How do I sponsor a migrant?
Area 5: Professional Registrations and Accreditations
This page explains how we rate the way you use your human resource (HR) systems to make sure you use good recruitment practices and check professional registrations or accreditations where they are legally required. We do this when you apply for a licence to sponsor migrants under tiers 2 and 5 of the points-based system. We may also conduct checks after you have been granted a licence.
On this page
What you must do
To make sure that you are complying with our immigration laws you must:
- make sure that a sponsored migrant who is coming to work for you is legally entitled to do the job in question and has the appropriate registration or professional accreditation where this is legally needed.
For example, if the migrant is coming to work as a doctor, you will need to make sure that they have the correct registration to allow them to practice as a doctor in the United Kingdom. You must keep a copy of any appropriate registration document or certificate, and supply it to us on request.
Checklist
To comply with your sponsorship duties, you should:
- make sure any professional accreditations are checked before the sponsored migrant starts work;
- keep copies of professional accreditations;
- monitor any expiry dates and complete subsequent checks to ensure that any accreditations have been renewed as appropriate; and
- make sure that copies of these documents are readily available to us.
Ratings
You will get a rating of 1 if you have procedures in place to:
- check professional registrations and accreditations where they are legally required before the sponsored migrant starts work;
- keep copies of these documents and make them available to us if we ask; and
- make sure that they are renewed and updated as and when needed; and
For example:
- An employer keeps copies of any professional registrations and accreditations in the employee's personnel file. Any expiry dates are recorded in a diary to ensure that the employee has extended his/her registration at the appropriate time. These documents are kept at a central HR unit and copies are readily available to us.
You will get a rating of 2 if you have procedures in place to:
- keep photocopies or electronic copies of all registrations and professional accreditations where they are legally needed but you do not have a procedure in place to make sure that they are renewed and updated as and when needed.
Or you:
- check and record the details of the registration or professional accreditation and have a procedure in place to make sure that they are renewed and updated as and when needed but you do not keep copies of these documents.
For example:
- A sponsor keeps photocopies of any professional accreditations at the time of appointment but subsequently relies on the migrant to inform it of any changes. Copies of these documents are quickly available to us on request.
- A sponsor records the name of the accrediting body, the migrant's registration number and the expiry date but does not keep a copy of the original document. However, the sponsor then records dates in a diary to ensure that the migrant has extended his/her registration at the appropriate time. These details are quickly available to us on request.
You will get a rating of 3 if you do not have in place procedures to:
- check and record the details of any professional registrations or accreditations where they are legally required.
For example:
- An employer whose employees are legally required to have professional accreditations to work in those jobs does not conduct any checks to ensure that they hold those accreditations.