On 29 May 2025, the Home Office updated its policy guidance on sponsorship duties for Student sponsors. The updated version explains student sponsors’ specific record-keeping duties, which was previously included in a separate guidance, Appendix D: keeping records for sponsorship.
Appendix D guidance has been also updated to remove references to record-keeping duties for student sponsors and now covers only the Worker and Temporary Worker routes.
Key notes from the update are below:
- Documents can be kept either as paper copies or in an electronic format. There is no prescribed method for storing the documents but sponsors must be able to make them available if requested.
- Unless stated otherwise, all documents relating to a sponsored student must be kept throughout the sponsorship period until whichever is the earlier of:
- one year has passed from the date sponsorship ended; or
- the date on which a compliance officer has examined and approved them, if this is less than one year after the sponsorship ended.
- Sponsors are not required to keep original passports; these should be returned to the student once the necessary pages have been copied.
- What documents must be retained for each Student or Child Student.
A full version of the updated guidance can be found here.
If you would like assistance with your sponsorship compliance, including arranging an compliance audit, please do not hesitate to reach out for a conversation with our Business and Skilled Immigration Team either by clicking the link or emailing yposthumadeboer@turpinmiller.co.uk.