UK Visa Requirements, Sponsorship, Jobs and How to Apply
Visa sponsorship is a great way to get to the U.K. for work. However, there are many financial and protocol issues involved with this process. Therefore, it would be helpful to find someone to sponsor you. This article will discuss obtaining visa sponsorship to work in the U.K.
Before we get into the article discussion, here is what we will look at.
- What is UK visa sponsorship?
- What is a Certificate Of Sponsorship (COS), and how can it help?
- Types of COS
- How to obtain a COS for UK Visa Sponsorship
- How to obtain a Visa sponsorship to work in the UK
- Your UK Visa Sponsor’s Responsibilities
- Who can’t be sponsored to work here in the UK?
- How to Apply
What is UK visa sponsorship?
A sponsor for a UK visa is an individual or employer who sponsors a foreigner to allow them to work in the UK. They are issued a certificate of sponsorship which allows them to sponsor people to work in the UK.
Employers in the UK who wish to employ foreign workers will need to sponsor them by issuing a certificate of sponsorship.
This certificate is issued to show that the employer is prepared to monitor foreign workers’ activities while in the country.
What is a Certificate Of Sponsorship (COS), and how can it help?
Certificates of sponsorship (COS) can be digital documents that are issued to foreign employees. These unique numbers are reserved for foreign employees. This number must be used by the employee when applying for a visa.
After three months, it cannot be used.
Types of COS
There are two main types of certificates for sponsorship. The type of job that you are coming to the U.K. to do will determine which type of sponsorship certificate you will receive.
- COS for skilled workers who work long-term
- COS for temporary workers who work short-term
Employers should determine what type of certificate they will be using and which category of employees they will be hiring to fill the job. You will typically earn less than PS150,000 a year if you work as a skilled worker in Britain.
Temporary workers can often switch to the COS after a few months in the country.
How do I get a COS to sponsor a UK Visa?
The sponsoring employer’s staff creates the certificate of sponsorship. After logging in to the Sponsorship Management System, they would receive login details for their sponsor.
The sponsor will then need to complete certain information required for sponsorship. This information could include ID information, passport information, current address, work address, and so on.
For skilled workers, the fee is approximately PS200, and for temporary workers, it’s around PS21.
How to obtain a Visa sponsorship in order to work in the UK
Once you have received the certificate of sponsorship, it is time to apply for visa sponsorship in order to work in the UK.
The sponsor would have to submit certain documents that would be made public to him/her during the processing of the application.
If they sponsor you for a skilled job in the UK, a total of PS25,000 is required. For a temporary job in the UK, a total of PS8,000 would be required.
Other sponsorship options include PS6,000 for small job schemes in the UK and PS2,000 for larger ones.
Your UK Visa Sponsor’s Responsibilities
This section will help you understand the requirements of your sponsors if they intend to issue certificates of sponsorship to foreigners who wish to work in Britain.
- Keep records and registers of workers’ presence at work and notify IKVI if there is an unexplained absence
- Update the contact information for the worker
- Any change in the business process must be reported to UKVI within 20 days. If any of these things happen to the sponsoring employer,
- Insolvency
- Changes in the scope of work for the business
- Part-taking in a union/take-over
- Examine the qualifications, education, and certifications relevant to the job requirements.
- The CoS must be issued for a job that is suitable for sponsorship
- UKVI should be notified if the visa conditions are broken by the sponsored worker
- Be informed about the immigration status of workers
Who can’t be sponsored to work here?
Now, the question is: Who can be sponsored?
These people are not eligible to be sponsored to work in Britain:
- Both categories of workers are open to people under 18 years of age.
- The second category of workers is those under 16 years old, which is the unskilled category.
How to Apply
It is advisable to get a sponsor before you apply for visa sponsorship to work in the UK. To sponsor your application for visa sponsorship to work in the UK, this person would receive a certificate de sponsorship.