The Certificate of Sponsorship or CoS is a self-affirming record that a sponsored permit holder issues to a sponsored work visa candidate. The Certificate of Sponsorship is an electronic record with a unique reference number, instead of physical documentation.
It is a compulsory condition for visa applications in the Skilled Worker, ICT, some T2 and T5 routes, just as the old Tier 2 (General) and Tier 5 visa classifications.
By relegating a CoS to an individual, the sponsor is affirming to the Home Office that proposed business conditions consent to the necessities of the applicable visa course.
The sponsor also needs to provide the reference number to a transient whom they wish to utilize on the grounds that it is will be a key factor of their application for authorization to go to the UK if they are abroad, or consent to remain in the UK on the off chance that they are already here.
Types of Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS)
Before December 2020, the types of CoS that were available were:
- Unrestricted certificates of sponsorship.
- Restricted certificates of sponsorship.
But the Immigration Rules changed in December 2020 and the previous name of the Certificate of Sponsorship had altered both their names and features.
Now the two types of Certificate of Sponsorship are termed as
- Defined certificates of sponsorship
- Undefined certificates of sponsorship
Defined Certificates of Sponsorship are visa for Skilled Worker visa- the prospective employees who are based abroad. These perspective employees situated in the UK are qualified to change their status to a Skilled Worker visa or are those outside the UK, applying for an Intra-Company Transfer visa need an Undefined CoS. The prospective employees are also to be selected from outside the UK at a salary of £153,500 or more, or the employees who are to be enlisted are as of now in the UK under another immigration category that can be exchanged into Tier 2 (General).
Undefined Certificates of Sponsorship are to utilize the prospective employees and representatives to extend the visa for current workers who are as of now in the UK, i.e. the sponsor should apply a confined declaration of sponsorship to enlist them under Tier 2 (General) who are present:
- Abroad and will be paid under £153,500 every year; or
- In the UK as the dependant of another representative whose current authorization to remain is as a Tier 4.
The validity of all the sponsored certificate remains up to 3months. And all the sponsor remains fully responsible for all the action of the employee. Violation of any of the rules may face the following consequences: either the withdrawal of the certificate or demoting the sponsor to a lesser rank.
