The sponsorship management system (SMS) is the portal provided by the Home Office for licenced sponsors to manage the organisation’s licence activities. The organisations will be able to use the SMS to create and assign the Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) to prospective employees, report changes of sponsored employees, withdraw or vary sponsorships issued and report organisation changes to the Home Office.
SMS Management
The organisations must apply the following key personnel to manage the sponsor licence.
Authorising officer
a senior and competent person who operate the Sponsor Licence Management System (SMS)
Key contact
your main point of contact with UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI)
Level 1 user
responsible for all day-to-day management of your licence using the SMS
It is possible for one person to hold all three positions. The Home Office recommends that the organisations should have more than one Level 1 user to ensure the smooth running of the SMS and that at least one of the Level 1 users is an employee. The other level 1 user can be a UK-based legal representative approved or exempted by the OISC. The businesses who wish to appoint City Legal as a legal representative and fulfill a key personnel role on the SMS may check our retainer packages available. The authorising officer and the organisation is responsible for the actions of all key personnel, including representatives, so it’s important to have confidence in the key personnel that are appointed.
City Legal is qualified to act as a UK based Legal Representative and can fulfil the Key Contact and Level 1 or 2 user roles for any organisation’s SMS under authorisation provided by the OISC under firm reference no. F201400889.
How can we assist?
Our Immigration lawyers at City Legal have immense experience in assisting small businesses and multinational companies in sponsor licence matters including new applications, dealing with suspensions and revocations, HR & Compliance audits with action plans and training, sponsoring migrant workers as well as dealing with day to day sponsor licence obligations.We can offer readily available advice and support to the organisation and can provide cover for a level 1 user in the event of their unexpected absence. We can assist businesses in successfully maintaining their A-rated licence to sponsor ensuring compliance obligations are met.
For a yearly retainer fee, we can act as the organisation’s second level 1 user and/or level 2 user and offer the following:
- Review messages and information posted on SMS and update the organisation if required and/or take any appropriate actions
- Add or Remove level 1 and/ or 2 users
- Apply for a Restricted CoS
- Request an increase in the number of unrestricted Tier 2 CoS that organisation can assign each year
- Assign Restricted or Unrestricted CoS
- Advise on the renewal of organisation’s licence to sponsor; tracking the progress of any such application
- Inform the Home Office of any minor changes to organisation’s details
- Report migrant activity
- Withdraw a CoS and amend SMS user details.
In addition to the above, we have designed bespoke retainer packages to suit almost all organisation needs on an ongoing basis. We are a multi award winning law firm and pride ourselves in being approachable, innovative and always going that extra mile to make sure our clients receive the individual attention they deserve. We have the privilege of working with some of the most well-known companies in the world. Our Immigration team maintains a high reputation and is committed to provide clear, transparent and reliable advice to our clients.