AORA for the Academic Sector

As with most situations, academic institutions that want to employ non-UK citizens will still need a Skilled Worker Sponsor Licence. Passportia can assess whether an academic institution qualifies and can prepare the application at a very competitive fee. A Sponsor Licence is a strategic investment for the future, a form of insurance for ensuring operational stability and a means of enhancing the level of care provided by the business.

In some cases, an existing sponsor licence in an academic institution can be extended to other colleges within the group. Ideally, one licence can be used to cover all colleges.

Due to their high profile, academic institutions may be subject to increased Home Office compliance visits. Passportia can conduct ongoing compliance audits to ensure that the sponsored staff are managed in a way that is compliant with the rules. This is important as responsibility does not stop once a visa is issued.

Passportia can also manage your Sponsor Management System (SMS) to ensure that it is kept up to date and notified of staff or other relevant changes.

There are many different ‘moving parts’ when considering international recruitment. Passportia will support and work with you to ensure the Sponsorship and Visa application process is compliant and completed as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Before a job listing is published, Passportia can assess the eligibility of a proposed job and compute the minimum salary required. Automated justification letters and reports are issued to demonstrate a high level of due diligence which is often overlooked but is essential should a compliance check be conducted. 

For a potential applicant for a particular job or research position, Passportia can assess eligibility for a Skilled Worker Visa or further Leave to Remain and the need for an ATAS certificate. Detailed reports are also issued explaining eligibility, costs and timings for a proposed period of sponsorship. 

For the candidate chosen, Passportia can then prepare and submit the application for the Certificate of Sponsorship and visa (entry clearance) or further Leave to Remain, filling in all the Home Office UKVI forms.

Our immigration platform, AORA, collects data and document scans from staff and job applicants using intelligent, smartphone-friendly, white-labelled questionnaires. This approach ensures your chosen applicant has a great initial user experience with the UKVI application process as their first step in securing a new opportunity in the UK. 

Passportia, an OISC-regulated company, uses the AORA Mobility platform to deliver increased time savings and higher levels of data consistency through the application of AI and process automation to Work Visa cases. Using AORA requires less staff time and reduces repetitive manual tasks, in many cases, users can save up to 75% of their time when compared to traditional manual processing.

Because of this increased efficiency, Passportia can offer very competitive prices for these services compared to traditional immigration consultancies and lawyers as clients are not being charged for practitioners' time to perform these tasks manually. 

AORA is also available for organisations to use directly. By leveraging AORA, your in-house teams can also work more effectively, freeing their time to focus on other value-added tasks. Equally, if you prefer to outsource this process, you can still benefit from greatly reduced costs when compared to traditional immigration consultancy services.

Are you currently outsourcing skilled worker visas? Calculate how much you could save by using Passportia:  AORA ROI Calculator

If you don’t already have a sponsor licence, Passportia can make an assessment of eligibility and make the application.

Interested in finding out more? Here’s a video which explains how easily and efficiently a Skilled Worker case is completed when using AORA: