Providing advice and support to sponsors
This page explains how legal advisers and representatives can request to be included on our list of providers who have demonstrated their understanding of the points-based system and their ability to assist sponsors.
The UK Border Agency publishes a list of organisations that we have assessed as providing advice to prospective sponsors. We appreciate that a range of organisations are equipped to provide this service, and all types and sizes of organisation can ask to be added to the list.
If you would like us to add your organisation to the list, you should first check whether it meets the following criteria.
Criteria
When assessing whether your organisation can be added to our list, we will look for evidence that:
- the advice you provide links with the guidance and support tools on this website;
- you have appropriately trained staff undertaking sponsor support activity; and
- you have in place a reporting framework which provides us with evidence that all required checks have been completed for each client application.
We do not prescribe specific processes which you must follow, because we understand that organisations will have different approaches and tools for their support activities. However, we must be able to assess whether your organisation has a full understanding of the sponsorship arrangements and can provide reliable advice on sponsor readiness and potential changes to client systems and processes, which are required to fulfil sponsorship obligations.
Expressing an interest
To express an interest in having your organisation added to the list, or for more information, please email sponsorsupportservice@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk.
We would normally expect you to supply us with a range of documents, which should include:
- copies of your training programmes and plans, to assure us that your staff will be thoroughly versed in the sponsorship criteria;
- copies of any tools or process maps you will use when working with clients and examples of reporting tools, to assure us that your checks are thorough and robust;
- a template or sanitised version of the report you will produce for clients (which they might then submit to us in support of their sponsorship application), so that we can recognise and accept this report; and
- information about the number of clients you expect to support through the sponsor registration process.
We will contact you within one week of your expression of interest. However, the timescale for approving your expression of interest will depend on a number of factors, including the quality of information provided, the availability of staff to facilitate meetings, and the volume of the requests that we are currently dealing with.
Removals from the list
We reserve the right to remove organisations from the list if we discover that the agreed processes are not being followed rigorously, or if the quality of advice provided is inconsistent. We will also remove organisations that misrepresent their role in the process or their relationship with us.