Immigration Audit
Compliance checks and immigration audits ensure that an employer has met their sponsor license duties.
Awards and Accreditations
Sponsor license holders will receive Home Office compliance visits and inspections during the license period.  This is to make sure that the information you gave as part of your sponsor licence application is accurate and that you are able and continuing to comply with the duties and responsibilities of a licensed sponsor. UKVI may also visit your business premises to carry out checks before a decision on your sponsor licence application or sponsor license renewal is made.  Our immigration lawyers can draw on their experience of Home Office compliance requirements to conduct an immigration audit of your business ahead of any Home Office inspection.Â
What happens during a Home Office compliance visit?
Home Office visits will be made to your business premises and may be announced or unnannounced. When UKVI compliance officers visit your business premises they will check that:
- Information that has been given to UKVI is accurate and complete
- You are able to offer employment at the Tier 2 skill level
- You are genuine and trading or operating lawfully in the UK
- There are no reasons to believe you represent a threat to immigration control
- You are committed to, and actually are, complying with all the duties of sponsorship
In order to ensure compliance, you should be prepared to produce evidence in support of compliance with your duties as a sponsor.
The compliance officer will evaluate your firm’s compliance and report on your record-keeping, reporting and immigration status monitoring processess among other inspection criteria. A mock immigration audit is the preferred way to ensure that you are in compliance with your duties as a sponsor and are protected from any negative findings which may damage your company’s reputation and negatively impact your staffing and business expansion plans.
Negative findings following a sponsor compliance visit
If the compliance officers discover a problem before making a decision on your sponsor licence application then the application may be refused.
If the compliance officers find discrepancies in your application after a decision has already been made to grant or renew your sponsor licence, they will take action against you. This could result in your licence being revoked, suspended, or downgraded, with repercussions for sponsored employees.
The ratings of all licensed sponsors are on the Home Office website. A downgrade could result in negative publicity and reputational damage.
If the Home Office considers that you have attempted deception in your sponsor licence application then this could result in prosecution.
Mock Immigration Audit Service
Our immigration lawyers can draw on their experience of Home Office compliance requirements to conduct a mock immigration audit of your business in advance of any Home Office inspection. With our own in-house system containing over 200 points of redundancy, we will ensure that you are well prepared for your Home Office compliance audit.
During our mock immigration audit, a specialist business immigration lawyer will:
- Verify information that you gave on your sponsor licence application,
- Provide practical advice to ensure your record-keeping and reporting systems are robust,
- Review the personnel files of your foreign workers to identify deficiencies and areas for improvement,
- Interview any of your employees involved in the recruitment of foreign workers to prepare them for the type of questions that a Home Office inspector is likely to ask,
- Speak to any foreign workers to determine whether they are familiar with the terms and conditions of their UK visas,
- Conduct right to work checks on other workers to ensure you are complying with your obligation to prevent illegal working, and
- Provide advice about how to successfully implement improvement recommendations.
Following our mock immigration audit, you will receive a comprehensive written report identifying risk areas and providing expert recommendations for improvement.
If required, we can undertake a follow-up immigration audit to further assess any changes that have been implemented.
Please complete the online contact form to learn more about how we can help your business remain in compliance with UK immigration law.
