Immigration Skills Charge and UK Visa Sponsorship

UK Immigration Blog

Every time you support a migrant in the Skilled Worker or Global Business Mobility – Senior or Specialist Worker categories, you may have to pay the Immigration Skills Charge. If the worker you support or sponsor is applying for a visa to work in the United Kingdom for at least half a year or more. If they are using from within the United Kingdom for any time, you will be required to spend on the ISC unless an exemption occurs.

A company based in the United Kingdom that wishes to hire highly skilled foreign workers must understand the implications of holding a sponsor licence from the Home Office. The fees must be paid for :

  • Each person sponsored,
  • The Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) given,
  • The cost of putting in place the people, systems, and procedures

It is necessary to meet the responsibilities of a license holder is often overlooked by many businesses.

If you are an employer seeking to sponsor a Skilled Worker, Senior Worker, or Specialist Worker, you may be compelled to pay the UK Immigration Skills Charge. Since it is now required for all UK employers to obtain a sponsoring license to hire foreign workers. The number of companies paying the Immigration Skills Charge United Kingdom has skyrocketed. Unfortunately, only some companies grasp the licenceISC, and the charge size can be a rude awakening for first-time sponsors.

What is the ISC?

Immigration skills charge
Immigration skills charge

Companies that take on qualified foreign workers must pay the Licence ISC. Each assigned CoS results in a fee for the sponsor unless an exemption occurs. Workers sponsored through the Senior or Specialist Worker path and the Skilled Worker route will be subject to the fee. If you are applying for a visa as a foreigner to work in the United Kingdom for about half a year or more than this from within the UK at any time, you will be needed to submit the fee.

What is the ISC Exempt?

From January 1, 2023, there will be a new ISC exemption.  Employers taking the Global Business Mobility: Senior or Specialist Worker path will benefit from a new exemption revealed by the Home Office in November 2022, which has since received parliamentary approval. The waiver is meant to strengthen the December 2020 Trade and Cooperation Accord between the European Union and the United Kingdom. From January 1, 2023, the Immigration Skills Charge UK will no longer be required from companies who designate a CoS under the following conditions:

  • The Employee is a citizen of an EU member state or is a non-citizen of Latvia. It excludes Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.
  • Assignment to the UK began on or after January 1, 2023; and
  • If the CoS specifies a 36-month duration for the job, that’s the maximum time it will last.
  • The Employee is being transferred to the United Kingdom by an EU-based company in the same parent group.

Please get in touch with a member of our Business Immigration team using the information provided below if you have any concerns about sponsoring employees or applying for work visas.

To Whom Does the Immigration Proficiency Fee Apply?

It is not permissible for the Immigration Skills Charge UK to be passed on to the Employee in any way from the employer. You risk revoking your sponsor license if you transfer the UK Immigration Skills Charge to the Employee.

Two variables largely determine the Immigration Skills Charge a company must pay:

  • Size and nature of the organization
  • According to the start and stop times on the Employee’s Certificate of Sponsorship, how long will they work for you?

The Immigration Proficiency Fee can fall into one of two categories:

  • Sponsorship fees for the first 12 months are £364 per sponsored worker.
  • And the fee for each extra 6 months, the sponsoring organization must pay £182.
  • Price for medium and large sponsors:
  • Sponsorship payments are £1,000 for the first 12 months of employment and £500 for each subsequent 6 months.

When does one not have to pay the Immigration skills charge?

You won’t have to fork over ISC in certain scenarios. To avoid extra fees and delays, double-check that all of your data in the SMS system is accurate. If you’re paying for someone else’s immigration costs because you’re supporting a migrant worker, ISC won’t be due.

  • For some time, shorter than half a year
  • Those with a particular SOC Code include chemists, ministers, and athletes.
  • With a passport designated for intracompany graduate trainees
  • Anyone currently studying in the United Kingdom on a Category 5 Student visa. But who plans to change to a Skilled Worker or Intra-Company Transfer visa

No fee is due for a dependent, whether a spouse or a kid.

Immigration skills charge calculator

If the Employee has been in the United Kingdom for over half a year but less than a year, they must spend money for at least one year. Payment for the whole amount has to be made all at once.

UK Immigration skills charge
UK Immigration skills charge

Because the highest number of years an employer can sponsor a foreign worker is 5. The maximum amount of the Immigration Skills Charge ISC to is as follows:

  • £1,820 If you’re a nonprofit or non-commercial supporter
  • £5,000 A fee for immigration-related training must be paid if you are a sponsor with a middle or large budget.

It is a common misconception among some United Kingdom companies that the ISC is only due when a new hire submits a visa application. Certificates of sponsorship can be issued through an electronic sponsor administration system. But the ISC is only due at the time of allocation.

Once the License ISC has been paid in full, the sponsored Employee’s certificate of sponsorship CoS will become legitimate, and the visa will be given.

Procedures for submitting the Immigration Proficiency Fee

Assigning a certificate of sponsorship to the Employee you desire to sponsor requires payment of the immigration skills charges ISC unless an exemption applies. The total expenditure will be automatically estimated depending on the dates provided by the employer during the sponsorship process. The highest charge for medium to large businesses is £5000, while the maximum fee for smaller firms or charities is £1820.

If I don’t pay the ISC, what will happen?

Suppose Immigration Skills Charge is not paid when the CoS refund is assigned; UK Visas and Immigration will approach you. If the License Immigration Skill Charge is not fully settled, the CoS will become null and void. Any application predicated on the certificate of sponsorship CoS would also be put on hold until the claim is fully settled.

The worker’s application will be denied if the UK Immigration Skills Charge is not paid in full within 10 business days of the first notice to do so.

Can the supported worker’s family receive the ISC?

Employers are not responsible for paying the ISC for dependant immigration applications. The condition applies if a Tier 2 sponsored worker brings family members to the United Kingdom. If their dependents subsequently unite them in the UK.

If there are changes in employment status for the sponsored individual

When an employee transfers to a different position within the same company, you must reassign their support certificate. This will be submitted with their new passport application.

Changing your occupation number is only necessary if the new position requires one.

If the expiration date of their new visa is later than the expiration date of their current visa, you will be required to pay the UK immigration skills fee again.

Is it possible for the supporter to have the Employee pay for the Immigration Skills Charge?

The Immigration Skills Charge UK is not to be passed on to the sponsored worker, as stated in Home Office guidelines on visa sponsorship. The fee should not be “clawed-back” from an employee but should be paid by the company. This mandate is directly related to the Licence Immigration Skill Charge’s overarching goal of discouraging businesses from opting for foreign workers rather than spending on training their employees. Employers risk revoking their sponsorship license by the Home Office if it is discovered that they have provided an ISC to a sponsored employee.

Does a change in employment status with a sponsoring company necessitate payment of the Immigration Skills Charge again?

This is a frequent inquiry because it might seem like the ISC is due each time a new Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) is issued, but this is only sometimes true. Your sponsored Employee will need a new Licence CoS and a new work visa if they are promoted to a position in your business. The business falls under a different occupation code than the one they were recruited for. If the new visa’s expiration date is the same as the previous visa’s, you won’t have to pay the Immigration Skills Charge UK again for that period. However, the ISC must be paid again if the new visa expires later than the previous one.

What kind of damage does this fee cause?

The £3.5 million fee is estimated to impact the already strained NHS recruitment fund significantly. Baroness Walmsley pointed out in a recent parliamentary discussion that the NHS isn’t the only institution to feel the effects.

As a result of the inadequacy of the fees they are given, care, home providers are returning contracts to local authorities. Care beds are decreasing when demand increases, leaving 1.2 million elderly and disabled individuals without the required support.

One of our NHS Trust and local government recruitment partners said this fee would “restrict the amount of employees we can pay for,” so the reception has not been good. Additionally, the issue of patient and public safety must be addressed if staffing quotas are not met.

This strategy is incredibly discouraging for recruiters already working under extreme time constraints. However, the immigration skills charged by the UK may be detrimental to their cause.

Refund of the Talent Assessment Fee for Immigrants

This part will discuss when and why an ISC refund is warranted. Sometimes, a sponsor may be eligible for a complete or partial refund. ISC refunds are allocated to the same bank or credit card used to have the authentic investment through Worldpay. The following alerts the ISC Staff to the need to issue refunds: 
A notification of the reimbursement amount via email from the casework group managing Skilled Worker applications. After a sponsor contacts you, the Business Helpdesk will direct them to you via email. Management Information Reporting reflects the refusals, cancellations, or expirations of a LicenseCoS and the support termination.

Waiting Period for Refunds

Within ninety days of the occurrence of the following, reimbursements are typically issued:

Notifying the company headquarters that the worker did not show up for work

The deadline by which the Employee must file their visa application without using the certificate of sponsorship.

What happens if I withdraw my sponsorship

If you had previously notified UKVI of your status change to that of a small or charitable sponsor, the date you issued the certificate of sponsorship. Employees with visa applications rejected can petition the judgment through an internal reexamination procedure. However, you will receive a refund if they do not file for an administrative review within 90 days of the time to do so.

If the worker requested an official review and it was denied. And after denied, they will be reimbursed within 90 days of the denial.

When applying for a skilled worker visa, is it possible to have the candidate cover the Immigration Skills Charge?

The government mandates that businesses pay the ISC so British employees can receive education and training. An employee on a Skilled Worker visa is exempt from repaying the Immigration Skills Charge Uk to their sponsoring company.

The ISC license is intended to discourage businesses from hiring foreign employees by making it more expensive for them to do so. The immigration skills charge over five years, for instance, would cost a small business £1,820 and a big business $5,000. Towards the end of their fifth year in the UK, most workers apply for indefinite leave to stay.

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Robert Windham
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VisaHelpUK - UK Immigration and Visa Application Advice Service
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