Under the new Points Based System employers (Sponsors) are responsible for ensuring they are fully compliant with current Employment Legislation in the UK. They do this by demonstrating a robust HR System.

An employer who cannot demonstrate such a system will ultimately fail to meet the requirements laid down by the UK Border Agency.

Overseas Workers Legal Service have a proven track record in ensuring their clients meet the exacting requirements regarding their HR Systems and Processes and to date have achieved  an A rating which we feel speaks for itself.

How does the Home Office consider an application?

• They consider all applications carefully, and a key part of their role is to investigate prospective sponsors to ensure they only give licences to genuine organisations that they believe are likely to comply with their duties.
• They refer all applications for a licence for extensive checks that will include at some point an on-site visit by our visiting officers. This is particularly likely if they know very little about an organisation or have any doubt about whether or not it is genuine.
• Their visiting officers are trained to refer cases for civil penalties or prosecutions if they find evidence of wrongdoing or criminal activity

When kind of questions will they ask when considering a licence application?

1. Is the applicant a genuine organisation operating lawfully in the United Kingdom?
- In order to prove this, the prospective sponsor must provide certain documents.

2. Is the applicant dependable and reliable?
- In order to judge this, they will look at the history and background of the organisation, its key personnel and of the people who control it. Any history of dishonest conduct or immigration crime will be viewed seriously and may lead to refusing an application.

3. What HR System and Procedures are in place?
-    They will look at the organisation’s processes and human resource practices to ensure that it will be able to fulfil its sponsor duties. Following a visit, should they have significant doubts they may award a B-rating to a prospective new sponsor, or in more serious cases, refuse the application. Where an existing sponsor already has an A-rating, they may downgrade them to a B-rating

What do they actually assess with regard to HR?
They assess five individual areas of your HR systems, which are:

• Area 1: Monitoring immigration status and preventing illegal employment
• Area 2: Maintaining migrant contact details
• Area 3: Recordkeeping
• Area 4: Migrant tracking and monitoring
• Area 5: Professional registrations and accreditations

You must mostly achieve a rating of 1 in each of the five areas to get the top rating for your HR systems overall, and they also assess your past compliance with immigration law while employing migrants.

At Overseas Workers Legal Service we are used to going into organisations that either have very little or nothing in place at all and putting together a user-friendly system that we can update for you as and when needed.