Register of Sponsors
Under the Points Based System (PBS), employers or education providers who wish to act as “sponsors” (that is, employers who wish to employ non-EEA nationals or educational establishments who wish to recruit non-EEA students) require a licence.
Licences can be applied for under tiers 2, 4 and 5. Applications under tier 3 are currently suspended.
Tier 2:
• Skilled workers
• Intra-company transfers
• Sports people
• Ministers of religion
Tier 4:
• Students
Tier 5:
• Creative and sporting workers.
• Charity workers;
• Religious workers;
• International agreement workers.
Once an organisation granted a licence, it is added to the register of sponsors.
The register of sponsors has the name, location (town and region) and rating of the organisation.
Unfortunately, the register does not show the sector in which the organisation operates or any other details which could be useful for research purposes.
The rating for an organisation can be an ‘A’ or a ‘B’. An ‘A’ rating indicates that there has been no previous evidence of abuse by an organisation and that all the necessary systems are in place. The UK Border Agency defines a ‘B’ rating as indicating that “there may be previous evidence of abuse [of the immigration laws or serious offences in connection with the way the business is run], or a visiting officer has found evidence that the correct systems are not in place or not adequate to meet your duties [under the PBS].”
A ‘B’ rating is regarded as a transitional measure carrying with it an expectation on the part of the UK Border Agency that performance will improve within a relatively short time (normally 3 months) to warrant upgrading to an ‘A’ rating. An action plan will be drawn up setting out the steps required to achieve an ‘A’ rating. If an organisation does not comply with the action plan, its licence can be withdrawn.
There are two Registers of Sponsors that can be viewed on the Home Office website: one for employers with 6123 entries and the other for educational establishments with 724 entries. 96 of the organisations on the Register are rated ‘B’ (figures as at 12.1.2009). Note, however, that educational establishments are also included (repeated) on the ‘employers register. For further information see the UK Border Agency website:
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/employersandsponsors/pointsbasedsystem/pbsregisterofsponsors
Veristat can help you with your application for a sponsorship licence and action plan to upgrade a ‘B’ rating. Contact us now at info@veristat.co.uk or on 0844 335 1619 for a preliminary discussion of your requirements
We would also welcome hearing your views on the register of sponsors for inclusion in future articles on this blog. Contact us on info@veristat.co.uk.
