As a Tier 2 (now referred to as Skilled Worker) sponsor license holder, you will, no doubt, be extremely aware of the importance of adhering to your duties and responsibilities. These include keeping up to date records relating to recruitment and sponsored foreign workers, only sponsoring staff who have the skills necessary for a genuine vacancy, and reporting changes in circumstances to UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI). Unfortunately, failure to do any of these tasks can result in your license being downgraded (from an A-rating to a B-rating), suspended, or revoked. Having a license revoked not only means you are unable to sponsor overseas workers, but your existing sponsored staff will have their leave reduced to 60 days, after which they will need to leave the country.
Effective sponsor license management is also about ensuring you have enough Certificates of Sponsorship and that you have staff available within your business to manage the Sponsor Management System (SMS). This is why many sponsor license holders use the priority change of circumstance service to ensure that changes can be made quickly allowing them to continue to sponsor in accordance with the rules. In this article, we will explain the purpose of the priority change of circumstance service, who is eligible to use it, how to apply, and the service processing times.
What Is The Priority Change Of Circumstances Service?
One of the challenges of being a sponsor license holder is that it can take up to 18 weeks for changes notified to the Home Office (UKVI) to be processed. Even if you have advised UKVI of a change within the required timescale, having to wait 18 weeks may cause problems. For example, if you need to change your level 1 SMS user because one of your members of staff are absent or have left, it is important to be able to do this in a timely manner to allow your business to meet its reporting timescales or issue new Certificates of Sponsorship. The priority service allows particular requests to be escalated to UKVI to be dealt with much faster than using the standard service (we will discuss processing times below). The priority change of circumstances service can be used specifically to:
- increase your certificate of sponsorship (CoS) allocation
- change your annual certificate of sponsorship (CoS) allocation
- add a new level 1 user
- change level one user
- replace the authorising officer (AO)
- amend the authorising officer (AO)
- replace the key contact (KC)
- amend the key contact (KC)
- add a representative
- amend your organisation details – moved to new premises
Not all businesses can make use of the priority change of circumstances service. In order to use this service, your business must:
- be an A-rated Worker or Temporary Worker, fully active licensed sponsor (i.e. not have been downgraded to a B-rating)
- have submitted a request prior to emailing the Worker or Temporary Worker priority service mailbox
- ensure the request is not already in progress/or allocated to a caseworker
- have printed the submission sheet if your request is to replace the authorising officer or appoint a representative
- be a premium sponsor – premium sponsors should contact their dedicated account manager instead
- only request unrestricted CoSs
- submit a fully completed application to the priority service team
Most sponsoring businesses will, therefore, be able to take advantage of the priority service, assuming they are not B-rated or already using the premium customer service.
How Do We Use The Change Of Circumstances Priority Service?
To make a priority change of circumstances request, you will need to complete the following steps:
Step 1: In all circumstances, you will follow the normal change of circumstances process on your SMS portal.
Step 2: Once you have made the change in the SMS, you will then need to complete a Worker and Temporary Worker priority request form.
Step 3: Email postlicencepriorityservice@homeoffice.gov.uk, with the completed priority request form attached.
The UKVI guidance states that you can request multiple changes (up to 60 per day), but you should only reference one sponsor license in the email; “You can apply for multiple priority requests however they must be on the same licence. Multiple request forms for different sponsors on the same email will not be considered”.
In addition, they advise that requests will only be processed between 9 am to 5:30 pm Monday to Friday. If a priority request is received outside of these times/days, then it may be automatically rejected.
What Happens Once We Have Requested A Priority Change?
Once your request has been processed by UKVI, if approved, you will receive an email confirming acceptance with further instructions and a request for payment. You have 72 hours to make the payment to UKVI (including weekends); if the payment is not made in time, the request ‘expires’, and a new request will need to be submitted.
The current priority change fee is £200 per request.
UKVI states that requests which meet their criteria and have a successful payment made within 72 hours will be processed within five working days. The five days applies from when UKVI receive your submission sheet if you are replacing your authorising officer or appointing a representative. They do also point out that if the matter is complex, they may not be able to meet the five-day timescale, and that further information may be requested (and unfortunately, if that information is not promptly provided, they may reject the request without refunding the request fee).
Wrapping Up
The extent to which you may use the change of circumstances priority service will very much depend on how many sponsored workers you have within your organisation, and how often you need to add or change your key users, contacts, and authorising officers. For some businesses highly reliant on sponsoring skilled workers from outside of the UK, the priority change service can be invaluable and provides a way of keeping fully up to date with a dynamic working environment.
