under section 15 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006.
It gives the UKBA staff the power to conduct an enforcement and compliance visit on employer’s premises. If during this visit, the UKBA audit team discovers that an employer is employing illegal workers who do not have permission to work, then they can take the following action;
i. They will immediately serve the employer with a document called notification of potential liability (NOPL). This lets the employer know that they are likely to be given a penalty by the immigration authorities.
ii. The UKBA civil penalty compliance
team will then take a few weeks to consider evidence provided by the visiting
officer or team, and will decide whether to issue the employer with a
notification of liability (NOL) and a civil penalty (or fine)of up to £10,000
for each illegal worker.
If UKBA impose an NOL and civil penalty against an employer found to be using illegal migrant workers, the employer must within 28 days take the following action:
(a) Pay the fine in full; or
(b) Pay part of the fine and ask the Immigration team for permission to pay the civil penalty in monthly instalments; or
(c) Submit an objection to the UKBA civil penalty compliance team against the immigration civil penalty; or
(d) Lodge an appeal against the UKBA civil penalty to the County Court.
(e) The size of a civil penalty depends on many different factors. Our leading immigration lawyers have identified the following factors, the type of eligibility checks that the employer has made on its illegal workers, the number of times when the immigration authorities have issued a warning or imposed a civil penalty, and the extent to which the employer has cooperated with us the UKBA.
The civil penalty scheme sits alongside the criminal offence of knowingly employing an illegal migrant worker (section 21 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006). This offence will be used in more serious cases where rogue employers knowingly and deliberately use illegal migrant workers, often for personal financial gain. It will carry a maximum custodial sentence of two years, and/or an unlimited fine.
What can we do to help you, if you have received a Civil Penalty Notice?
You can contact our offices with full details of the civil penalty notice. Our immigration specialists will then prepare representations on your behalf to submit an objection to the UKBA civil penalty compliance team against the immigration civil penalty on your behalf.
Please contact our specialist team on 0208 467 1071 or if you want us to ring you then please complete an form available here.
- Disclaimer and Identity Fraud Warning
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Overseas Visas UK Limited does not offer any jobs in the UK. We do not have any connection with any job agencies in or outside the UK nor do we have any connection with any one with fake personalities like a person named John who seems to be promising recruitment opportunities in the UK using our credentials. Please note that our company does not have an email account in the name of overseas.visas_uklimited@yahoo.com Our email addresses are hosted on our own domain. Please also note that we take no responsibility for any financial transactions or contractual agreements that you have entered into or may enter into with the above warned fake identities like John or their company or their email accounts or any others.
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