HO Compliance Visit 👇

🏢 1. What It Means A Home Office (HO) Compliance Visit is an audit or inspection conducted by UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) officers. The purpose is to verify that a business holding a sponsor licence is capable of meeting, and is actively meeting, all of its sponsorship duties.

These visits can be announced (the business is notified in advance) or unannounced (officers arrive without prior warning). They can happen either before a licence is granted or at any point during the licence period.

📜 2. Why They Happen A compliance visit can be triggered for several reasons. UKVI may decide to visit a business to:

• Assess a New Application: To ensure the organisation has the necessary HR systems in place before granting them a new sponsor licence.
• Check on an Existing Licence: As a routine check to ensure ongoing compliance, often triggered when a licence is due for renewal.
• Investigate Specific Concerns: If the Home Office receives intelligence or has reasons to believe a sponsor may be breaching their duties or posing a risk to immigration control.
• Verify Information: To check that the nature of the business and the roles filled by sponsored workers are genuine and as described in the Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS).
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🔑 3. Key Areas of Scrutiny During a visit, compliance officers will focus on several key areas to assess a sponsor's adherence to the rules. These include:

• Record-Keeping: Officers will inspect sponsored workers' files to ensure all required documents are present and correct, as per Appendix D of the sponsor guidance. This includes right-to-work checks, contracts, and contact details.
• Attendance Monitoring: They will check if the sponsor has a robust system for monitoring and recording employee absences (including sickness and holidays).
• Genuineness of Roles: Officers may interview sponsored workers and their managers to confirm that the job they are doing matches the role description, skill level, and salary stated on their CoS.
• Reporting Duties: The sponsor must demonstrate they are reporting any significant changes (e.g., a worker leaving, a change in work location) to the Home Office via the Sponsor Management System (SMS) within the required timeframes.