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Ongoing Sponsor Licence & Immigration Compliance Support
Sponsor compliance is a continuing organisational responsibility. A retainer gives your team somebody to ask before a decision becomes a breach.
Most sponsorship problems are not caused by difficult questions. They are caused by ordinary questions nobody had time to check: whether a change is reportable, whether a promotion affects the certificate, whether a document is acceptable, whether a start date can be brought forward.
Left unanswered, those questions get resolved by assumption. A retainer replaces the assumption with an answer, usually the same day, from someone who already knows how your organisation operates.
It also means the practice notices patterns across your sponsorship that a one-off instruction would not.
Who this is for
- Sponsors without in-house immigration expertise
- HR teams carrying sponsorship alongside a full workload
- Organisations sponsoring in growing numbers
- Employers who have had a finding, action plan or downgrade
- Businesses whose sponsorship knowledge sits with one person
- Groups needing consistency across multiple entities
What support typically covers
01
Day-to-day questions
A named adviser your team can ask, without opening a new matter each time.
02
Reporting and SMS
Advising on reportable changes and making reports where instructed.
03
Sponsorship decisions
Role eligibility, certificate assignment and onboarding as recruitment happens.
04
Periodic review
Scheduled compliance reviews rather than annual self-assessment.
05
Updates and training
Telling you when guidance changes in a way that affects you, and keeping your team current.
What a retainer prevents
Decisions made by assumption
The most common source of breaches is an ordinary question answered by guesswork under time pressure.
Knowledge leaving with a person
When your sponsorship expert resigns, an external adviser who already knows your organisation is the continuity.
Guidance changes going unnoticed
Sponsor guidance is amended regularly. Employers rarely have anyone whose job it is to read it.
Problems found late
Scheduled review catches issues while they are still correctable.
Advice arriving after the event
The cheapest immigration advice is taken before the decision, not after.
For employers, sponsorship does not end when the visa is granted.
Organisations that treat compliance as continuing, with a named owner, external review and somebody to ask, tend to have uneventful compliance visits. That is the objective, and it is considerably cheaper than the alternative.
Retainers are scoped to the organisation: the number of sponsored workers, the pace of recruitment, and how much your team wants to handle internally. We would rather agree something proportionate than sell capacity you do not need.
How MichelleBelle assists
Corporate support is scoped around what your organisation actually needs, and reviewed as that changes.
- A named adviser for day-to-day sponsorship questions
- Reporting and sponsor management system support
- Certificate of sponsorship and onboarding advice
- Right to work process and file review
- Scheduled compliance reviews and mock audits
- Policy updates when guidance changes affect you
- Training for HR, recruiters and key personnel
- Priority support if a visit, enquiry or suspension arises
Common questions
How is a retainer priced?
It depends on scope: the number of sponsored workers, recruitment volume and how much your team handles internally. We will propose something proportionate after understanding your position. Please ask for current fee information.
Can you act as a Level 1 user on our SMS?
Yes, where instructed, and this is a common part of a retainer. Responsibility for the duties themselves remains with your organisation.
How long is the commitment?
Retainers run for an initial 12-month term and continue on a rolling basis afterwards. The initial term gives both sides enough continuity to be useful, since compliance work rarely shows its value in a quarter, and the rolling arrangement means you are not tied in after that.
We only have two sponsored workers. Is a retainer worth it?
Sometimes not, and we will say so. Smaller sponsors are often better served by an annual review plus advice as needed. The number of workers matters less than how often decisions come up.
This page is general information about sponsorship and compliance and is not advice on your organisation’s circumstances. Immigration Rules and Home Office sponsor guidance change; where a specific requirement, fee or threshold affects a decision you are taking, check the position in force at that date or ask us. Information on this page last reviewed August 2026.
Want a named adviser your HR team can simply ask?
Corporate enquiries are handled by the practice team. For a case-specific discussion, book a consultation.