Sponsor licence refused

Your letter sets out the reason, and that reason shapes what happens next. Under the sponsor guidance, some reasons always or usually end in refusal:

• A false document. This always means refusal and can also be passed to prosecutors.
• A fine for illegal working (a civil penalty) that you paid off less than 12 months before you applied.
• 2 or more of those penalties within the past 5 years.
• Giving work to someone who lacked permission, without doing the right to work checks.
• Not helping with a compliance check, or holding it up. Before making its decision, UKVI sometimes inspects the premises in person.

A licence also won't be granted where unspent convictions for immigration offences, or offences like fraud or money laundering, connect to the application.

Plenty of other refusals are simply about paperwork. Most organisations need to provide at least 4 supporting documents. A business that has traded in the UK for under 18 months has to add a bank statement from a UK bank.

After most refusals, you must wait 6 months before trying again. That fixed wait after a refusal is the cooling-off period. An application made during the cooling-off period is automatically refused, so check whether the wait applies to you before applying again.

Use the wait to sort out whatever went wrong, so the next attempt doesn't trip over the same problem.

Reviews exist only where a caseworker made a mistake, for example a document that went unseen. A review only covers caseworker mistakes, and there is no right of appeal against a sponsor licence refusal. Here's what to do:

1. Check the date on the refusal letter, since the 14 calendar days run from it.
2. Get your review request to UKVI inside those 14 days, pointing to the mistake.
3. Then it's over to UKVI, who aim to reply within 28 working days.

Where UKVI does find a mistake, you submit a new application and pay the fee. You then get that fee back.

A fresh application means the licence fee again, apart from the refund case that follows a review.

The licence fee is just one part of what hiring costs. For 1 worker on a 3-year visa, a small business pays £2,576 in Home Office fees overall, and a medium or large one pays £6,167. The cost calculator and role checker on this site are free and need no sign-up.

Fill in the short form with a few details: that you're dealing with a refusal, how big your business is, the posts you're hoping to fill, and when you need them. A solicitor specialising in sponsor licences reads it and writes back to your work email. Send it today, because your 14 days started on the date of your refusal letter.