18th February, 2010

Following consultation with sponsors and feedback from key stakeholders the UKBA will be releasing a new set of enhancements for its sponsorship management system, a secure IT system which enables licensed sponsors to bring non-EU workers and students to the UK and then manage their stay when here. The improvements will be introduced as of the 22nd February 2010.

As a result of these changes:

Tier 2

• Tier 2 sponsors that are A-rated will be able to confirm that it will be able to support a non-EU worker so that they will not need to claim public funds

Tier 2 and Tier 5

• A sponsor will be fit to create, assign and pay for certificates in batches (they will be able to make e-payments, manual payments or defer payments where applicable)

• A sponsor will be able to enter a non-EU workers details onto a single certificate, based on the workers previous certificate allocated by that sponsor

• A sponsor's level 1 user will be able to transfer single, group or batch certificates between the sponsor's users

Tier 2, Tier 4 & Tier 5

• A sponsor will be able to send a ‘sponsor note' to UKBA to alert them to any minor amends to a certificate of sponsorship (CoS) or Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) before it is used by the worker or student

• A sponsor is able to enter the details of a group or batch (CoS) or (CAS), based on previous (CoS) or (CAS) within the group or batch

For more information and assistance with Tier 2, Tier 4 and Tier 5 visas contact Smooth Migration on 0845 644 1871 or info@smoothmigration.com