employer sponsorship license application time

Hi All

I have two questions that need your help if possible:
1. I received a contract from a company and they don't have the sponsorship license.
The agency told me the company confirmed to him that they paid extra money to expedite the license application. But last week the company told me they still haven't received it even though they have pushed it daily. They said the government confirmed to them it will take 8 weeks to have an answer. 8 weeks is the standard process to get a license. So I am not sure if the company is lying to me or it is the COVID-19 that delayed all the process.
If anyone knows the current sponsorship license situation? thanks for your kind reply

best regards

The company I worked for applied for the license 24th of December 2020 and they got it 12th of February 2021. The process takes 8 weeks.

karimkarimov wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 21, 2021 12:48 pm

The company I worked for applied for the license 24th of December 2020 and they got it 12th of February 2021. The process takes 8 weeks.

Hi Karimkarimov
Thank you so much for your reply. It is really helpful. May I ask if you know your company paid for priority service or not?

Thanks again!

No, it was the standard priority.

The usual turnaround is 8 weeks from application. However if the potential sponsor is identified as needing a compliance visit prior to the decision to grant or refuse then the process is likely to be delayed. COVID has had an obvious impact and the usual visiting landscape has changed.

The potential sponsor will be made aware that there will be a delay in making the decision, this is usually because they are gathering more information or that there is a visit.

Do you know when the company applied for the licence?

hw620 wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 21, 2021 11:44 am

the company confirmed to him that they paid extra money to expedite the license application

To the best of my knowledge there is no expedited or priority service for sponsor licence applications.

Frontier Mole wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 23, 2021 9:07 pm

The usual turnaround is 8 weeks from application. However if the potential sponsor is identified as needing a compliance visit prior to the decision to grant or refuse then the process is likely to be delayed. COVID has had an obvious impact and the usual visiting landscape has changed.

The potential sponsor will be made aware that there will be a delay in making the decision, this is usually because they are gathering more information or that there is a visit.

Do you know when the company applied for the licence?

It is the week of 3rd February.

karimkarimov wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 23, 2021 8:47 pm

No, it was the standard priority.

Thank you, Karimkarimov

manci wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 24, 2021 4:40 pm

hw620 wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 21, 2021 11:44 am

the company confirmed to him that they paid extra money to expedite the license application

To the best of my knowledge there is no expedited or priority service for sponsor licence applications.

Thank you for your information, Manci. I checked the GOV website, it said they started the priority service for license applications now.

From my potential employer, it seems there is a daily quota for this service too. I have a concern about what they said, so I want to ask for information here.

Frontier Mole wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 23, 2021 9:07 pm

The usual turnaround is 8 weeks from application. However if the potential sponsor is identified as needing a compliance visit prior to the decision to grant or refuse then the process is likely to be delayed. COVID has had an obvious impact and the usual visiting landscape has changed.

The potential sponsor will be made aware that there will be a delay in making the decision, this is usually because they are gathering more information or that there is a visit.

Do you know when the company applied for the licence?

Thank you for your help, Frontier Mole.

hw620 wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 24, 2021 8:12 pm

I checked the GOV website, it said they started the priority service for license applications now.

Could you please provide the link to the GOV website? To my knowledge the priority service is for certain actions by existing sponsors only.

manci wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 24, 2021 9:33 pm

hw620 wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 24, 2021 8:12 pm

I checked the GOV website, it said they started the priority service for license applications now.

Could you please provide the link to the GOV website? To my knowledge the priority service is for certain actions by existing sponsors only.

https://www.gov.uk/uk-visa-sponsorship- ... ur-licence

It is "may" statement, not a guaranteed statement and they will only know after they have applied.

The priority service offering to expedite a new licence application is very limited in its scope, I am not even sure it is being offered at this time because of COVID.

Frontier Mole wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 24, 2021 11:21 pm

The priority service offering to expedite a new licence application is very limited in its scope, I am not even sure it is being offered at this time because of COVID.

According to the HR who is applying for the licence, there is a priority service at the moment. She needs to move their application at midnight for the service. So I can't really explain it clearly. I will probably ask more when I get my visa to work there and update it here.
Thank you for everyone's information. I am really grateful for it and this website.

Just an update on the license application time. If anyone needs the info:
The company was noticed by the government that they would get an allocation for primary service, then they will pay for primary service and the result is given within 10 days.

How long did the process end up taking for you?
We got a space within the priority decision window + paid the 500£ and on day 8/10 of waiting, the Home Office wrote to us saying they can't process within 10 days and will 'come back with questions and aim to process as soon as possible' they ended up refunding the 500£ too.. Has this happened to anyone?
It's been two weeks since they've emailed us that and still no update/questions haven't been sent through either.
We are now on week 4 after sending in the initial application.