Important information about renewing your sponsor licence

Posted: 17/08/2012

Holders of sponsor licences have recently been receiving emails from the Home Office informing them that the initial grant of four years is to come to an end soon.

Those seeking to renew should read these emails very carefully and bear in mind the following points:

• you can apply for renewal up to three months before the expiry date – we recommend applying as soon as possible to avoid delays; 
• a  renewal application is made via the Sponsor Management System (SMS) by a level 1 user;
• please remember to check that all of the details on the SMS are correct and make any amendments/updates as necessary – you must apply to make changes in advance of the renewal application and, if the details do not match, the application will be rejected; 
• there is a variable fee depending on the scope of your licence; 
• failure to renew will end your sponsor licence and sponsored workers will have their leave curtailed; you will also not be able to renew and will not be able to apply for a brand new licence; 
• your sponsor licence continues even after expiry whilst the renewal application is being considered; 
• a rejected renewal application before the expiry date will have the fee refunded and a further renewal application can be submitted; and 
• a rejected renewal application after the expiry date will mean that the licence will expire upon the date of rejection (not the expiry date).
   

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