A licence to teach

In challenging economic times, many independent schools are looking at international markets to increase their pupil numbers. Joy Hankins and Adrian Pashley explain how to acquire the necessary licence

Although many schools are aware that in order to teach pupils from overseas they must obtain a sponsor licence under the immigration rules, many are not up-to-speed with how to navigate the application process and are not fully aware of the obligations placed on their school once a licence has been granted.

Changes to the immigration system were introduced on 31 March 2009 as part of sweeping changes to the immigration system: 80 entry categories streamlined into five tiers and a points-based system (PBS) was introduced. Tier four of the PBS applies to child students and adult students. A school must have a tier four licence to teach pupils who are not nationals of the European Economic Area.

Applying for a sponsor licence
The application is made online and, as part of the application, a school is asked to estimate how many international pupils it intends to bring over in any year. The school would then be awarded that number of Confirmation of Acceptance of Studies Certificates, which it is then free to issue to prospective pupils.

A certificate gives the pupil 30 points, but the pupil needs to secure a total of 40 to gain entry clearance. The remaining 10 points are obtained by the parents confirming that they will maintain the child by proving in readily available funds enough money to pay the school fees and nine months' living expenses. These funds must have been held in a bank account in the parent's or child's name for at least 28 days before the date of application for entry clearance is made.

Ongoing obligations
Once the school has obtained a sponsor licence, it must comply with monitoring and reporting obligations that are quite onerous. These include:

• reporting to Border and Immigration Agency (BIA) if the child doesn't turn up for their first day;
• is absent with the school's authorisation;
• leaves the school;
• or has missed ten expected contacts.

Reports will be made using online software, which the BIA has promised will be ready by March 2010.

The licence imposes a new layer of bureaucracy as the school must now report to BIA within ten days of a reportable event. Failing to make a report within the prescribed time could result in the school's licence being downgraded from an A-rated to a B-rated licence, which imposes further restrictions on the school. B-rated licence holders have to implement an action plan drawn up by the BIA and demonstrate compliance with a plan set out by a third regulatory party, which is unlikely to understand the operational difficulties that their plan is likely to involve.

Once the online application has been submitted, supporting documents are sent to BIA. Collating the documents can be time-consuming, and it helps if schools are clear from the outset about the requirements and have allocated responsibility for meeting the requirements to the appropriate members of its senior management team.

It is rare for schools to already have in place the policies and procedures necessary to readily satisfy the BIA's stringent requirements. It is essential that a member of the school's senior management team is made ultimately responsible and accountable for the school's application and for its ongoing obligations under the immigration rules.

Licence holders
Once a sponsor licence has been granted to a school, it must appoint an authorising officer who will issue the certificates to the international students and to be responsible for overall compliance with the school's duties as a sponsor.

The application also requires the following to be appointed:
• a key contact at the school to be responsible for liaising with BIA; and
• a level one user to be responsible for the day-to-day work required to operate the licence using the online sponsor management system (SMS). This is a position of responsibility as it is a criminal offence for any SMS user to disclose their system passwords to anyone else, even to someone in their own organisation.

At present, the new system is still embryonic and BIA has had numerous problems getting the technology up and running to make the system work. As a result, schools are still being asked to issue prospective pupils with a visa letter and the BIA's website includes details of what that must contain (www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk).

Joy Hankins is a specialist education immigration adviser. Joy can be contacted on 02392 282739 or joy.hankins@bllaw.co.uk; Adrian Pashley is head of Blake Lapthorn's education team. Adrian can be contacted on 02392 282 750 or adrian.pashley@blalw.co.uk

Return to Legal