Sponsor License revocation is bad news for any UK-based organization that has hired foreign workers and wishes to continue hiring foreign workers in the future also. If you get a notice from the Home Office that your sponsor license may be revoked, you need to understand what is going to be the consequences of it and the possible solutions there are for your company.  

Impact of Sponsor License Revocation on Organization

Once your sponsor license is revoked you cannot employ foreign workers across all sponsorship visa categories. This can impact your company’s operations and future growth enormously especially if you hired foreign workers for key positions. Your UK sponsor license revocation is also bad news for the employees as they either need to be sponsored by another company or leave the country.
You cannot apply for a new sponsor license for a cooling off period which in most cases is 12 months from the date the sponsor license was revoked.

Impact of Sponsor License Revocation on Foreign Workers Employed in the Organization

Any employees who were sponsored and are complicit in the reasons for the revocation, of their length of stay in the UK will be cut. They have to leave the UK immediately on their own or they will face forced removal. Employees who were not complicit in the reasons for revocation will face their term in the UK cut to 60 days from the date the sponsor license was revoked. At this time, the worker can apply for indefinite leave to remain. If they don’t apply for ILR, they will be removed from the UK at the end of these 60 days.

Reasons for Sponsor License Revocations

Immigration law requires all sponsoring organizations to meet certain duties in relation to the management of their sponsor license. If your company fails to meet these duties as mentioned below your sponsor license may be revoked by the Home Office.

• Poor record keeping, particularly if personnel records relating to sponsored workers are not kept up to date.
• Your company did not notify the Home Office of changes in circumstances relating to foreign workers and the organization.
• If there is a mismatch between actual information relating to the sponsored roles, such as salary and job duties, and the same details given on the Certificate of sponsorship.
• Where your company has failed to follow the stipulated action plan following a license downgrade to a B’ rating.

What to do next?

The Home Office usually suspends your sponsor license before revocation. During this time they seek representation and evidence from the sponsor before they make a revocation decision.  

Pre-action Protocol

Generally, you should apply for a Pre-Action protocol. For this, you must seek an expert like us services. In pre-action control, a letter is issued to the Home Office.   It is important to assess the details of the matter and analyze the merits of revocation.
Once this is addressed you can proceed most effectively to obtain relief. You request the litigation team of the Home office to review the matter in the light of the representations or submissions made in the Pre-action protocol letter before initiating the Judicial Review JR process in the High Court.

Judicial Review

If after pre-action protocol the Home Office litigation team does not overturn its revocation decision you can challenge the decision by applying for a judicial review. You can apply for a judicial review within 90 days from the date your sponsor license was revoked.  
Judicial review is the process whereby the judges of the Administrative Division of the High Court, and the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) exercise jurisdiction over the lawfulness of acts or omissions of public bodies such as UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI), and supervisory jurisdiction over inferior courts and tribunals.

The grounds for Judicial Review include:

 if there was an error of law in the making of the decision
 If there is unfairness by the Home Office in the making of the decision
 If there was procedural impropriety
 If the decision was in breach of the Human Rights Act 1998 (usually involving an assessment of proportionality), and EU law

The High Court may grant permission for judicial review on all grounds, grant permission for judicial review on one or more grounds, or refuse judicial review.

Apply for a Fresh Sponsor License

If the Judicial Review decision does not come in your favor you may choose to apply for a fresh Sponsor License after the cooling period of 12 months if you think that this time you have addressed all the reasons why your license was revoked initially.