Change of Circumstances Home Office
Fantastic webinar this morning with some excellent feedback, so thank you very much to all those who participated and rated it so highly.
Thank you also to Jacqueline and Carla who shared their wisdom and extensive knowledge on the process and requirements of reporting change of circumstances both from their time and work at the Home Office, and with our various clients. Below a few questions and tips we thought those of you unable to tune in might find useful (for further assistance contact us on 020 7494 0118 and we would be delighted to work together):
TOP TIP: Please ensure that you report any sponsored employee’s change of address in the Sponsor Management System! This needs to be recorded within 10 days of the change taking place at the latest, but as soon as possible and known even better. We can not stress enough how important but overlooked this is! Crucially, please ensure your employees are painfully and thoroughly aware of this requirement and that they do tell you of changes in their address. Unreported change of address is the most common offender of compliance breaches.
Q: If a Tier 2 Migrant is off sick but has informed you – do you still need to report this if it’s more than 10 days?
No – This will not be necessary. UKVI will be concerned with absences, without prior permission or knowledge, of 10 working days or more.
However, you will need to inform UKVI where the Tier 2 Migrant’s salary will change as a result of a period of long-term sick leave lasting one month or longer.
Q: Do you need to report if a Tier 2 Migrant is put on statutory sick pay?
Yes – as a Sponsor, you must report, via SMS, of a change of salary from that stated on the Certificate of Sponsorship due to sick leave, maternity (or paternity) leave within 10 working days.
Q: If you have not notified the Home Office of change of circumstances within 10 days but do so retrospectively, what are the repercussions if any ?
By notifying UKVI of a Tier 2 migrant change of circumstances, you will be deemed to have minimised the risk of immigration abuse by complying with the Home Office guidance. Not doing so could lead to UKVI curtailing the leave of the migrant in question, auditing the company and even downgrading the Sponsor Licence amongst other measures.
Much will depend on the length of time taken for the sponsor to remedy the matter and report the change on SMS and whether this was an ongoing pattern. We would therefore always advise that you immediately update UKVI of any changes as soon as they are known and certainly within 10 working days. If you believe you are in breach or facing a similiar issue, get in touch with us as soon as possible and we can assist.
Q: What about changes to company structure ?
If there are any significant changes in a company’s circumstances, for example, if the business is sold or part-sold, ceases trading, goes into administration, substantially changes its nature, or is involved in a merger or are take over, this must be reported to the Home Office within 20 working days. For more information, join our webinar next Friday, 10 October @ 10:00am which will cover Mergers, Acquisitions, Organisational Restructures, De-mergers and Their Impact on Your Sponsor Licence.
Author
Founder and Managing Director Anne Morris is a fully qualified solicitor and trusted adviser to large corporates through to SMEs, providing strategic immigration and global mobility advice to support employers with UK operations to meet their workforce needs through corporate immigration.
She is a recognised by Legal 500 and Chambers as a legal expert and delivers Board-level advice on business migration and compliance risk management as well as overseeing the firm’s development of new client propositions and delivery of cost and time efficient processing of applications.
Anne is an active public speaker, immigration commentator, and immigration policy contributor and regularly hosts training sessions for employers and HR professionals