Immigration Compliance Service

Oury Clark Solicitors’ immigration team (“we”, “us”) can provide you with continuing support to meet your ongoing sponsor duties and obligations.

We offer two options for this ongoing compliance support, which are set out below.

Package Details

The Basic Package

This package costs £200 plus VAT per month and will include the following:

• Adding us as a ‘Level 1’ User so that we can regularly access the Sponsor Management System (“SMS”) and carry out required changes, reporting requirements and any other steps as needed.
• Monitoring of:
  • the immigration status and visa expiry dates for sponsored workers; and
  • the sponsor licence status and expiry.
• Guidance notes/key notes for meeting the sponsorship obligations with the relevant HR team/employee(s).
• Quarterly engagement with the HR team/employee(s) of the sponsor to ensure:
  • any changes in relation to employment or visa conditions for sponsored workers are reported within prescribed timescales; and
  • any changes in relation to the business are reported within prescribed timescales.
• Briefing the sponsor’s Authorising Officer (“AO”) on their role and relevant duties whilst holding this position.

The Premium Package

This package costs £400 plus VAT per month and will include the following:

• All the benefits of the Basic Package detailed above.
• Arranging the following:
  • annual renewal of allocation of Certificates of Sponsorship for the sponsor;
  • in-year increased allocation of Certificates of Sponsorship for the sponsor (when required); and
  • renewal of the sponsor licence as required, or advising whether a new sponsor licence is required due to a change in ownership.
• Providing:
  • updates to the duties and compliance requirements of sponsors to the AO;
  • bespoke advice in the event of a UKVI compliance request, such as an interview of a sponsored worker and likely interview questions with the AO; and
  • annual sponsorship compliance ‘refresher training’ for the HR team, to include Home Office updates.
• Engaging with our tax, accounting, and payroll colleagues in Oury Clark Accountants (where they are used by the sponsor) to prepare compliance reports for UKVI regarding changes to the sponsor and/or its sponsored employees.

Immigration Compliance Service Terms

• Parties

• • This agreement is between Oury Clark (“we” or “our”), and you, the Customer, whose details are set out in the Engagement Letter (“you” or “your”) and each a “Party” and together the “Parties”.

• • You wish to use our Basic or Premium Package as contained in the Package Details to assist you in meeting your sponsor obligations as required by UK law and Home Office guidance, as a sponsor licence holder. These terms, together with the Package Details, set out the basis on which we will provide the Services.

• • The definitions and interpretation provisions of these Terms are set out in clause 11.

• Term

• • This Agreement commences on a date confirmed in writing by us and will continue until you advise us in writing with three (3) months’ written notice that you no longer wish us to provide these Services.

• • At the end of the three (3) months’ notice period, the following will apply:

• • • we will notify you that we are no longer undertaking immigration compliance services for you;

• • • we will proceed to request you to remove us as ‘Key Personnel’ on your sponsor licence (Key Contact, Legal Representative); and

• • • where we are listed as your Level One User, we will deactivate our access to the Sponsor Management System (SMS), following which we will no longer have access to your sponsor licence.

• • You may notify us in writing if you wish to upgrade to another Package or downgrade to a lower Package at any time, and where we receive such notification from you, we will adjust the Fees from the beginning of the month after we receive your notification.

• Fees

• • You will be charged the Fee for each full month, and we shall invoice you every 3 months for the Fees. Invoices are payable within 30 days. We do not accept payment in cash.

• • Where you stop using the Services, there will be no refund for any part of a month in which the Services were not provided.

• • If you fail to make payment of the Fees within the time period of 30 days, then, without limiting any right or remedy available to us:

• • • If an invoice is not paid within the 30-day period, interest may be charged from the date of delivery of the invoice at 4% above the Bank of England base rate or at 8% per annum, whichever is the greater. We reserve the right to charge for time spent by our credit control department at the rate of £40 per hour plus VAT;

• • • We may suspend all Services until payment has been made in full.

• • We may apply a reasonable increase to the Fees on an annual basis considering inflation and the cost of providing the Services. We will provide reasonable notice to you when we intend to increase the Fees.

• Service

• • We shall provide the Services with reasonable care and skill and we shall comply with all applicable laws, statutes and regulations including the Data Protection Law. We may add or withdraw elements of the Services at our discretion and on reasonable notice to you.

• • You shall co-operate with us and follow any reasonable instruction we give you and provide, in a timely manner, such information (including but not limited to documentation) as we may reasonably require to perform the Services.

• Liability

• • Neither of us will be liable to the other, in any circumstances, for any indirect, or special loss or damage.

• • Our liability (including our partners, staff and associated entities) to you for breach of contract or breach of duty or negligence or fault or liability arising in any other way in connection with these Terms shall be limited to £3 million (unless we expressly state a higher amount in the Engagement Letter) to cover all claims arising, including costs and interest. This paragraph does not apply to liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence or to liability arising as a result of fraud on our part.

• • The limitation of liability set out in this clause 5 is an aggregate limit for all claims whenever made and shall not apply to any matters for which liability cannot be legally limited, including death or personal injury caused by negligence or fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.

• Confidential Information

• • We each undertake that we will not, either while these Terms are in place or at any time thereafter (except in the proper course of our obligations duties under these Terms) disclose to any person any Confidential Information of or relating to the other party of which it has become possessed because of these Terms.

• • Upon termination of these Terms, we shall each immediately return to the disclosing party all Confidential Information of the disclosing party that is not required to fulfil the surviving obligations under these Terms.

• • Nothing in these Terms prohibits disclosure of information which:

• • • is in the public domain;

• • • after disclosure by one of us becomes part of the public domain otherwise than as a result of the wrongful act of the disclosing party;

• • • is received from a third party if it was not acquired directly or indirectly by that third party from a party to these Terms; or

• • • is required to be disclosed by law or any government or governmental body, authority or agency having authority over one of us or the rules of an applicable stock exchange, provided that, to the maximum extent legally permitted,  the recipient either: (i) gives the disclosing party reasonable notice prior to such disclosure to allow the disclosing party a reasonable opportunity to seek a protective order or equivalent, or (ii) obtains written assurance from the applicable judicial or governmental entity that it will afford the Confidential Information the highest level of protection afforded under applicable law or regulation

• • The obligations under this clause 6 survive termination of these Terms. Breach of the obligations in this clause may cause irreparable damage and therefore, in addition to all other remedies available at law or in equity, either party may seek equitable and injunctive relief for such breach, without the necessity of proving actual damages.

• Entire Agreement

• • These Terms and any other documents referenced in these Terms, including but not limited to the Package Details, comprise the entire agreement with respect to the Services to which the Terms relate.

• Force Majeure

• • Neither Party will be in breach of these Terms or liable for any failure or delay in the performance of that party’s obligations under these Terms to the extent that such failure or delay is caused directly or indirectly by a Force Majeure event.

• • Upon occurrence of a Force Majeure Event, the party claiming the Force Majeure Event (the “Nonperforming Party”) shall promptly notify the other party of occurrence of the Force Majeure Event, its effect on performance, and its expected duration. Thereafter the Nonperforming Party shall update that information as reasonably necessary. During a Force Majeure Event, the Nonperforming Party shall use reasonable efforts to limit any loss and damages caused by the Force Majeure Event and to resume its performance under this Agreement as soon as practicable.

• Severance

• • If any provision of these Terms is invalid or unenforceable for any reason, it shall not affect the remaining Terms.

• • If any provision of these Terms conflicts with the related Engagement Letter and OCS Terms of Business, these Terms shall take precedence only if the conflict is in relation to the Services provided under these Terms.

• Applicable Law

• • This Agreement is governed and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales, and the Parties hereby submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

• Definitions & Interpretation:

• • A reference to writing or written includes email (which for us is immigration@ouryclark.com and for you is an e-mail address designated by you or an e-mail address of a worker in your organisation who contacts us in respect of the immigration compliance service).

• • Any words following the terms including, includes, include, or any similar expression shall be construed as illustrative and shall not limit the sense of the words, description, definition, phrase or term preceding those terms.

• • The following terms shall have the following meanings:

Basic Package: means the basic immigration compliance service we offer at £200 per month (as set out in the Package Details).

Confidential  Information: means information of the disclosing party that is not general public knowledge, or is by its nature confidential, or is designated by the owner of that information as being confidential, or a party knows or ought reasonably to know is confidential, and includes information comprised in or relating to any intellectual property rights, the financial position of a party, the internal management and structure of a party, the clients, suppliers, personnel, policies and strategies of a party or which has actual or potential commercial value to either of the parties or their licensors.

Data Protection Law: (a) To the extent the UK GDPR (as defined in the Data Protection Act 2018) applies, the law of the United Kingdom or of a part of the United Kingdom which relates to the protection of personal data; or (b) To the extent the General Data Protection Regulation ((EU) 2016/679 (EU GDPR) applies, the law of the European Union or any member state of the European Union to which Oury Clark is subject, which relates to the protection of personal data.

Engagement Letter: means a letter/s entered into between you and Oury Clark Solicitors of 10 John Street, London WC1N 2EB.

Fee: means the price we charge you monthly, plus VAT which at the date of these Terms is £200 per month plus VAT for the Basic Package and £400 per month plus VAT for the Premium Package, as amended from time to time but excluding any 3rd party delivery costs which will be at your cost and will be included on your invoice.  We will only seek your approval for these additional 3rd party delivery costs when they exceed £10 plus VAT per item.

Force Majeure: means all events beyond the control of the affected party which cannot be reasonably foreseen or, if foreseeable, cannot be avoided including war, hostilities, invasion, riot, civil commotion, epidemic, pandemic, strikes, government control, lockouts, fire, flood, storm, or other natural catastrophe.

Oury Clark: means Oury Clark Solicitors, whose address is at 10 John Street London, WC1N 2EB.

Premium Package: means the premium immigration compliance service we offer at £400 per month (as set in the Package Details).

Services: means the Basic Package, Premium Package or any other services we provide you as set out in this flyer.

Terms: means these terms and conditions (including the Package Details), and the email to which these terms and conditions are attached.