Compliance Visits: Tips on Preparing For Home Office Inspections
In This Article
1. What is a Home Office Compliance Visit?
2. Understanding Pre-licence Compliance Visits
3. Post-licence Compliance Visits: Remembering Your Obligations
4. Preparing for a Home Office Compliance Visit
5. Benefits of Conducting an Immigration Audit
6. What to Expect During a Home Office Compliance Visit
7. Contact Our Immigration Barristers
8. Frequently Asked Questions
9. Glossary
1. What is a Home Office Compliance Visit?
A Home Office compliance visit is a visit by the Home Office either to carry out checks prior to making a decision on your sponsor licence application or an inspection to continue to monitor your compliance during the validity of your sponsor licence.
The Home Office can select to make an announced or unannounced visit. It is also common for them to conduct a digital compliance check using MS Teams to obtain the required details.
2. Understanding Pre-licence Compliance Visits
The Home Office may decide to carry out pre-licence checks if they have concerns about the evidence provided or too little information was provided in the sponsor licence application. If they are unable to carry out a compliance check, they will complete their consideration based on the information you provided. This may result in your application being refused.
If you receive a notice of a pre-licence compliance visit, the Home Office is likely to consider whether:
- You have human resource and recruitment systems in place to meet your sponsor duties;
- You can offer genuine employment;
- The role meets the required skill levels and salary requirements;
- You may be a threat to immigration control;
They may also wish to verify the information you provided in your sponsor licence application.
It is essential to prepare for a Home Office compliance check to show that you can or continue to be able to meet your sponsor duties. You may want to consider seeking legal assistance to get ready for a Home Office compliance visit.
3. Post-licence Compliance Visits: Remembering Your Obligations
Once you have been granted a sponsor licence, the Home Office may conduct a visit if you have a poor record of compliance with them or with other government departments. They will want to see if you have complied with your sponsor duties of:
- reporting: whether you report the changes to a sponsored worker’s circumstances within the time limits;
- record-keeping: checking whether the records in Appendix D are kept;
- complying with immigration laws: whether the workers have the qualifications and experience to do the job;
- complying with wider UK law: complying with UK employment law;
The Home Office wants to see that your business is genuine and operating lawfully in the UK.
4. Preparing for a Home Office Compliance Visit
The Home Office may require you to send a copy of the documents prior to the compliance visit.
We have set out below a number of areas where the Home Office may focus on during the compliance visit:
Human Resource Systems
When assessing your suitability to be a sponsor, the Home Office may look at whether you have human resource and recruitment systems in place. They want to see that the records are accessible and that any relevant policies are updated.
Right to Work Checks
They may want to see whether your right to work checks were done accurately and the evidence you have retained for these checks, for example they may want to see the employees’ passports or other proof of ID. The Home Office has published an Employer’s guide to right to work checks advising an employer how to conduct a right to work check and the specific actions to take to prevent liability for a civil penalty.
Sponsored Worker’s work address
They can conduct compliance checks at any physical addresses where your sponsored workers carry out, or would carry out their employment duties. They may want to see whether this is the location recorded on the SMS.
Current Employees
The Home Office may wish to see that you have a copy of the employment contracts for your employees as well as the records of the employees’ annual leave and absences.
Documentation relevant to your business
This could include recent business bank statements if you have a sponsor licence and the Home Office wants to see any recent transactions as well as any salaries paid to employees.
Third party site
If the Home Office needs access to a third party’s site, evidence of any arrangements between you and the third party will need to be provided. You should also ensure that the third party provides full-cooperation.
No physical office
If your business has no or little physical office space, the Home Office will consider the type of work that your sponsored worker will be doing and the location where the sponsored worker will be working. The Home Office will assess why your sponsored worker will need to be in the UK if remote work can be carried out.
Interviews
The Home Office is likely to interview the Authorising Officer, any relevant personnel and any sponsored workers. Prior to the Home Office compliance visit, they may inform you of the sponsored workers they wish to interview but that may not always be the case so do ensure your staff is available on the day of the visit.
Questions relating to the role and recruitment of the sponsored workers may be raised so they should be ready for the interview, such as information about their duties, qualifications and/or their hourly rate.
5. Benefits of Conducting an Immigration Audit
An immigration audit is a mock exercise of checking your human resource system, policies and documents to get ready for a Home Office compliance visit. Our barrister can help in conducting an immigration audit of your business as explained in our article How An Immigration Audit Can Safeguard Your Sponsor Licence. We also talked about the consequences of failing a Home Office inspection once your sponsor licence has been granted:
- Downgrading your licence to a B-rating: an action plan will be introduced for you to comply with within a certain period of time. There is a fee to be paid and no new workers can be sponsored until your A-rating has been regained;
- Suspending your licence: No Certificate of Sponsorship can be assigned during the suspension period. Your current sponsored workers will not be affected unless the Home Office decides to revoke your licence.
- Revoking your licence: If your licence is revoked, you will not be able to sponsor any more workers. Any current sponsored workers’s permission will normally be cancelled.
6. What to Expect During a Home Office Compliance Visit
At the beginning of the check, they may request to see the Authorising Officer’s original passport to confirm the identity. They expect the Authorising Officer to demonstrate their systems during the compliance check to see the right to work checks and records of absences and contact details. They may verify any information provided in the sponsor licence application and the sponsored worker’s application.
It is common for them to ask questions about the genuineness of the role, including whether there is a job description, whether there is a need for the vacancy and any required professional qualifications for the role. They may also ask how the organisation monitors staff working from home and how often does the organisation pay staff. The common questions relating to the organisation may include providing a summary of the business and whether there are any links to any other business.
After the visit, the Home Office may request further documentation to be submitted after the check.
7. Contact Our Immigration Barristers
For expert advice and assistance in relation to a Sponsor Licence application or Immigration audits, contact our immigration barristers in London on 0203 617 9173 or via the enquiry form below.
