Uncategorised

Available From 12 November 2020: Home Office announced a new Priority service for expedited processing of sponsor licence applications.

By 2nd November 2020 No Comments

Available From 12 November 2020: Home Office announced a new Priority service for expedited processing of sponsor licence applications.

The Home Office’s new immigration and nationality fees were updated recently. A good news to all applicants – there is no increase in the current visa application fees. An even better news for the companies the Home Office has introduced a new Priority service for expedited processing of sponsor licence applications, which will be available for all sponsor licence applications from 12 November 2020. The fee for the priority service to expedite a sponsor licence application will be £500.

The Home Office also offers a priority change of circumstances service to A-rated Tier 2 and Tier 5 sponsors for £200 per request. Sponsors can request additional and annual Certificates of Sponsorship allocation, add or change level 1 user, replace or amend the authorising officer, replace or amend the key contact, add a representative or amend your organisation details. Processing times for the request is normally within 5 working days if the priority service is used, while it could take up to 18 weeks if the normal service is used.

 

Processing times for a sponsor licence application

The current processing time for a sponsor licence application is up to 8 weeks. There was no option in the past to expedite this process. With the new Priority service for expediting the application process, we hope that the sponsor licence applications could be decided within 5 working days from submission. Unfortunately, there is no confirmation from the Home Office about the exact processing time yet and we are awaiting announcement on this in the next few weeks.

Please note employers are encouraged to apply for a sponsor licence in advance of the Brexit transitional period deadline on 31 December 2020, when the free movement officially ends by the end of this year and all EU nationals coming to the UK will need to comply with UK immigration rules.

 

How can we help?

Our experts have assisted numerous organisations in applying for new licences as well as Home Office audits and with renewals of their licences. If you need legal assistance with your application or wish to organise a mock compliance visit, please contact Taylor Hampton’s immigration solicitors today on 020 7427 5972 or submit an enquiry here.

You can also get in touch or follow us for similar content on our social media accounts on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or

QR code for wechat