What is a Sponsorship Licence?
A Sponsorship Licence is a licence which is granted by the Home office to enable an educational establishment to bring international students into the United Kingdom. In order for Educational establishments to issue a Certificate of Sponsorship to students they must firstly have obtained a Sponsorship Licence. The Home Office set a deadline for applications for Sponsorship Licences as the 31st March 2009, therefore for educational establishments who did not apply before this time there can be no guarantee of a Sponsorship Licence being issued and they will not therefore be able to bring International Students into the UK after that time.
How does an educational establishment obtain a Sponsorship licence?
1. they must be able to produce evidence that they are accredited, audited or inspected by somebody approved by the UK Border Agency
2. they must be able to demonstrate that they have a Personnel system in place which can monitor students' attendance
Depending upon how strong their sponsorship licence application is, applicants are given either an A or B rating and the college/training centre is then added to the list of educational sponsors who will then be able to issue students with a visa letter.
For further advice email immigrationlaw@wellerslawgroup.com or 'phone 0208 464 4242
