UK Immigration: Renewal of Sponsorship license is no longer required

The UK Government has announced it will remove the requirement for sponsors to renew their sponsor license, effective 6th April 2024. This change streamlines the sponsorship process for existing license holders, eliminating the cost and administrative burden of four-yearly renewals.

UK Sponsor Licenses expiring on or after the 6th of April will be automatically extended for ten years, while those expiring before April 6th must be renewed to maintain sponsorship of existing migrant workers, even if sponsoring new migrants is not planned. Automatically extended licenses will not end unless revoked by the Home Office or surrendered by the organization.

Sponsor license holders should check their license summary page on the Sponsor Management System (SMS) to confirm the expiry date of their license and confirm if applying for renewal is needed.

‍My license expires before 6th of April. What should I do? 

Licenses expiring before 6th April 2024 remain subject to existing regulations. If this is your case, you will still need to apply for an extension and pay for your license renewal.

My license expires on or after 6th of April. What should I do? 

If your sponsor license expires on or after 6th April 2024, you do not need to take any action to extend it. The updated expiry date will be reflected on the SMS license summary page. 

If you’ve received a renewal notice you can disregard it. If you’ve applied for a renewal, the Home Office will contact you regarding any applicable refund of renewal fees.

I do not want my license extended. What should I do? 

If you no longer need your sponsor license and planned to let it expire, you now need to officially surrender it by notifying the Home Office.

Admin work lightens, compliance tightens‍

Prior to these changes, sponsors needed to apply for a renewal 90 days before their license expired. The Home Office charged a renewal fee at the same rate as the initial sponsor license application fee (£1,476 for medium/large sponsors, £536 for small/charitable sponsors). Processing times typically took up to 8 weeks.

While this requirement no longer exists, the Home Office still prioritizes sponsor compliance. Therefore, employers should remain informed and prepared to fulfill their compliance obligations.

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Please note: This article reflects information accurate as of March 2024. As this is a developing topic, we encourage you to refer to official sources for the latest updates.