Merali Beedle
3 Contributions by Merali Beedle Experts
PRACTICE NOTES
STOP PRESS:
This Practice Note is currently in the process of being revised to reflect amendments to the Sponsor Guidance that took effect on 6 March 2026. See the News Analysis: Detailed list of the Home Office’s Sponsor Guidance changes of 6 March 2026. A refusal by the Secretary of State for the Home Department (SSHD), acting through the Home Office, to grant a Workers and Temporary Workers sponsor licence carries no right of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber), although a ‘pre‑licence error correction’ process has been available since 6 April 2016. Decisions to suspend, downgrade or revoke sponsor licences attract no right of appeal or review. Operating a sponsor licensing regime without an appeal to an independent tribunal has been held to comply with Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights 1950 (right to a fair trial). The Court of
Immigration
PRACTICE NOTES
ARCHIVED : The Tier 1 (Investor) category was closed to initial applications, without warning, from 16:00 on 17 February 2022 through Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules CP 632.
Applicants with existing permission in this route can still seek to extend their leave, and may apply for entry clearance from outside the UK if they have held Tier 1 (Investor) leave within the 12 months before the date of application, as well as apply for settlement.
Extension applications, whether made in the UK or abroad, must be lodged by 17 February 2026.
Applications for indefinite leave to remain must be submitted by 17 February 2028.
For additional details, see: LNB News 17/02/2022 76.
This Practice Note—last updated before the post-Brexit work and study routes introduced in December 2020 via Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules HC 617—has been kept in archived form for
Immigration
PRACTICE NOTES
STOP PRESS
This Practice Note is being updated to incorporate changes to the Sponsor Guidance that took effect on 6 March 2026. For a full breakdown, see News Analysis: Detailed list of Home Office’s Sponsor Guidance changes of 6 March 2026.
This Practice Note sets out how a sponsor in the Workers and Temporary Workers routes may lose its licence or have it curtailed. These routes are:
downgrading
revocation
suspension
surrender by sponsor
reduction of Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) allocation
The applicable Home Office guidance for sponsors is the Workers and Temporary Workers Sponsor Guidance, with Part 3 in particular covering sponsor duties and compliance.
In R (New London College Ltd) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (SSHD); R (West London Vocational Training College) v SSHD, the Supreme Court confirmed that the Immigration Act 1971 (IA 1971) provides general
Immigration
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