Immigration Compliance for Employers
As an employer in the UK it is vital that you are aware of your responsibilities towards the prevention of illegal migrant working. Section 8 of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996 (the Act) contains legislation regarding the employment of overseas workers.
According to Section 8 of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996, there are three key factors that you should take into account when recruiting foreign workers from outside the UK.
- It is a criminal offence for you to employ someone who has no right to work in the United Kingdom, or no right to do the work you are offering.
- By checking and copying certain original documents belonging to your employee, you can establish a statutory defence against conviction for employing an illegal worker.
- You are obliged to ensure that your recruitment practices do not discriminate against individuals on racial grounds.
Immigration Compliance Audit Service
For employers, immigration compliance is an essential component of recruiting overseas nationals. Failure to carry out the necessary checks and to follow the stringent processes designed to prevent illegal working can result in civil or criminal penalties and restrictions on being able to sponsor overseas nationals to work in the UK in the future.
If you are a UK-based employer, and you recruit overseas nationals, you must remain immigration compliant at all times. Visalogic’s compliance audit service is designed specifically for UK-based employers and will help ensure that your organization avoids costly penalties and damage to your professional reputation.
Our immigration service includes:
- An on-site meeting with key personnel on your processes and procedures designed to satisfy UKBA requirements;
- A thorough review of your HR systems, processes, document checking and record keeping in order to identify immigration-related practices that put your compliance status at risk;
- Examination and audit reports for a sample of migrant files to confirm that processes and policies are being implemented;
- Identification of missing migrant documentation and recommendations for rectifying;
- A detailed audit report containing tailored guidance and specific recommendations and action points for improving your compliance processes.
Visalogic can also provide bespoke in-house training to ensure that key personnel and recruitment staff gain a strong understanding of when a migrant can legally work in the UK, the various categories of immigration permissions, the necessary document checks, and how to meet Tier 2 and Tier 5 sponsor duties including reporting and record-keeping responsibilities.
If you are interested in finding out more about how we can help you remain immigration compliant, please contact us.
When should you consider getting an immigration compliance audit?
A compliance audit is particularly relevant if any of the following circumstances apply to you or your organisation:
- Your company is a restaurant or catering business;
- You are applying for a sponsor licence for the first time;
- You are applying to renew your sponsor licence;
- The Home Office has contacted you to arrange a visit to your premises;
- Your sponsor licence has been downgraded to a level B licence;
- You do not currently have immigration compliance systems or processes in place;
- You have not reviewed your immigration compliance systems or processes in the past two years;
- You have concerns that some of your employees might not have the right to work in the UK, and you are not sure what to do about it.
How much does an immigration compliance audit cost?
Like all of our services, the audit is conducted on a fixed fee basis which we will agree with you in advance. We tailor our audit service to meet your needs and budget and we are happy to provide a quote following an initial no-obligation discussion of your objectives.
To learn more or take the first steps to ensure your organization is immigration compliant, contact us today.