How do I sponsor a migrant?
Area 1: Monitoring immigration status and preventing illegal employment
This page explains how we rate the way you use your human resource (HR) systems to monitor migrants' immigration status and prevent illegal employment. We do this when you apply for a licence to sponsor migrants under the points-based system to work or study. We may also conduct checks after you have been granted a licence.
What you must do
You must:
- keep the following records or documents, and make them available to us if we ask:
- a photocopy or electronic copy of each migrant's passport or United Kingdom immigration status document (and, in time, their ID card), showing that they are allowed to work or study; and
- not employ a migrant if the conditions on their permission to stay (or the migrant's lack of permission to stay) mean that they are not allowed to do the job, and stop employing any migrant who stops being allowed to do the job for any reason.
Checklist
To comply with your sponsorship duties, you should:
- keep a photocopy or electronic copy of your sponsored migrants' passports or immigration status documents (and, in time, their ID cards), showing they are allowed to work or study when appropriate; and
- have procedures in place to ensure you do not employ or continue to employ any migrant if the conditions on their permission to stay (or the migrant?s lack of permission to stay) mean that they are not allowed to do the job in question.
We strongly suggest that all sponsors follow the procedures outlined in Comprehensive guidance for employers on preventing illegal working, February 2008 (PDF 1.6M, opens in new window) when recruiting new members of staff to fully protect yourself from a fine for employing illegal workers by establishing a full statutory excuse from payment of a civil penalty.
Ratings
You will get a rating of 1 if you have procedures in place to:
- keep photocopies or electronic copies of your sponsored migrants' passports or immigration status documents (and, in time, their ID cards); and
- to ensure you do not employ or continue to employ any migrant if the conditions on their permission to stay (or the migrant's lack of permission to stay) mean that they are not allowed to do the job in question.
For example:
- A large employer follows the Comprehensive guidance for employers on preventing illegal working, February 2008 (PDF 1.6M, opens in new window) when recruiting new members of staff. They also use an electronic HR system that can record the immigration status and the expiry dates of any leave to enter or remain for its migrant employees. The electronic system alerts HR staff when the leave to remain of one of its migrants is due to expire.
- A small company employing several migrants keeps photocopies of all its employees' passports and records in the HR team's diary the expiry dates of any leave to enter or remain for their migrant employees.
- An educational establishment takes a photocopy of each overseas student's passport on the day of enrolment which is then held on the student's file. They also ensure that they do not employ anyone illegally by following the Comprehensive guidance for employers on preventing illegal working, February 2008 (PDF 1.6M, opens in new window) when recruiting new members of staff.
You will get a rating of 2 if you have procedures in place to:
- keep photocopies or electronic copies of your sponsored migrant's passports or immigration status documents (and, in time, their ID cards) and make them available to us if we ask. However, you do not have in place a suitable procedure to ensure you do not employ or continue to employ any migrant if the conditions on their permission to stay (or the migrant's lack of permission to stay) mean that they are not allowed to do the job in question.
For example:
- An employer of more than 100 migrants keeps copies of its employees' passports and other identification documents but does not keep a record of the expiry dates of its migrants' permission to enter or stay or completes any follow up checks. It is therefore unable to ensure that their migrant employees do not work beyond the expiry date of their permission to enter or stay or that they have not changed to an immigration category which does not allow them to do that job.
- An employer with branches throughout the United Kingdom keeps copies of its employees' passports at the branch where those staff are employed. However, it has not given individual branches written instructions or has a formal policy instructing branches to monitor the immigration status of their migrant employees. It is therefore unable to ensure that its migrant employees do not work beyond the expiry date of their permission to enter or stay or that they have not changed to an immigration category which does not allow them to do that job.
- An educational establishment takes a photocopy of each overseas student's passport on the day of enrolment which is then held on the student's file. However, they have no procedures in place to ensure that they do not recruit a member of staff whose immigration status means they are not allowed to do the job in question.
You will get a rating of 3 if you do not have procedures in place to:
- keep photocopies or electronic copies of your sponsored migrants' passports or immigration status documents (and, in time, their ID cards) or your checks are not enough to give adequate protection against illegal working.
For example:
- An employer does not ask for any identification when recruiting new members of staff.
- An educational establishment has no procedure in place to take a photocopy of their overseas students' passports.