Successful Sponsor Licence Application
Efficient and helpful. Amer and his Team are quick to respond to queries, even over the weekends and at night. Sponsor Licence granted after only 4 weeks. Thanks.
Daniel Johnson
Sponsor Licence Refusals
Having your application for a sponsor licence refused can be extremely frustrating when you require a sponsor licence in order to hire non-UK nationals to support your firmâs growth. In this situation, our solicitors can advise you on the best next steps to take.
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If you wish to employ someone to work for your organisation from outside the UK, you may need to secure a sponsor licence from the Home Office in order to do this. This, in turn, can make the refusal of a sponsor licence application all the more agonising and harmful to your businessâs survival and growth prospects.
Furthermore, the lack of sponsor licence appeal rights might seem to leave you with very few options if the Home Office refuses your application for a licence âapart from, perhaps, submitting a new application. However, in many cases, a âcooling-off periodâ will prevent you from re-applying for a sponsor licence until at least several months after the previous refusal.
Although you are not able to appeal a refused sponsor licence, there might still be options available to your organisation in the event of an unsuccessful sponsor licence application. Your exact options will depend on your businessâs circumstances and the grounds the Home Office had for refusing you.
Our award-winning and experienced immigration solicitors at Cranbrook Legal can provide you with tailored and specialised advice and guidance in relation to sponsor licence refusals. We have long helped organisations like yours to apply for sponsor licences and to challenge Home Office decisions, and we enjoy an excellent success rate.
Please feel free to call our team now, on 0208 215 0053, or to request a free consultation online, so that you can benefit from the most informed help with your situation.
Recent Sponsor Licence Success Stories
There is a wide range of circumstances in which the Home Office might decide to refuse an organisationâs application for a sponsor licence.
The following is not an exhaustive list, but nonetheless sets out some of the most frequent reasons for the refusal of a sponsor licence:
The bad news is that as an applicant, you will not have the right to appeal a refused sponsor licence. If, however, you believe there has been a simple caseworker error in the consideration of your application and that this led to a refusal, you may have the option of asking the Home Office to review its decision, through what is known as the âerror correction requestâ process.
You will have the right to send an âerror correction request formâ if you believe that you had your sponsor licence refused because of either of the following:
It is important to appreciate that requesting an error correction review is not the same as a sponsor licence appeal, as this process does not amount to a full reconsideration of the decision to refuse your sponsor licence application. You are not permitted to use this process, for example, to put forward additional evidence or information that was not available to the Home Office at the time of its original decision.
Another possibility for challenging the sponsor licence refusal decision, could be applying for a Judicial Review of that decision. It is important to appreciate that a Judicial Review is a complicated legal process. This means that the advice and knowhow of capable and experienced specialists in immigration law â such as our professionals at Cranbrook Legal â will likely be crucial to maximising your chances of being successful in this process.
Not everyone will have a strong chance of successfully challenging the refusal of a sponsor licence through a Judicial Review. However, it could be a strong option if you believe that the decision to refuse your application was unlawful, unreasonable, or procedurally improper.
Finally, another possibility is that you might decide â after discussion with your team and legal advisors â that it would be a better decision to simply accept the refusal of a sponsor licence, and apply again. In this case, you may need to wait a certain period of time â known as the âcooling-off periodâ â before you will have the right to submit a new sponsor licence application.
Please call our central London-based immigration lawyers today, on 0208 215 0053,or request a free consultation online for further informed advice.
In the event of having your application for a sponsor licence refused, you might not be permitted to immediately apply again for a sponsor licence. Instead, you might have to wait for a certain minimum period of time to elapse, with this being commonly referred to as the âcooling-off periodâ.
Please note that if your application for a sponsor licence is refused and you apply again for a sponsor licence during the âcooling-off periodâ, the Home Office will automatically refuse your application. So, it is important to know how long the âcooling-off periodâ will be in your specific case.
The exact reasons for your sponsor licence application having been refused will largely dictate how long the âcooling-off periodâ is. If a âcooling-off periodâ applies at all, it could be as short as six months, or as long as five years, although a duration of between six and 12 months is much more typical. The âcooling-off periodâ will start from the date of the Home Office refusal letter.
âCooling-off periodsâ can be indefinite for applicants that have an unpaid civil penalty or charge for any of the aforementioned offences, and that are still liable after the exhaustion of their objection and appeal rights. If this describes your situation, the Home Office will not grant you a sponsor licence for as long as the civil penalty or charge remains unpaid.
Here at Cranbrook Legal, we are highly skilled and experienced in our handling of sponsor licence cases for client organisations based up and down the UK. We have a superb track record not only in helping clients to be successful with initial sponsor licence applications, but also in relation to the best ways to respond to the rejection or refusal of a sponsor licence application.
When you enquire to our friendly and capable immigration solicitors, they will be able to discuss your situation with you in depth, and help determine the best steps for you to take next.
We may be able to help you, for example, to spot caseworker errors that the Home Office might have made in its processing of your application, so that these can be remedied. We can also bring Judicial Review proceedings for employers wishing to challenge sponsor licence refusals.
Finally, if you decide that the best response to the refusal of your application would be to apply again, we can help you prepare a new sponsor licence application that stands the strongest possible chance of success. Simply call us today, on 0208 215 0053, for further information.
Why Customers Love Us ?
Successful Sponsor Licence Application
Efficient and helpful. Amer and his Team are quick to respond to queries, even over the weekends and at night. Sponsor Licence granted after only 4 weeks. Thanks.
Daniel Johnson
Care Home Sponsor Licence Application!
We used Cranbrook Legal for the processing of a Sponsor Licence Application. We are a Health Care provider and have faced huge difficulties in recruiting for our Care Homes. Amer and his team were quick to identify the documents needed for our specific case and they were able to prepare a really strong application. I have no doubt that the really good Cover Letter convinced the Home Office to approve our Application. Thanks again, superb work!
Sophie Barton
ILR Application
Thanks to Amer and team for all help given to me my indefinite visa and British citizenship : so many solicitor tell me that British Nationality is impossible for me but Amer looked at my file and took care and fight with Home Office and in the end they give up and give me British Nationality .thank you for Amer and Cranbrook team
Hossan Ali
If you decide to ask for an error correction review, you will only be allowed to apply for one such review of the sponsor licence refusal. Your organisationâs Authorising Officer will need to email the completed form to the address provided by the Home Office, within 14 days of the original decision to refuse your firmâs application for a sponsor licence. The Home Office will then aim to tell you the outcome of the review within 28 days.
If the Home Office establishes through its error correction review that a simple caseworker error did occur, or that a piece of information sent accompanying the application was not considered, the department will write to you with an invite to submit a new online sponsor licence application. Although you will be required to pay the application fee again as part of this process, the Home Office will refund the fee once it has received the new application.
Alternatively, the Home Office might determine that there is no reason to change its original sponsor licence refusal decision. If this is the case for you, the department will write to you to confirm it. The âcooling-off periodâ will continue to apply from the date you were originally refused a sponsor licence, and you will not have the right to have the refusal decision reviewed again under this process.
Another potential option for challenging a sponsor licence refusal decision, is Judicial Review. If you do decide to apply for Judicial Review, you will need to submit the application within three months of the Home Officeâs refusal decision.
The first stage will be sending a Pre-Action Protocol (PAP) letter to the Home Office, letting them know that you intend to pursue a Judicial Review claim, and giving them an opportunity to review their original refusal decision. This will be followed by issuing the Judicial Review proceedings.
You might understandably wonder why the PAP stage is needed at all; the answer is that it is important as a notice to the Home Office of potential Judicial Review proceedings. It is important to appreciate that Judicial Review cases can be complex and expensive, and it is best to try and settle disputes out of court if you can.
In normal circumstances, the Home Office will have 14 days in which to respond to the PAP letter, in which you will have the chance to set out your case against the department before litigation starts. The Home Office may be prompted by the letter to consider the merits of the case; in this sense, the PAP letter can serve as an invaluable tool for helping to avoid unnecessary litigation.
It is usually necessary for your organisation to have a sponsor licence before it will be permitted to employ non-UK national workers. So, firms that have been subject to sponsor licence refusals will not generally be able to recruit such workers until they have been successful in obtaining the necessary sponsor licence.
There are certain groups of people for whom a sponsor licence will usually be needed if your firm wishes to employ them in the UK. These include citizens of the European Union (EU), Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland who arrived in the UK after 31 December 2020, which is when the Brexit âtransition periodâ ended.
However, you will not need a sponsor licence in order to recruit an EU, European Economic Area (EEA), or Swiss national â or an eligible family member of one of these nationals â if one of the below is true:
They are an Irish citizen, unless an exception to this applies.
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If you have undergone the error correction request process detailed further up this page, and the Home Office has notified you that it will not be changing its original decision to refuse your sponsor licence application, the âcooling-off periodâ that began from the date of the original refusal decision will continue.
Only after that âcooling-off periodâ has elapsed, will you then be allowed to apply again for a sponsor licence.In the meantime, you will not be able to employ any non-UK nationals for which a sponsorship licence would be required in order to hire them for your company.
As we have also explained on this page, a âcooling-off periodâ is not imposed in every single case, so it might be possible for you to submit a new sponsor licence application immediately.
Whether a fee is applicable for you to take further action, will depend on the specific action that you take.
Requesting an error correction review, for instance, will not incur any fees â but this process does not constitute a full reconsideration of the Home Officeâs decision to refuse your sponsor licence application. It is simply an avenue to have the way in which the Home Office handled your application looked at again, if you believe there was a caseworker error or a failure to consider a piece of information provided at the time of the original application.
A Judicial Review, meanwhile, would normally require the payment of a court fee to start your case. Indeed, the overall costs of bringing a case can be high, not least given the risk that if you lose your case, you will usually be ordered to pay the costs of the other side â which in this case, would be UKVI. This is precisely why a Judicial Review is typically seen as a âlast resortâ, and it is crucial to think carefully about the merits of starting a case, including the potential risks to you.
It is also because of this, that you are strongly advised to seek legal advice before launching the Judicial Review process. Our immigration solicitors at Cranbrook Legal have an excellent track record in our handling of Judicial Review cases, and we can advise you on your situation, to help ensure you have a strong chance of succeeding in your case. Simply contact us now to arrange your free consultation and an initial chat.
When the Home Office processes your sponsor licence application, it will make one of three choices: it will grant you the sponsor licence, reject your application, or refuse your application.
However, there is an important distinction to be made between the refusal of a sponsor licence application, and the rejection of one. The latter usually happens due to the application simply being invalid, which normally arises from relatively minor issues with the application that the applicant can rectify. An application might be rejected, for example, due to the incorrect application fee having been paid, or important documents not having been provided.
If, on the other hand, you see your application for a sponsor licence refused, this is likely to be due to a much more fundamental problem with the application. For example, UKVI might not be convinced that your firmâs present human resources (HR) and recruitment practices are adequate to enable you to fulfil your responsibilities as a sponsor.
The distinction between sponsor licence application refusal and rejection is important from a practical standpoint. If your application is merely rejected, you can usually expect the Home Office to refund your application fee, so that you can then submit a new, modified application. Your application fee will not be refunded, however, following a sponsor licence application refusal.
When an organisation applies for a sponsor licence, it is required to appoint people within the business to certain roles; one of those roles is the Authorising Officer, or AO.
The person that you nominate for the role of AO for your sponsor licence application must be the most senior person within your organisation with responsibility for hiring all your firmâs migrant workers and making sure you fulfil your duties as a sponsor.
Some organisations applying for a sponsor licencemight not directly recruit the workers that they sponsor. If this is the case for your organisation, the Authorising Officer role should be filled by the most senior person within your organisation who will be responsible for your activities as a licensed sponsor.
If you are subject to a sponsor licence refusal, and you decide to wait until the âcooling-off periodâ has elapsed before applying again for a sponsor licence, you will have the opportunity to appoint an Authorising Officer, who may be different to the person nominated for the role at the time of your previous application.
Indeed, it might have even been the Home Officeâs doubts about the suitability of your choice of Authorising Officer that contributed to the refusal of your previous application â in which case, you would be highly advised to make a change.
When you apply for a sponsor licence, you can expect the Home Office to undertake checks on you and your staff to determine their suitability for the sponsorship roles to which you have appointed them. If, for instance, your chosen Authorising Officer has an unspent criminal conviction for a relevant offence, or has been fined by UKVI at some point in the last 12 months, the department may decide to not grant a licence to you.
For further advice on the legal and other implications of attempting to change your Authorising Officer at any point in the application process or when challenging a sponsor licence refusal, please call our immigration solicitors today on 0208 215 0053.
As we have detailed above, the distinction between the refusal of a sponsorship licence application, and the rejection of such an application, is a crucial one.
If your application is merely rejected rather than refused, you can expect to be refunded the application fee, and you will be able to apply again with a revised application. The rejection of a sponsor licence application indicates that the Home Office has deemed it to be invalid â usually because of a relatively small issue or mistake that the applicant can quickly and easily address.
Sponsor licence refusals, on the other hand, indicate a more serious problem with the application. Given that the fee you pay for the sponsor licence application is effectively so that the Home Office can consider the application, you will not receive a refund if your application is refused.
Nor will you receive a refund on the fee if you withdraw your application after the Home Office has already begun considering it.
You will not need to pay a fee to request an âerror correction reviewâ by the Home Office. In the event that the department does find a simple caseworker error has occurred, or that there was a failure to consider a piece of information sent at the time of the application, the Home Office will let you know of this, and will invite you to send a new sponsor licence application online.
If you go ahead with applying again for a sponsor licence after a positive response to your error correction request, you will be asked to pay the application fee again, but this will be refunded by the Home Office on receipt of your application.
However, it is important to emphasise that an error correction review does not constitute a full reconsideration of the overall decision to refuse a sponsor licence application.
As there is no right to appeal a refused sponsor licence, you may consider applying for a Judicial Review of the refusal decision. Our fees page provides further information on the fixed fees that we charge for Judicial Reviews.
With Judicial Review being a highly complex legal process, it is important to consider the high level of expertise and support our award-winning immigration lawyers can offer to help maximise your chances of a positive outcome.
Our work will include advising and helping to ensure you have strong grounds for challenging the decision in this way, as you will need to be confident that the original refusal decision was unlawful, unreasonable, or procedurally improper.
Please call our experts in immigration law today, on 0208 215 0053, for further advice and guidance â or request a free consultation via our online contact form.
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