Despite what is happening in the world, sponsorship duties continue as usual. 

Tier 2 sponsors should remember that 5 April 2020 is the deadline to submit your request to renew your annual allocation of unrestricted Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS).

The first step is to check if you have anyone who will need to renew their visa between 6 April 2020-5 April 2021, as they will need a new CoS.

You should also consider whether you need any more unrestricted CoS to meet recruitment plans.  You can use them for new grad recruits who are switching from a Tier 4 student visa and for Tier 2 workers who join you from another sponsoring employer. (New recruits from outside the UK need restricted CoS, which is a separate process.) Remember that from 1 January 2021, EU nationals will also require visas.

We would suggest you ask for one so you have something in the bank in case a recruitment opportunity arises. If you have an allocation and exceed it, you can ask for more, but if you don’t have any to begin with it is harder to do that. You do have to explain the request  but it is normally sufficient to explain the type of roles you have and your general recruitment plans.  It is then up to the Home Office how many CoS to award.

If you are a Tier 2 Intra-Company Transfer sponsor you should also consider whether any secondments are likely to be required over the next 12 months and request a new allocation of ICT CoS accordingly.

This article is from the March 2020 issue of Employment and Immigration Law Update, our monthly newsletter for HR professionals. To download the latest issue, please visit the newsletter section of our website. For further information please contact a member of Birketts’ Immigration Team.