Employer registration compliance assessments

Every organisation that registers under Tier 2 of the Points Based System (PBS) will undergo a pre-licensing check carried out by the United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA). This check will assess whether the organisation satisfies the relevant Tier 2  sponsorship licensing requirements.

As part of your sponsorship licence application the United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA) will conduct a review of your current HR systems and processes, in addition to auditing the immigration status of your current employees.

Visalogic - UKBA approved Tier 2 assessment provider

The UKBA has granted Visalogic inclusion on the UKBA's list of assessed providers. This means that the UKBA will not duplicate Visalogic's pre-registration audit checks that are required as part of the sponsorship application and management process.

Once we have conducted our audit and identified and helped remedy all matters that may be of concern to the UKBA, your organisation will not be required to undergo a subsequent audit from the UKBA, ultimately saving your organisation valuable time and expsense.

When assessing whether a sponsor meets the requirements to be licenced, and in determining whether to give a sponsor an A-rating or a B-rating, the following factors are considered.

  • Whether the sponsor has the correct HR systems to ensure that it will be able to meet its sponsorship duties and whether the sponsoring employer is complying with, or has previously complied with, the work permit arrangements and other immigration law.
  • The sponsor's HR systems and compliance will be ranked on a scale from 1 to 3, whereby rank 1 meets all of the criteria, rank 2 only meets some of the criteria, and rank 3 does not meet any of the criteria.
  • In most cases an A rating will be granted where an organisation has been granted a rank of 1 (i.e. the top rating) for both its HR systems and compliance and no other reasons exist for giving a B-rating or refusing the application.
  • A B-rating will be issued when an organisation has been given a rating of 2 for its HR systems or compliance, or both of these, and there is no other reason for refusing the application.
  • Applications will most likely be refused when an organisation has been given a rating of 3 for either its HR systems or compliance.
  • It may also be possible to achieve an A-rating or B-rating with an action plan, if the sponsor achieves a rank of 1 or 2 for compliance, but only a rank of 3 for HR systems.

The UKBA will monitor all licensees to ensure they are fulfilling the requirements of the Points Based System. This will involve UKBA staff making visits to sponsors (pre-arranged or not). Reviews will be conducted and checks made to ensure that the requirements of the system are not being abused. Penalties will be issued in instances where non-compliance is identified.