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Legal Responsibilities

To hold a sponsor licence, the University must adhere to the required record keeping duties for individuals sponsored under Tier 2 (General), Skilled Worker Visa and Tier 5 (GAE). Most of the required duties are completed by the Compliance Team. However, there are some duties which require the assistance of departments/institutions in order to fulfil these requirements.

Contact details for all sponsored individuals

Personal contact details

UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) imposes a duty on us to maintain a history of the personal contact details of sponsored individuals. This includes Tier 5 GAE visitors and employees, as well as Tier 2, Skilled Worker Visa holders. All sponsored individuals should be asked to provide the University with up-to-date UK contact details on arrival (even if it includes a temporary address), and be reminded of the requirement to keep these up to date whenever they change. They can provide these details through Employee Self-Service or to the HR Amendments Team via their local administrator.

Work contact details

HR keeps a record of individual's work addresses. These must be kept up to date for all employees, but this is especially important for sponsored individuals as we have to report changes to UKVI within ten working days of the change. You should inform the HR Amendment Team of UMS address changes before they take place.

Absence from the workplace

UKVI imposes a duty on sponsors to:

  • Keep a record of the absences of sponsored individuals (e.g. sickness absence, holiday, maternity/paternity leave etc.)
  • Report unauthorised absences of more than ten working days to UKVI
  • Remove sponsorship from individuals who take more than 4 weeks unpaid leave in any calendar year

For all sponsored individuals, normal University procedures should be followed for absences such as sickness absence, maternity leave and annual leave. In addition, institutions must Immediately tell the HR Compliance Team about any unauthorised absence of a sponsored individual of 10 working days or more. There is no requirement to monitor sponsored individuals in any way that is different to members of staff who do not hold a sponsored visa