If as an employer, you wish to bring someone from outside the UK to/from the UK to work for you, you must apply for a Tier-2 visa. However, you must obtain a sponsor Licence – Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) to apply for these types of UK Visas. A sponsorship licence is a document that employers can register with the UK Visas and Immigration office, which must be issued to bring someone from outside the European Union and Switzerland to work in the UK/UK. This document must also be issued for employees who will work voluntarily and will not receive payment. The main reason employers are asked for this document is to track down migrants working in the UK, prevent them from working and staying illegally, and therefore to gauge whether the company has fulfilled its sponsorship duty. For this reason, applications for Tier-2 UK visa types cannot be made without this document.
What is Certificate of Sponsorship-CoS?
According to UK immigration laws, in the event of a job offer from a company to work in the UK, the Ministry of Home Affairs seeks a requirement to have a “Certificate of Sponsorship” or “COS” certificate from the company employing a foreign national. The COS certificate (Certificate of Sponsor) which proves that the sponsor of the licensed institution that meets the purpose of being in the UK for the Tier 2 work visa is an important document for the application. Requires the reference number of the licensed sponsor institution to be obtained. In Tier-2 visa applications, the main reason employers are looking at whether they have a sponsorship licence is to track down migrants working in the UK, preventing them from working illegally and staying. In this way, it is measured whether the company has fulfilled its sponsorship duty. Due to these reasons, this document should also be issued in cases where it will be worked on a voluntary basis and no payment will be received.
How to get Sponsor Licence?
There are certain requirements that employers who want to obtain a sponsor license must meet. The first requirement is that institutions that will issue CoS certificates for Tier-2 and Tier-5 visa applications must ensure that they meet the qualification requirements. In this context, the company should not have a prior registration record of the company’s director or any person interested in the application process within the institution. That is, that these individuals did not act outside immigration laws or fraud, money laundering, etc. he should not have been convicted of a crime. Employers have a responsibility to keep a record of their employees ‘ qualifications for the job they bring to the UK and to keep copies of the relevant documents and diplomas. In addition to these documents, the employer must also keep the information of its employees such as passport, visa, address information and be able to update the changes continuously.
