New UKBA publication for sponsors of work and student visas

The UK Border Agency has published a new set of instructions for employers and educational institutes that sponsor work visa and student visa applicants and holders ahead of their move to Britain.

The information has been complied into a booklet which is available on the UKBA’s website. The booklet covers mainly the contentious points-based system and how sponsors can go about managing their allocations, renewals and certificates. All sponsors are provided with an allocation of certificates to cover them and their employees for the first year. At the end of each year the host must the make a new application if they wish to carry on with their arrangement. Certificates are valid only for the year of issue and cannot be carried over.

From October 5th this year sponsors can request for allocation renewal. According to details in the new booklet, sponsors have until one year after their initial account was activated with the UKBA to make the application for renewals.

The larger organisations which manage a range of immigrants across different levels of the points-based system fall under a different policy and will have to make several applications by a range of dates. All of the tasks are able to be performed via the UKBA’s sponsorship management system.

The UKBA hopes the new information will clear up some of the areas of confusion ahead of the changes to application qualifications on October 1st.