Immigration Compliance Training

Immigration training supports enhanced internal efficiencies and compliance risk management. We can support your organisation, whatever your immigration training needs.

Improving the skills and knowledge of internal teams and key human resource staff is a crucial element in meeting your immigration compliance obligations as a UK employer, and avoiding Home Office scrutiny and penalties.

As specialist UK immigration advisers to employers, we deliver a range of immigration training to the enhance the confidence and capability of your personnel when fulfilling compliance duties.

 

Immigration training for compliance

 

Rapid policy shifts now define UK immigration. Post‑Brexit rulebooks have been replaced several times, Home Office guidance notes run into hundreds of pages and are edited without notice, yet employers remain legally bound to follow the latest version. Failing to keep up with these updates can trigger harsh, unwanted and costly penalties.

In the current regulatory environment, allocating budget to staff training represents a proportionate and cost‑effective control measure to mitigate the financial and reputational exposure associated with immigration non‑compliance.

 

Types of immigration training we offer

 

Beyond on our hugely popular programme of free training webinars, we offer employers a range of training options that can be designed to suit your organisation’s specific immigration needs and at all levels of ability, knowledge and experience, from one-off  ‘plug-in’ options such as our Right to Work e-learning, through to regular SMS Level 1 & 2 user sessions and fully bespoke training programmes, to support compliance and professional development.

 

Right to work e-learning

 

Our online right to work e-learning course allows employers to roll out compliance training across the organisation, to ensure all workers involved in recruitment and onboarding have the knowledge and awareness of their right to work obligations, in particular when hiring new workers.

The course is available online and accessible at a time convenient for workers to complete. Once successfully completed, the organisation can retain digital proof of the training for each worker.

 

SMS Level 1 & 2 user training

 

Licensed sponsors are under strict legal obligations to meet their compliance duties, or face enforcement action.

A significant part of the compliance burden falls on the company’s level 1 & level 2 SMS users, who have to know how to use the Sponsorship Management System (SMS) to discharge their company’s compliance duties.

The Sponsorship Management System is notoriously difficult to use, and the Home Office’s SMS user guidance is just as complicated.

Many companies also have only a small number of sponsored workers, so when you do need to log onto the system, you may not be sure how to use it.

With no one to ask for help, level 1 and 2 users are often left worried about making a mistake and exposing their company to compliance penalties.

Our SMS Level 1 & Level 2 User training course is designed to give you the knowledge and confidence to use the Sponsorship Management System correctly and efficiently.

 

Bespoke immigration training

 

The aim of our immigration training is to provide practical understanding of the law, ensuring your teams are knowledgeable and aware and that your operational practices are consistently compliant with regulations.

We can build the training around your people and processes. We will work with you to develop a bespoke programme specific to your organisational and immigration requirements, taking into account the level, knowledge and ability of the employees receiving the training, from HR generalists, onboarding teams, global mobility specialists to in-house counsel. From there we can design a programme that might pair short, practical workshops for hiring managers with deep‑dive masterclasses for your dedicated mobility or compliance leads, e.g.:

 

• Foundation and refresher sessions translate right to work rules and sponsor duties into step‑by‑step checklists.
• Advanced clinics test real case studies, audit files and build the analytical skills senior advisers need when policy shifts land overnight.
• One‑to‑one mentoring supports newly appointed licence holders or rising mobility professionals, converting theory into confident day‑to‑day decisions.

 

Our training is highly interactive, and provides your teams with the opportunity to ask questions pertinent to their business priorities. Delivery can be face‑to‑face or online.

Popular training courses include:

 

• Understanding immigration law
• Maintaining accurate records
• Monitoring migrants under the Points Based System
• How to meet your sponsor duties
• The categories of permission
• Right to Work training

 

 

Workforce training

 

We know from experience that compliance will flow when the central HR team engages with other parts of the organisation and shares best practices and the processes that they need to follow.

We can support your HR team by delivering training to non-HR personnel and sponsored workers to inform them of their responsibilities under law and to support your organisation in ensuring compliance and minimising risk.

Popular training includes presentations for frequent business travellers.

 

Key areas of immigration compliance risk

 

For employers, the key areas of compliance risk centre around right to work and sponsor licence duties.

 

Right to work

 

Under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006, all UK employers are legally required to carry out prescribed right to work checks before employing any individual, regardless of their nationality or background. These checks serve to confirm that the individual has lawful status to work in the UK and, if done correctly, provide the employer with a statutory excuse against a civil penalty should the individual later be found to be working illegally.

Section 15 of the Act provides that employers may be liable for a civil penalty if they employ someone who does not have the right to undertake the work in question. To establish a statutory excuse, the employer must have conducted right to work checks in line with the Home Office’s prescribed requirements. Section 22 of the Act further requires that all checks must be conducted in a non-discriminatory manner. Employers must apply the checks consistently across all prospective employees, regardless of nationality, race, or ethnicity.

 

Statutory Excuse and Prescribed Checks

To establish a statutory excuse, employers must follow one of the three recognised methods of checking an employee’s right to work:

 

• A manual document-based check
• A digital check using identity verification technology (applicable only to British and Irish citizens)
• An online right to work check via the Home Office’s online system (mandatory for certain visa holders using a share code)

 

The appropriate method depends on the individual’s immigration status. Employers must determine whether the worker falls under List A (permanent right to work) or List B (time-limited right to work), and apply the corresponding check requirements.

For manual checks, the original documents must be examined in the presence of the employee (either in person or via live video link) and copies must be retained in a prescribed format. The employer must record the date of the check and retain this evidence securely for the duration of employment plus two years.

Where an employer is accused of employing an illegal worker, they may seek to rely on a statutory excuse to reduce or cancel a civil penalty. To succeed, the employer must demonstrate that they conducted a compliant check before employment began, retained the correct documents, and followed all procedural steps required by law.

 

Follow-Up Checks and Ongoing Compliance

Where the individual presents a time-limited right to work (i.e. a List B document), employers must diarise and carry out follow-up checks before the permission expires. Failure to conduct repeat checks for time-limited workers risks losing the statutory excuse and incurring penalties.

Employers should also ensure that any changes in an employee’s immigration status, job role, or contractual terms are reviewed in light of right to work compliance obligations.

 

Investigation and Enforcement 

Home Office Immigration Enforcement has the authority to carry out unannounced visits to business premises. These visits may arise from intelligence received through whistleblowers, competitor reports, or follow-up investigations. During a compliance visit or enforcement raid, immigration officers will expect to see a complete audit trail of right to work checks for all employees. They may also interview staff and inspect personnel files, onboarding records, and payroll data.

Where breaches are identified, illegal workers may be detained and subject to removal, and employers may be issued with a Referral Notice followed by a Civil Penalty Notice.

 

Penalties for Non-Compliance

Where an employer is found to be employing an individual who does not have the right to work in the UK, they may be liable for civil and criminal sanctions. As of 2024, the maximum civil penalty for illegal working is £45,000 per illegal worker for a first breach and £60,000 for repeat breaches. In more serious cases, criminal prosecution may apply, carrying a maximum custodial sentence of five years.

Additional consequences of non-compliance may include:

 

• Downgrading, suspension or revocation of a sponsor licence (if applicable)
• Public listing on the Home Office’s list of offending employers
• Seizure of earnings under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002
• Business closure orders issued by the court
• Damage to reputation and business continuity

 

Importance of Training and Internal Processes

Even where an organisation has policies in place, operational inconsistencies across sites, departments, or hiring managers often lead to breaches. Right to work compliance is not solely the responsibility of the HR team; all staff involved in recruitment or onboarding—such as line managers, site supervisors, and payroll teams—should be trained on their obligations.

It is essential that right to work checks are embedded into the broader recruitment process and not treated as an administrative afterthought. This includes implementing systems to track visa expiry dates, monitor follow-up check deadlines, and ensure secure storage of check documentation.

 

Sponsor licence compliance

 

Holding a UK sponsor licence confers significant responsibility on an organisation. While it enables employers to sponsor non-UK nationals to work in the UK under routes such as the Skilled Worker and Global Business Mobility visas, it also places the organisation under a strict regime of immigration compliance. The Home Office expects sponsors to uphold their duties diligently throughout the lifecycle of the sponsorship, from issuing a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) to the day the worker leaves their employment.

Failure to meet sponsor licence obligations can lead to serious consequences, including licence suspension, revocation, civil penalties, and reputational damage.

 

Sponsor Duties Under the Immigration Rules

The core duties of a sponsor licence holder are set out in the Home Office Sponsor Guidance and include three overarching responsibilities: record-keeping, reporting, and general compliance. These duties apply from the moment the sponsor licence is granted and must be followed throughout its validity.

Sponsors must retain accurate and up-to-date records for all sponsored workers. This includes copies of right to work documentation, signed employment contracts, salary details and evidence of qualifications where required. All records must be kept in line with Appendix D of the sponsor guidance and must be readily available for inspection.

Sponsors are required to notify the Home Office of certain changes within strict timescales. These reports must be submitted through the SMS, and failure to do so accurately and on time can count as a breach of licence conditions.

Sponsors must comply with all aspects of UK immigration law and wider employment law. This includes ensuring sponsored roles meet the salary and skill thresholds, that CoS are only assigned for genuine vacancies, and that they co-operate fully with UKVI. Sponsors must also act honestly in all dealings with the Home Office and maintain robust HR systems to monitor immigration compliance.

 

Risk Areas and Common Pitfalls

Despite best intentions, many organisations fall short in practice. Common compliance failures include:

 

• Assigning a CoS to a worker for a role that does not meet the correct salary or skill level
• Failing to report changes in the worker’s job or visa status on time
• Inadequate right to work checks or lack of documentation
• Lack of oversight across departments, particularly in large or multi-site organisations
• Inconsistent HR processes or absence of compliance training for relevant personnel

 

A breach does not have to be deliberate to result in sanctions. Even technical errors or delays in reporting can trigger enforcement action if identified during a Home Office audit.

UKVI regularly conducts compliance visits and audits to assess whether sponsors are meeting their duties. These audits involve document checks, interviews with staff and sponsored workers and scrutiny of your internal systems.

Where breaches are identified, the Home Office may:

 

• Issue a warning or improvement notice
• Suspend or revoke the sponsor licence
• Downgrade the licence rating from A to B, requiring an action plan at the sponsor’s cost
• Refuse future visa applications sponsored by the organisation
• Refer the business for civil penalty enforcement
• Publicly list the sponsor as non-compliant
• Prosecute for criminal offences in serious cases

 

Importance of training

Sponsor compliance should not be treated as a one-off task. It requires continuous attention, investment in internal systems and periodic review. Recommended best practices include training all relevant staff, including HR, line managers and recruitment leads, on compliance duties.

 

Need assistance?

 

We provide comprehensive in-house immigration compliance training to help meet your duties under the immigration rules and manage the complexities of multinational and globally mobile workers.

Whether you are looking for top-up sessions to stay up to date with the frequent changes in the immigration rules, or want more in-depth insight into a particular risk or area of immigration, we can help. We regularly deliver training to employers ranging from global corporates and UK-based business through to SMEs, to enhance their internal capabilities through immigration training, webinars, information sessions and email updates.

Our immigration training covers all areas of UK immigration law and we can tailor a training solution specific to your organisational and immigration requirements.

Contact us for specialist immigration training support.