Visa costs

Home Office uses many legal terms specific to immigration law. The visa application procedure is also a complex matter and working out some of its aspects may be difficult. One of the most important questions is of course how much visa application will cost.

What is the cost of a sponsor licence application.

It depends whether you are a small or medium/large organization. Small organizations pay 536 GBP while medium/large organizations pay 1476 GBP for a licence. You are a small organization if you meet two out of the three following criteria.

  • your annual turnover is £10.2 million or less
  • your total assets are worth £5.1 million or less
  • you have 50 employees or fewer

Charitable organizations (a registered, excepted or exempt charity or an ecclesiastical corporation established for charitable purposes) are treated as a small organization for the purposes of sponsor licence application- they pay 536 GBP fee. For an up to date information about the fees visit UK Gov website.

You have to take into account the immigration advisor fees as well.

How long does it take to get a visa decision.

Processing times for visa applications vary significantly. They depend not only on the visa type but also whether applicant has used premium services. Average processing times are posted on the Home Office page dedicated to a given visa. Those are indicative only. Actual times may differ significantly. There is not much to be done by the applicant to speed things up. In many visa applications you may be asked to add premium/expedited service to your application.That is at an additional cost. But it saves time, so if you are pressed for time it may be a good option to consider.

How to speed up your application processing time.

There is, in general, little you can do to speed up the visa application processing time by the Home Office. Nevertheless, there are some useful tips that can help. If not to limit the visa application processing time, to at least making sure it stays within the limits set out by the Home Office.

  • make absolutely sure that all the required documents are included in your application
  • all the required evidence must be included in the application as well
  • make sure the documents are in the right formats and in a quality that makes them easily readable
  • if you fail to include required evidence or it is insuficient you may be asked to provide additional documents
  • that would significantly delay your application processing time

Home Office discretion

In many cases using an experienced immigration lawyer will save you time. You may also note that Home Office is more lenient in dealing with the private life and individual applications. In cases where there is no sufficient evidence to support your application or it is in a wrong format or of a wrong type Home Office may ask for clarification/additional documents. It is at Home Office discretion to do so. In cases of many types of application Home Office may simply reject an application for lack of evidence/supporting documents. This is the case with business applicants in particular.

Do I need a lawyer after getting sponsor licence

Main question for many organizations is whether they need to use a lawyer for their day to day management of the sponsor licence. In general, there is no legal obligation for an organization to employ a lawyer. Nevetheless, many organizations prefer to appoint a legal advisor to help them with compliance and duties of a licence holder.

Licence holder has to appoint persons responsible for managing their relationship with the Home Office and for updating them about any changes in circumstances within organization. The organization is also responsible for setting up an account on sponsor management system.

What is Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) and how do I get one.

Certificate of Sponsorship is a document, issued in electronic form. It allows a foreign national to apply for a visa and work in the UK. Appliations for CoS certificates are made through SMS system.It is free for the citizens of certain countries, for others it costs 199GBP per certificate plus immigration skills charge.

Skilled worker ILR

Applicant who has spent 5 years on the skilled worker UK visa can apply for the ILR.