I’ve registered as a sponsor, what happens next?

What happens next?

Once you have submitted the visa application to the government on behalf of you (as sponsor) and your guest, we will be informed. We will then work together with your relevant district or city council and will be in touch with you directly to arrange the following:

• Accommodation check. You will receive at least one in-person visit before or shortly after your guest arrives to ensure the accommodation is suitable.
• Safeguarding checks. You will also receive at least one in-person visit before or shortly after your guest arrives to ensure that there are no safeguarding or welfare concerns. The visit will be from our adult social care team if your guest is an adult or from our children's social care team if you are hosting a family. Your Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check will start at this visit. You will receive information before the visit about any documentation that you will need to provide for this check, and who in your household will need the check.
• Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. Depending on who you have coming to stay with you, this will be formally started at either a standard or enhanced level. If you are hosting a child or vulnerable adult, you will require an enhanced DBS. You will be kept informed of the process. The process will not stop you from welcoming your guest because we will have already done the initial checks above. More information about DBS checking can be found on GOV.UK
• Thank you payment. Once all accommodation, safeguarding, and DBS checks are complete, an optional £350 monthly thank-you payment may be made to the lead sponsor only, with one payment per address. You will be emailed a link to an online form to provide bank details or confirm if you do not wish to claim; as checks can take several weeks, payments may be backdated to the guest’s arrival date and are paid monthly in arrears. If guests leave your accommodation, you must inform us as payments will stop. Where guests move onto the Ukraine Permission Extension (UPE) scheme, sponsors must reapply if they wish to continue receiving payments, which are available at £350 per month for up to 18 months under a UPE visa, subject to eligibility.