Briefing: how to apply for a Charity Worker sponsor licence

The Charity Worker route is for voluntary workers aged 18 or over who wish to come to the UK to do work for a recognised charitable organisation. Work must be unpaid and fieldwork which contributes directly to the achievement or advancement of the sponsor’s charitable purpose – for example, in the case of a charity supporting homeless people, it may include activities such as working with homeless people directly, but not to fundraising or other back-office administrative work that merely supports the charitable purpose.

It is a sponsored route, so applicants need to be sponsored by a UK-based charitable organisation which has been granted a licence to sponsor workers in this category.  It is a temporary route with a maximum period of 12 months which does not lead to settlement.

As a reminder, sponsorship isn’t required for British citizens, Irish citizens (with limited exceptions) or people who have other immigration permission allowing them to do the work, such as people with indefinite leave to remain or status under the EU Settlement Scheme.

Key information

There are three key sources of information relating to this route.

• Sponsor guidance — this is the rule book that employers need to follow in order to determine if they can sponsor a worker.  It includes:
  • Part 1: apply for a licence
  • Part 2: sponsor a worker
  • Part 3: sponsor duties and compliance
  • Appendices A-D
  • Sponsor a Charity Worker
• Immigration rules Appendix Temporary Worker – Charity Worker — this is the key legal document containing the specific legal requirements to qualify for the visa.
• Guidance for applicants — this contains practical information.

Sponsor licence

As with any sponsored visa route in the UK, an applicant needs to be sponsored by an organisation which has been granted a licence by UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) in the specific immigration category under which the person will be applying.  An organisation can be licensed to sponsor people under different immigration categories (such as under Skilled Worker or Minister of Religion or Religious Worker) and may be licensed under more than one category at a time. 

If an organisation is already licensed under another category, it can make the process of adding the Charity Worker category to the licence easier, as many of the underlying principles and requirements for being a sponsor are the same regardless of the category.

General principles

Part 1 of the guidance for sponsors includes information on how to become a sponsor and general eligibility and suitability rules for sponsors.  A key element of this is the idea that sponsorship is a privilege, not a right, meaning that sponsors benefitting from the system must:

• play their part in ensuring the immigration system is not abused
• comply with wider UK law (including UK employment law and prevention of illegal working)
• not behave in a manner that is not conducive to the public good

Sponsors need to be a genuine employer with a lawful trading presence in the UK and will take on a significant number of compliance responsibilities, including record keeping, monitoring and reporting duties.  If UKVI is not satisfied that an organisation can meet these, they may refuse a licence application or take action against an existing licence, such as downgrading, suspension or revocation.

It is noteworthy that, unlike most other sponsored work routes in the UK, there is no “genuine vacancy” requirement for sponsoring someone under the Charity Worker route, although there is a genuine intention requirement that will apply to the intent of the prospective worker when they make their visa application.

Key personnel

Sponsors need to fill three key posts in order to manage their sponsor licence.  The people nominated must be primarily based in the UK and in some cases could be filled by the same person. The main roles are:

• authorising officer – this is the person who will be ultimately responsible for the licence and to ensure that the sponsor licence duties are met and must be a paid member of staff or ‘office holder’ of the organisation (such as a director or trustee).
• key contact – this person is the main point of contact with the Home Office.  A legal representative can undertake this role, and it is recommended you do so, as this will enable you to chase the application on your client’s behalf if needs be.
• level 1 user – responsible for all day-to-day management of the licence via access to an online portal, the sponsorship management system (SMS). More than one level 1 user can be appointed and non-employees, including representatives, can be set up as level 1 users, or level 2 users who are able to undertake certain limited tasks on the SMS.  However, the sponsor must always have at least one level 1 user who is an employee, partner or director and who is also a settled worker (except in certain circumstances set out in paragraph L4.49 to L4.50 of Part 1).

Additional criteria for a sponsor licence for the Charity Worker route

In addition to the general requirements for a sponsor licence set out in Part 1: Apply for a licence, organisations wishing to apply for a Charity Worker sponsor licence must be either:

• a registered, an excepted or an exempt UK charity in line with the relevant charity legislation in force in the relevant part of the UK; or
• an ecclesiastical corporation (either corporation sole or body corporate) which has been established for charitable purposes

Evidence that is required to prove this is discussed below.

Supporting documents

The documents that are required for the licence application are set out in Appendix A to the guidance for sponsors.  These documents are primarily used by UKVI to confirm that an organisation is a genuine employer with a lawful trading presence in the UK. 

Appendix A is split into a series of four tables of decreasing importance, starting with Table 1 which broadly sets out documents that should be provided for organisations such as public authorities and companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, before moving into documents required for specific types of organisation (Table 2) or specific visa sponsorship categories (Table 3), before Table 4 provides a list of other alternative documents. 

Prospective sponsors will generally need to provide at least four pieces of evidence from the Appendix A tables to support their application, so sponsors should start with Table 1 and progress through the tables they have gathered the minimum number required. 

In the case of organisations applying to sponsor people under the Charity Worker route, Table 2 includes the evidence that must be provided, which will count towards the minimum four documents required.

• If the charitable organisation is listed on the registers or websites for the Charity Commission for England and Wales, the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR), UKVI will be able to check its entry online.  If the name on the register is different from the name the organisation is applying under, additional evidence of charitable status may be needed.
• Ecclesiastical corporations (corporate sole, or body corporate) must submit proof that they are established for charitable purposes.
• Schools with Academy status do not need to submit evidence of registration.
• If an organisation is not registered according to the relevant charity legislation, it must provide an explanation of why it is not registered, and any relevant supporting evidence – for example, as an excepted charity or an exempt charity, or otherwise not required to register.
• For organisations based in Northern Ireland that are not registered with the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, proof it has obtained charitable status for tax purposes from HMRC is required.

Once an organisation has gathered any required evidence under Tables 1, 2 and 3, if it does not have the minimum four documents required, it should look at the other options listed in Table 4, such as audited annual reports or employer’s liability insurance.

If an organisation already has a licence to sponsor workers under another immigration category and is applying to add another tier to their existing licence, they will already have provided the minimum documents so will generally only need to provide the specific documents required for the new tier instead of providing all the documents all over again.  There are no specific documents required for the Charity Worker tier, so if they have already provided evidence that they are a charitable organisation under Table 2 with their original licence application, this should mean that no further documentary evidence should be required.

Licence application process

The sponsor licence application is completed online after creating an account.  The form is old and clunky – the system used is materially the same as the one that was introduced way back at the beginning of the Points-Based System over 15 years ago.  It has undergone minor updates to the questions and options included as these have changed, but the system itself is still the same.  The most notable aspect of this is that there is no easy way to save a copy of the application – pages must be accessed and downloaded individually if you wish to retain a copy.

1. New licences

When making a new licence application, the person completing the form needs to complete each page before navigating to the next page – it is recommended to “save” each page as you go to ensure the system registers it, as information is easily lost.  Even so, the system will still sometimes require you to complete information again, particularly after system updates result in unsubmitted applications being wiped. 

Paragraph L6.4 of Part 1 of the guidance for sponsors confirms the online application can be prepared by a representative but the actual submission must be completed by the prospective authorising officer (or the application will be refused and the fee will not be refunded).

The application fee for a Charity Worker sponsor licence needs to be paid online at the point of submission – the relevant fee is the Temporary Worker sponsor licence fee and is currently £536.  It may also be possible to purchase priority service for the processing of the application (currently £500) if it is available at the time of submission – otherwise, it may be possible to log back in at a later date or time to purchase this service.

After submitting the application and paying the fee, the authorising officer needs to download and complete the submission sheet for the application.  The submission sheet then needs to be sent to UKVI along with any relevant supporting documents via the specified e-mail address within five working days.  If mandatory documents are not provided, the application may be rejected and the fee returned, although UKVI may give you a small window to rectify an incomplete application.

UKVI aims to process licence applications within eight weeks, but if priority service is purchased then they aim to process the application within 10 working days of receipt of the priority fee and all supporting documentation.

2. Adding a category to an existing licence

If an organisation already holds a licence in another category and is applying to add the Charity Worker tier to that licence, their level 1 user needs to log into the sponsor licence application account or create a new one (note that this is not the same as the SMS, so the login details will be different, although their level 1 user details will be needed). 

The level 1 user will complete a shortened version of the application form and submit this online – they must have the authorising officer’s approval for this action and should retain evidence of this. 

Any additional documents required for the new licence category must be sent to UKVI, but if the organisation has already provided evidence of charitable status with the original licence application, this may not be required.

Sponsoring a Charity Worker

Once a charitable organisation has been granted a licence under the Charity Worker route, it will be able to begin sponsoring workers under this route. 

Future of sponsorship

UKVI has started to introduce the next phase of its plan to update the sponsorship process and systems.  The new ‘Sponsor UK’ or ‘Sponsor a Worker’ system is understood to be intended to make the process of sponsoring workers and students quicker, easier and more intuitive for users and to ensure compliance with the sponsorship system. 

This currently only affects sponsors under the Government Authorised Exchange route and only a limited number of them under a closed pilot.  It therefore does not currently affect the Charity Worker route.  However, as time goes on, the new system is expected to be rolled out to other sponsors on that route and then to other immigration routes, which may entail significant changes from some of the processes above.