Following a compliance visit from the Home Office, concerns may be expressed by UKVI. These concerns may result in a down-graded licence, suspension, or revocation of a licence. The most common concerns result from improper or non-existent Resident Labour Market Tests (RLMT) when they were required, poor record keeping and reporting, insufficient recruitment practices, or poor HR policies and procedures that are required in order to comply with the sponsor duties.
At A Y & J Solicitors in London, we have successfully guided numerous clients. We’ve helped them navigate the complexities of suspended or revoked Sponsor Licences. Additionally, we provided them with effective solutions and peace of mind during challenging times. Moreover, our immigration solicitors are ready to answer your questions and review your processes. We will set up your business for long-term success.
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Bad advice can lead to delays and refusals you can’t afford to risk. That’s why we assign a subject matter expert - a UK immigration associate - to manage your case throughout.
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We are your go-to specialists in immigration law. Over the past few years, we have supported more than 4,000 business owners and professionals worldwide. We have helped them successfully navigate the UK system. We work quickly, always responding to any queries within 24 working hours. And we work closely with the Home Office to pre-empt issues before they jeopardise sponsorship applications or breach compliance. We manage all United Kingdom immigration matters including visa applications under the new points-based immigration system, Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR), Spouse Visas, nationality and more. We also handle complex cases of appeal, administrative reviews, and judicial reviews. Moreover, we manage many immigration challenges involving European Union law and human rights.
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Sponsor Licence suspended? We’ve seen the devastating impact these suspensions or revocations can have on a business. In fact, we have seen that teams fall apart, profits plummet, and timelines keep getting pushed. As a result, our solicitors work closely with businesses looking to avoid or correct these decisions. Moreover, we’ll ensure you’re complying with all Sponsor Licence requirements and know exactly what to do when your sponsor licence is suspended or revoked.
Watch our video where we show you how we deal with UK immigration appeals here at A Y & J Solicitors
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Since 2020, A Y & J Solicitors has handled over hundreds of successful Sponsor Licence Suspended applications, making it a renowned leader in UK immigration law. Each case that we take is handled with meticulous professionalism by our experienced team, meeting every requirement and providing the highest possible likelihood of approval.
Yes. A company can surrender its sponsor licence at any time by informing UK Visas and Immigration. Equally, the Home Office may revoke the licence if the business fails to carry out essential duties like right-to-work checks or keeping accurate records.
For licences expiring before 6 April 2024, you must apply to extend via the Sponsorship Management System at least 90 days before the expiry date, submit any updated documents and pay the renewal fee. Licences set to expire on or after 6 April 2024 have been granted an automatic ten-year extension.
A sponsor licence is formal authorisation from UK Visas and Immigration that allows your organisation to issue Certificates of Sponsorship to overseas workers under routes such as the Skilled Worker visa. It confirms you’re a bona fide employer with the systems in place to meet Home Office requirements.
If UKVI revokes your licence, your company is taken off the register of approved sponsors and can no longer issue new sponsorships. Any workers you’ve already sponsored will have their leave curtailed to 60 days (or until their current visa expires). You must then wait at least 12 months before reapplying, and serious breaches may result in fines or bans on future applications.
Following a compliance visit from the Home Office, concerns may be expressed by UKVI. These concerns may result in a down-graded licence, suspension, or revocation of a licence. The most common concerns result from improper or non-existent Resident Labour Market Tests (RLMT) when they were required, poor record keeping and reporting, insufficient recruitment practices, or poor HR policies and procedures that are required in order to comply with the sponsor duties.
An organisation’s Sponsor Licence can be suspended if UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) has concerns that a sponsor may be breaching their sponsor duties or otherwise poses a threat to immigration control, and a mandatory revocation ground does not apply.
The reasons for the Sponsor Licence suspension will be issued in writing and you will have a chance to respond. UKVI may decide to investigate the matter further. If a suspension letter is issued, you will still be provided with an opportunity to respond to the reasons for the suspension.
If you receive a suspension notice, contact us immediately. Our lawyers will review the contents of the notice and provide expert advice as to how you should respond.
A Sponsor Licence can be revoked in response to a breach which is listed as a mandatory ground for revocation and/or a severe compliance breach.
Where a discretionary reason for revocation applies, the Home Office may first suspend the licence and provide the opportunity for your organisation to respond to the UKVI’s concerns before deciding whether to revoke it. If a sponsor’s licence is revoked, the organisation will not be able to apply for a new licence until 12-months have passed since the date of the revocation letter.
Recently, an IT company was audited by a UKVI compliance officer. This company relies on a large workforce of sponsored migrant workers. As a result of the Home Office Visit, the company received notice that their Sponsor Licence had been suspended. The explanation given was that the company had not provided convincing evidence that they were conducting adequate Right To Work checks on their migrant workers. This led the Home Office to believe that the company was failing to take sufficient action to prevent illegal working, which is a failure of a key sponsor duty.
In a separate ground for suspension, UKVI took the position that the jobs filled by sponsored workers did not represent genuine vacancies, another failure. In addition, the company had not updated their licence to reflect all the current UK branches of the company, and some of these branches were hiring sponsored workers. This indicated a failure to comply with their reporting duties. Finally, the UKVI also deemed the company’s human resources systems was inadequate to maintain current and historical contact details for all sponsored workers. Failure to maintain up-to-date contact details, or have robust procedures to keep contact details up to date indicates a failure of yet another key sponsor duty.
UKVI’s concerns were valid as the sponsor was non-compliant at the date of the Compliance Officer’s audit. The situation and outcome could have been avoided. Each of the issues could have been corrected in advance with the right information and support. A Y & J Solicitors can help your company prepare for a Home Office audit, helping you to achieve a strong long-term record as a Sponsor Licence holder.
Organisations that have had their licence suspended have 20 working days to respond to a notice from the Home Office.
We are well experienced in helping clients who are facing strict action from the Home Office. We have represented many companies. We understand the stress and economic impact managing a suspension and/or revocation of a Sponsor Licence. We provide fast, robust solutions and advice, to ensure your commercial interests are protected and if needed, help you to get your licence restored.
Yes. The Worker Sponsor Licence was formerly referred to as the Tier 2 Sponsor Licence. The Tier 2 General Work Visa was also replaced by the Skilled Worker Visa. Contact us today if you’re looking for help with a Skilled Worker Sponsor licence (that has been suspended or revoked).
The Home Office most often suspends or revokes licences for:
Failing to carry out robust right-to-work checks on sponsored migrants
Poor record-keeping (not retaining attendance or contact details)
Failure to report material changes (e.g. change of premises, company structure)
Assigning Certificates of Sponsorship to non-genuine vacancies
Breaches of sponsor duties (such as paying below the required salary)
An organisation’s Sponsor Licence can be suspended (Tier 2 Sponsor Licence suspended) if UKVI has concerns that a sponsor may be breaching their sponsor duties or otherwise poses a threat to immigration control, and a mandatory revocation ground does not apply.
The reasons for the Sponsor Licence suspension will be issued in writing, and you will have a chance to respond. UKVI may decide to investigate the matter further. If a suspension letter is issued, you will still be provided with an opportunity to respond to the reasons for the suspension.
If you receive a suspension notice, contact us immediately. Our lawyers will review the contents of the notice and provide expert advice as to how you should respond.
A Sponsor Licence can be revoked (Tier 2 Sponsorship cancelled) in response to a breach that is listed as a mandatory ground for revocation and/or a severe compliance breach.
Where a discretionary reason for revocation applies, the Home Office may first suspend the licence and provide the opportunity for your organisation to respond to the UKVI’s concerns before deciding whether to revoke it. If a sponsor’s licence is revoked, the organisation will not be able to apply for a new licence until 12 months have passed since the date of the revocation letter.
The Home Office requires licensed sponsors to meet and maintain certain obligations throughout the period of their Sponsor Licence. In the event the Home Office believes and finds that you have failed your duties as a sponsor, a decision may be made to suspend your Sponsor Licence.
Should your organisation’s Sponsor Licence be suspended, you will not be able to assign Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) under any categories. As part of the Home Office procedure, your company will also be removed from the register of sponsors during the suspension period.
Despite your Sponsor Licence being suspended, your company must continue to meet its sponsorship duties. In the event your company’s Sponsor Licence is due for renewal during the suspension time, the Authorising Officer should make the renewal application online using the Sponsor Licence Management System.
The status of your company’s sponsored workers currently working for your organisation will not be affected when your Sponsor Licence is suspended unless the Home Office decides to revoke your Sponsor Licence.
In the event your organisation fails to address the issues listed in the suspension letter and your licence is revoked, your organisation is no longer able to offer sponsorship to overseas workers. Furthermore, following the revocation of your company’s Sponsor Licence, the Home Office will curtail the leave given to the migrant workers who are currently working for your organisation. The sponsored migrant workers will normally have their leave curtailed to 60 calendar days. If they have fewer days than this remaining on their visas, such action will not take place.
You will lose your sponsored migrant workers, and they will either have to find another sponsor to sponsor them, make another visa application in the UK, or leave the UK.
Organisations that have had their Sponsor Licence suspended (Tier 2 Sponsor Licence suspended) have 20 working days to respond to a notice from the Home Office.
A Sponsor Licence can be mandatorily revoked (Tier 2 Sponsorship cancelled) if the sponsor:
Note: This is not an exhaustive list. Get in touch with us today if you have additional questions.
If you fail to respond to the suspension letter within 20 working days, your company’s Sponsor Licence will be revoked (Tier 2 Sponsorship cancelled).
There is no statutory right of appeal against licence revocation. You may, however, challenge the decision via Judicial Review if there are arguable legal errors in UKVI’s process.
If your sponsor licence has been suspended, usually, you will be given 20 working days from the date of issue of the suspension letter to address any concerns raised by the Home Office. You should address each and every concern raised by the Home Office to help you reinstate your sponsor licence.
Yes, absolutely. The organisation should prepare a robust response to the concerns raised in the suspension letter by the Home Office to challenge it successfully to reinstate the sponsor licence. The Home Office offers 20 working days for the organisation to address any concerns raised in the suspension letter.
Sponsor licence suspension requires immediate attention to address any points raised by the Home Office within 20 working days while preparing the representation; we advise dealing with every point very diligently and providing appropriate explanations and mitigating circumstances with corroborating evidence wherever possible. If you fail to restate the sponsor licence suspension stage, the sponsor licence will likely be revoked. If the sponsor licence is revoked, you will lose the ability to sponsor overseas skilled staff and lose existing sponsored migrant workers in your business.
A Sponsor Licence will be revoked if you commit mandatory or serious breaches, such as:
Providing false information in your licence application
Ceasing to trade
Incurring two or more finalised civil penalties for illegal working
Failing to meet an agreed action plan after a licence downgrade
Once revoked, you cannot apply for a new licence for 12 months. To mitigate this:
Respond promptly to any suspension notice within 20 working days, addressing each concern with evidence of remedial action.
Engage experts to help prepare your suspension representations and, if necessary, explore Judicial Review options for revocation decisions.
Review and strengthen your HR policies, reporting processes, and compliance training to prevent future breaches.
A licence may be suspended if you breach any of your core sponsor duties, including:
Right-to-work checks: Failing to check and retain evidence of a worker’s right to work before they start employment.
Record-keeping: Not keeping up‐to‐date copies of passports, contact details, attendance records, and historical HR files for each sponsored worker.
Monitoring attendance: Failing to track absences or report unauthorised absence via the Sponsorship Management System within 10 working days.
Reporting changes: Not notifying UKVI of material changes (e.g., change of job title, salary, working hours, ownership, or premises) within the required timeframe.
Genuine vacancy: Assigning a CoS to a role that is not a bona fide skilled vacancy meeting the eligibility criteria.
No cost-recoup: Passing licence, CoS, or immigration application fees onto workers (prohibited for Skilled Worker and Health & Care routes since 31 Dec 2024; expanded to all routes from 9 Apr 2025)
Once approved, the sponsor licence remains valid for 4 years; after this period, you must apply for a renewal to continue sponsoring migrant workers for your business.
If you are a sponsored migrant and your sponsor loses the sponsor licence, then you could still continue working with the sponsor till your curtailed visa expires. By or before your curtailed visa expires, you should regularise your status in the UK.
There is no immediate implication on sponsored migrant workers if the sponsor has their sponsor licence suspended. However, during the suspension period, the sponsored worker cannot extend their skilled worker visas.
Based on our 15 years of experience dealing with sponsor licence matters, we advise our clients to take every concern the Home Office raises in the suspension letter very seriously. We advise and help our client address these concerns pragmatically to ensure we address them to satisfy the Home Office and meet the sponsorship duties of the sponsor. We have experienced that many organisations have failed to meet their sponsorship duties, which has resulted in sponsor licence suspension, but with our professional guidance, experience and expertise, we have managed to assist them in navigating through this complex challenge of reinstating their sponsor licence from suspension. We advise our clients to go through each and every consent rate raised by the Home Office. We take thorough instructions, gather all relevant information surrounding the issue, and then help our clients to address every concern by advising them to get the relevant corroborating evidence. We also share experience-based strategies to help them reinstate the sponsor licence.
Generally, you hear back from the Home Office with the decision within one to two months from the date of your response to the Home Office. The Home Office may request further information each time after submitting this response.
Existing sponsored workers may continue working and remain in the UK.
Any extension, change of employment, or new visa applications will be held on hold until the suspension is lifted.
Only a revocation triggers curtailment of workers’ leave.
If you fail to submit representations within 20 working days of the suspension letter, UKVI will proceed to revocation of your licence without further warning. Once revoked, you cannot assign any more CoS and must wait 12 months before re-applying
Even if you believe you have made mistakes, we encourage you to seek professional legal advice in relation to the sponsor licence suspension matter. The lawyer can assess the situation differently in making you restore the sponsor licence if possible.
Getting a sponsor licence suspension is very critical for the business. You may fail to reinstate the sponsor licence, lose the ability to sponsor skilled workers from overseas and lose all your existing sponsored migrant workers. That could affect the business’s day-to-day operations by losing the skilled staff within the business and, at times, the business up to the extent of shutting it down.
Generally, you get 20 working days to respond to a sponsor licence suspension.
There is no Home Office fee called an “action plan cost.” Any costs depend on your legal or consultancy fees for preparing and fulfilling an action plan, which vary by each consultant.
You should not simply accept suspension. If you receive a suspension letter, you have 20 working days to submit detailed representations addressing each concern, providing evidence of corrective steps taken, and requesting reinstatement. Failing to respond effectively risks automatic revocation without further notice.
At A Y & J Solicitors, our team has an in-depth understanding of Sponsor Licence suspensions and revocations and achieves an incredibly high success rate for our clients. In each case, we provide clients with excellent customer service and a transparent fee structure with no hidden charges or extra costs. We offer caring service throughout the entire process, from your initial consultation until the decision on your challenge to the sponsor licence suspension/revocation
We can accommodate our clients in a variety of ways, including in-house consultations at our central London office or online/telephone/Skype meetings. Our lawyers also know a handful of international languages, including Hindi & Gujarati, Romanian, Albanian and Italian.
With more than 5,000+ successful immigration cases behind us, A Y & J Solicitors is known for its reliable service and real results. For over ten years, we’ve supported individuals and companies through sponsor licence applications, visas, and settlement routes with care and attention to detail. While recognition from The Legal 500 matters, our real achievement is the trust our clients place in us. When you use us, you receive clear guidance, practical advice, and a team of lawyers who actually have your back.
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