The UK Home Office has announced changes to the way certain details on the Sponsor Management System (SMS) can now be changed by sponsors. The new process should streamline requests and potentially reduce costs for employers under certain immigration routes.

IMMEDIATE FULFILMENT OF REQUESTS

From 23 March 2023, the following requests submitted on the SMS will be fulfilled immediately (subject to certain criteria being met):

• Replace your authorising officer
• Replace your key contact
• Add new Level 1 users

The request will be fulfilled automatically if the postcode on the request stated for the new authorising officer, key contact, or Level 1 user matches the postcode on any of the sponsor’s main organisation address, the head office address, or the legal representative organisation’s address. The sponsor licence must also be active and A-rated.

If the above criteria are not met, the request will be considered in the existing way, which can involve a waiting time of up to 18 weeks. This time can be reduced to five business days by submitting a priority request and paying a £200 priority fee.

COS ALLOCATION RENEWALS

In other welcome changes, the annual Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) allocation for sponsor licences under eligible routes will be automatically renewed if a sponsor’s current allocation expires within three months of 23 March 2023. Sponsor licence holders will be granted the number of CoS assigned from their previous allocation.

For sponsor licence holders whose CoS allocation expires more than three months from 23 March 2023, sponsors will still need to manually renew their annual allocation over the coming year. However, the allocations following that request will be automatically renewed going forward.

The auto renewal will apply to sponsor licence holders of the following immigration categories:

• Skilled Worker (undefined CoS only)
• Global Business Mobility (GBM) – Senior or Specialist Worker
• GBM – Graduate Trainee
• GBM – Service Supplier
• GBM – Secondment Worker
• Minister of Religion
• International Sportsperson
• Charity Worker
• Creative Worker
• Government Authorised Exchange
• International Agreement
• Religious Worker
• Scale Up

By way of background, the annual CoS allocation refers to the number of undefined CoS that a sponsor has available in the system to assign each year.

This CoS allocation can be used to assign Skilled Worker CoS to the following:

• Individuals who are already in the UK, are currently employed by the sponsor, and will need to extend their Tier 2 (General) or Skilled Worker visa with the same sponsor
• Individuals who are already in the UK, are working for another sponsor or hold permission in another immigration category, and will switch to a Skilled Worker visa
• Individuals who are already in the UK, are studying at degree level in the UK, and will switch to a Skilled Worker visa

Please note defined CoS do not fall within a sponsor’s annual CoS allocation. Defined CoS are issued to new hires from overseas and must be requested on a case-by-case basis.

The Global Business Mobility CoS allocation can be assigned to the following:

• Individuals who will transfer to the UK and are already working for a linked overseas entity
• Individuals who are already in the UK, are currently assigned to the sponsor, and will need to extend their Global Business Mobility or Tier 2 (Intra-Company Transfer) visa with the same sponsor
• Recent graduates who will transfer to the UK as part of a graduate trainee programme and have already been working for a linked overseas entity for at least three months

These changes should support sponsor licence holders with the timely maintenance of their company details on the SMS, in turn helping organisations satisfy their sponsor obligations and compliance duties.