COS allocation expiry/ renewal for reg sponsor - URGENT

[RBeg]

Hi, I wonder if someone could help me, please.
my employer got licence at begining of 2011 and initially requested just one unrestricted COS, this COS was then given to me and I have T2 (General) visa until 2014.
my employer recieved an email from the HO last month, saying, "Please be aware that XYZ's (company name) allocation of Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies/Certificate(s) of Sponsorship (CAS/CoS) in Tier 2 (General) is due to expire on 05-April-2012...If you are licensed in Tier 2 General and/or Tier 2 ICT and this allocation is due to expire, you can request an allocation of unrestricted CoS up to 3 months in advance of your allocation expiry date but your new allocation will only be available from the 6th April.You will also have the option to request next year's allocation in the other Tiers/categories in which you are licensed."

My questions are:
initially my employer requested only 1 COS, this has already been used. employer does not require anymore COS. What needs to be done in the SMS (Sponsorship Management System) to rectify this?

as I am an existing T2 (Gen) employee in the company, does the company always have to have 1 live COS allocated to keep my status valid?

I will need to renew my visa in 2014 for another 2 years, I believe I will need my employer to allocate a new COS to me? in that case, shall the company request 1 COS every year until my renewal to be in the safe side?

please let me have your valuable opinion, your help will be really appreciated.

many thanks

[madona587]

We got the same email as well, Basically your COS expires on 05-April-2012 as its the annual time line I believe. You simply have to login to SMS and request the annual allocation for the next year which is 1. Simply request it and they will issue your company with 1 COS after April. Once received I believe it will be automatically assigned to you. I was kind of wondering as well. Maybe we have to assign it again. But I'm sure we dont have to go through the Visa process again.

[RBeg]

thanks for your reply Madona587, I also think alike you.
but, there must be someone in this forum who has already gone through this stage, and I am hopeful that they will help us.

[tckraju]

Hi,

You company does not need to request another COS as you still have the VISA. Normally once your company gets a Sponsor license, it will be valid until 4.5 to 5 years. You do not need any additional COS requested unless your company would like to sponsor any other immigrant. But make sure that your company will need to renew their sponsor license before this timeline of 4.5 - 5 years.

[tckraju]

Company XXX

Your current allocation of Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies/Certificate(s) of Sponsorship (CAS/CoS) in Tier 2 (General) is due to expire on 05-April-2012. This e-mail is to notify you that your Level 1 Users may now make a request via the Sponsorship Management System (SMS) for your next year's allocation of CAS/CoS.

From 6th April 2011, all Tier 2 General and Tier 2 ICT allocations are subject to a fixed allocation period that runs from 6th April to 5th April the following year. If you are licensed in Tier 2 General and/or Tier 2 ICT and this allocation is due to expire, you can request an allocation of unrestricted CoS up to 3 months in advance of your allocation expiry date but your new allocation will only be available from the 6th April. If you need additional unrestricted CoS before the end of your Tier 2 General and /or ICT allocation year, you must use the ?Request allocation increase? function on your SMS account to request them.

You also have the option to request next year's allocation in the other Tiers/categories in which you are licensed. However, your new allocation period in any tier/category other than Tier 2 General/ICT will begin from the date that your request is granted and will be valid for 12 months. This will not affect the 4 year period for which your licence is valid.

We advise that the request is made promptly to minimise the risk of Company XXX being unable to assign CAS/CoS. From the date of expiry any remaining unassigned CAS/CoS from the previous year's allocation will be unavailable for use.

If you do not wish to issue CAS/CoS after your expiry date you do not have to make an annual allocation request. However if you choose not to make a renewal request you are still subject to the same sponsorship responsibilities and duties in regard to Migrants you currently sponsor.

Action Required:
Your Level 1 user will need to complete the following actions on SMS:

1. Log onto the Sponsorship Management System
2. Click on left hand tab called 'Edit Sponsor Profile'
3. Select tab called 'Request Renewal of Annual Allocation'
4. View table with all Tier categories available for Renewal of Annual Allocation
5. Select a Tier and click "Add a Request" button
6. Input number of required CAS/CoS and the reason for the request, once completed click save
7. Repeat as required for each Tier/category that is available to renew; once completed click submit

Once these actions are completed you will be able to track the progress of your request in the 'Edit Sponsor Profile' screen on the SMS.

For further information on the annual allocation process please visit the annual allocation request section of the UK Border Agency website.

If you have any queries please contact us using the following e-mail address:
SponsorshipPBSEnquiries@UKBA.gsi.gov.uk

Please do not respond directly to this e-mail as responses are not monitored.

[RBeg]

Hi tckraju

thanks for the information. the email that was sent to my employer did not have as detailed instruction as in yours! many thanks for your help. just one thing, when I will renew my current visa, would my employer need to allocate me a new COS?

regards

[tckraju]

Hi,

When you renew your VISA in 2014, make sure that your company has a COS ready for you so you can extend the VISA with the new COS.

[madona587]

Hi,

You company does not need to request another COS as you still have the VISA. Normally once your company gets a Sponsor license, it will be valid until 4.5 to 5 years. You do not need any additional COS requested unless your company would like to sponsor any other immigrant. But make sure that your company will need to renew their sponsor license before this timeline of 4.5 - 5 years.

Well but then why did home office emailed my company saying our COS is expiring on 5th April 2012 (We have only 1 COS assigned), They asked us to request the next years allocation so my understanding is even if you had 10 COS assigned all of them will expire by 5th April 2012 cause COS is provided on a yearly basis. So every year you must renew these COS otherwise you can't use them once it expires. COS is like a yearly subscription in my opinion.

If you need additional COS (Say you want to sponsor someone new) then you must request an increase in allocation. So annual allocation is different to this.

[tckraju]

Hi madona587,

There are two types of COS.
Restricted and Un-restricted.

Restricted COS Allocation
Restricted COS allocation is about 20,700 per year for all the UKBA Sponsors per year and this figure resets on 5th April.
Based upon this figure UKBA will assign the COS that you can allocate and there by sponsor immigrants. Once a COS is issued, it will expire in 3months and if the immigrant has applied for a VISA within this time, the COS is then counted as a used one and if a VISA has been issued to the immigrant then the Allocation for the year is deducted accordingly.

Un-Restricted COS
This has got nothing to do with the yearly allocation and will be issued for PSW to tier-2 or Tier-2 extns or some other scenarios.
Once a U-COS has been allocated to an immigrant, it will expire in 3 months and the sponsor nbeed to fulfill his/her duties till the VISA for the immigrant expires/till the immigrant leaves the sponsor whichever applies.

The following line details you everything
If you do not wish to issue CAS/CoS after your expiry date you do not have to make an annual allocation request. However if you choose not to make a renewal request you are still subject to the same sponsorship responsibilities and duties in regard to Migrants you currently sponsor.

As a part of UKBA procedures, they will email this to every sponsor telling that the Restricted-COS allocation will expire on 5th April.

[madona587]

Hi madona587,

There are two types of COS.
Restricted and Un-restricted.

Restricted COS Allocation
Restricted COS allocation is about 20,700 per year for all the UKBA Sponsors per year and this figure resets on 5th April.
Based upon this figure UKBA will assign the COS that you can allocate and there by sponsor immigrants. Once a COS is issued, it will expire in 3months and if the immigrant has applied for a VISA within this time, the COS is then counted as a used one and if a VISA has been issued to the immigrant then the Allocation for the year is deducted accordingly.

Un-Restricted COS
This has got nothing to do with the yearly allocation and will be issued for PSW to tier-2 or Tier-2 extns or some other scenarios.
Once a U-COS has been allocated to an immigrant, it will expire in 3 months and the sponsor nbeed to fulfill his/her duties till the VISA for the immigrant expires/till the immigrant leaves the sponsor whichever applies.

The following line details you everything
If you do not wish to issue CAS/CoS after your expiry date you do not have to make an annual allocation request. However if you choose not to make a renewal request you are still subject to the same sponsorship responsibilities and duties in regard to Migrants you currently sponsor.

As a part of UKBA procedures, they will email this to every sponsor telling that the Restricted-COS allocation will expire on 5th April.

Ohh damn thanks for that man. My company probably made a mistake requesting a COS. I will get my HR people to email UKBA.

Thanks.

[greegiecee]

Pardon me resurrecting an old thread but a lot of my questions were answered with this post apart from one.

Does our company have to re-assign their allocation of 1 to me every year or when the company applies to renew their 1 allocation does that automatically get assigned to me? There seems to be a bit of confusion around what has to be done by the company once they have been granted their allocation for the year. Can anyone help clarify that please

[The Station Agent]

If your company doesn't need to issue any CoS then they may as well have a zero allocation until the year of your renewal (2014) when they will need at least one.

[greegiecee]

Thanks for that. That is what I thought but we couldn't get anyone at the UKBA to just confirm it. Thanks again for putting my mind at ease.