Hire from anywhere.Stay A-rated.
A sponsor licence is not a certificate you file away. It is a rating the Home Office can downgrade, suspend or take back — and your sponsored staff go with it. We get employers licensed, and then keep them on the right end of that scale.
Licence status — the whole scale
You cannot sponsor anyone from overseas.
Full sponsor. You can assign certificates and hire.
Downgraded. No new certificates until an action plan is completed.
Sponsorship stops while UKVI investigates.
Licence withdrawn. Sponsored staff lose permission to work.
Most licence decisions
Standard service
With priority service
Working days, +£750, limited slots
Licence fee, small sponsor
£1,682 for medium or large
Per certificate of sponsorship
Worker routes, plus the skills charge
Home Office figures, checked against GOV.UK in September 2026. They change by regulation — confirm before you budget.
Do you actually need a sponsor licence?
Not every overseas hire needs sponsoring. Check the right-hand column first — if your candidate is on it, you can stop reading and hire them.
You need one to employ
Anyone coming from overseas to work for you, on almost any work route
EU, EEA and Swiss citizens who arrived in the UK after 31 December 2020
A worker already in the UK on a visa they can switch from — you still need the licence first
Staff moving in from an overseas branch of the same group
You do not need one for
Irish citizens
Anyone with settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme
Anyone with indefinite leave to remain
Anyone on a visa that already carries unrestricted work rights, such as a dependant or Graduate visa
Two licence types, sixteen routes between them
You apply for the type that covers the route you will hire on. You can hold both, and applying for both at once costs no more than the Worker licence alone.
Worker licence
4 ROUTESFor long-term, skilled roles. This is the licence most employers mean when they say “sponsor licence”, and Skilled Worker is by far the most used route on it.
Skilled Worker
The main route. Long-term skilled employment, and the one that leads to settlement.
Senior or Specialist Worker
Global Business Mobility. Moving senior staff or specialists from an overseas linked business.
Minister of Religion
Long-term religious roles within a faith community.
International Sportsperson
Elite sportspeople and coaches, endorsed by the relevant governing body.
Temporary Worker licence
11 ROUTESFor short-term, seasonal, training or exchange roles. Cheaper certificates, shorter permissions, and in most cases no route to settlement.
Scale-up Worker
Fast-growing businesses meeting the growth test. Licence lasts 4 years and cannot be renewed.
Creative Worker
Performers, artists, entertainers and their essential support staff.
Charity Worker
Unpaid voluntary work for a registered charity.
Religious Worker
Religious or pastoral work that is not a Minister of Religion role.
Government Authorised Exchange
Work experience, research and training under an approved scheme.
International Agreement
Work covered by international law, including contractual service suppliers.
Graduate Trainee
Global Business Mobility. Graduate programmes requiring a UK placement.
Service Supplier
Global Business Mobility. Contractual service suppliers and independent professionals.
UK Expansion Worker
Global Business Mobility. Setting up a UK branch. Licence lasts 4 years and cannot be renewed.
Secondment Worker
Global Business Mobility. Secondments under a high-value contract or investment.
Seasonal Worker
Horticulture and poultry, through an approved scheme operator.
Four tests, all of which have to pass
A caseworker is not ticking a checklist. They are satisfying themselves of four things, and an application that is strong on three and silent on the fourth is a refusal.
You are a genuine organisation, operating lawfully in the UK
The business has to exist, trade, and be based here. A dormant company, a shell set up for the application, or an entity whose registered details do not match the paperwork will not get through.
What satisfies it
Companies House registration, or the equivalent for a partnership, sole trader or charity
A business bank account with a UK regulated institution
Evidence of trading: contracts, invoices, filed accounts, a lease or licence for your premises
Sector registration where the law requires it — CQC, Ofsted, FCA, a gambling or alcohol licence
You are honest, dependable and reliable
This is the suitability test, and it looks at the people behind the business as much as the business itself. Unspent convictions for relevant offences, a previously revoked licence, or unpaid civil penalties will all count against you.
What satisfies it
No unspent convictions for immigration, fraud or money laundering offences among key personnel
No licence revoked in the last 12 months
No outstanding civil penalty for employing someone illegally
A history of meeting your duties, if you have sponsored before
You can carry out your sponsor duties
UKVI needs to see that HR processes exist before you sponsor anyone, not that you intend to build them afterwards. This is where most first applications are weakest, and it is the easiest thing to fix in advance.
What satisfies it
Right to work check process, applied to the whole workforce
A system that records attendance and absence, and flags unexplained absence
Somewhere contact details and immigration documents are kept and kept current
Named people who understand the reporting deadlines and have access to the system
The job itself is suitable for sponsorship
A licence is granted against real vacancies. The role must sit at the required skill level, meet the salary rules for its occupation code, and be a genuine vacancy rather than one written around a particular person.
What satisfies it
An occupation code that genuinely matches the duties
A salary meeting both the general threshold and the going rate for that code
A job description that would make sense to someone outside your business
A vacancy that exists because there is work to do, not because someone needs a visa
Four roles, and the two that get businesses into trouble
Each nomination is checked individually. Get one wrong and the application stalls; let one lapse after you are licensed and the reporting quietly stops happening.
Authorising Officer
REQUIREDYour most senior person responsible for recruitment and HR.
Answers to UKVI for everything done under the licence, and for everyone who touches the sponsorship management system.
This cannot be a consultant or an external adviser. It has to be someone inside the business with real authority.
Key Contact
REQUIREDYour main point of contact with UKVI.
Takes the calls and the correspondence. Can be the same person as the Authorising Officer.
Level 1 User
REQUIREDThe person who runs the licence day to day.
Uses the sponsorship management system: assigns certificates, files reports, updates details. At least one Level 1 User must be an employee, not an adviser.
If your only Level 1 User leaves and nobody replaces them, the licence keeps running while nobody is filing reports. That is how a clean licence becomes a suspended one.
Level 2 User
OPTIONALAdditional day-to-day users, added once the licence is live.
Restricted access: can do some SMS tasks but cannot change the licence details or add other users.
Nine steps, and the clock on each one
Timescales below are the published ones. Where a step has no published timescale, it has no box — those are the parts of the process you cannot promise a start date around.
Typical, depending on how much HR work is needed
Readiness check
Before anything is filed: confirm the entity is eligible, the role is sponsorable at the right occupation code and salary, and the HR systems would survive a visit. This is the step that decides the outcome.
Appoint your key personnel
Name the Authorising Officer, Key Contact and Level 1 User. Each is checked individually, so a nomination that does not hold up delays the whole application.
Submit the online application
Complete the application, pay the fee, and generate the submission sheet. The fee depends on your licence type and whether you count as a small or charitable sponsor.
From submitting the online application
Send your supporting documents
The submission sheet and your documents go to UKVI by email as PDF, JPEG or PNG. Files that cannot be read are treated as not supplied.
Most applications are decided inside this
Assessment, and possibly a visit
A caseworker reviews the file. UKVI may make a pre-licence visit to your premises, usually unannounced, to see whether the HR systems you described actually exist.
Additional £750, subject to daily availability
Priority service, if you need it faster
A limited number of priority slots are released each working day. When you get one, the decision comes back far quicker, for an additional fee.
Licence granted, A-rated
You are added to the register of sponsors and given access to the sponsorship management system. From this point the duties start — the licence is a status you now have to maintain.
Typical decision on a defined CoS request
Assign a certificate of sponsorship
A defined certificate for a Skilled Worker applying from overseas is requested through the SMS. Undefined certificates cover in-country Skilled Workers and all other routes.
The certificate expires if it is not used
Your worker applies for their visa
They must use the certificate within 3 months of it being assigned, and cannot apply more than 3 months before the job start date.
What the Home Office charges, before anyone charges you
Two tables: what it costs to get licensed, and what each sponsored hire costs on top. The second one is the one that surprises people.
Getting licensed — one-off
Small / charity
Medium / large
Worker licence
Skilled Worker, Senior or Specialist Worker, Minister of Religion, International Sportsperson.
Small / charity
£611Medium / large
£1,682Temporary Worker licence
All Temporary Worker routes. The same fee whatever your size.
Small / charity
£611Medium / large
£611Both licence types together
Applying for a Worker and a Temporary Worker licence at the same time costs no more than the Worker licence alone.
Small / charity
£611Medium / large
£1,682Priority service
Optional. A decision in 10 working days instead of up to 8 weeks. Limited slots released each working day.
Small / charity
£750Medium / large
£750Per sponsored hire — recurring
Small / charity
Medium / large
Certificate of sponsorship — Worker routes
Per certificate. Payable by you, never recoverable from the worker.
Small / charity
£525Medium / large
£525Certificate of sponsorship — Temporary Worker routes
Per certificate. Also covers International Sportsperson where the engagement is 12 months or less.
Small / charity
£55Medium / large
£55Immigration Skills Charge — first 12 months
Per sponsored worker. Paid up front for the full length of the certificate.
Small / charity
£480Medium / large
£1,320Immigration Skills Charge — each further 6 months
A five-year certificate means paying the first 12 months plus eight further blocks of six months.
Small / charity
£240Medium / large
£660Worked example
One small sponsor, one Skilled Worker, five years
Worker licence application
One-off, however many people you go on to sponsor
Certificate of sponsorship
Per worker
Immigration Skills Charge, first 12 months
Small or charitable rate
Immigration Skills Charge, remaining 4 years
8 further blocks of 6 months at £240
Employer total over five years
£3,536Employer costs only. The worker pays their own visa fee and Immigration Health Surcharge, and you must not recover any of the figures above from them. Priority service, legal fees and any dependants are extra.
Figures checked against GOV.UK in September 2026. Home Office fees change by regulation, sometimes mid-year — confirm the current figure before you budget.
Full cost breakdownEverything here has a countdown on it
These are the reporting duties — the ones where a missed deadline is itself the breach. Nobody sends you a reminder, and “we did not know” is not a defence UKVI accepts.
Reporting
A sponsored worker does not start
They fail to turn up on their first day, or never arrive in the UK at all.
A sponsored worker stops working for you
Resignation, dismissal, redundancy, or the contract ending. Report the date and the reason.
Unauthorised absence of 10 or more days
Ten consecutive working days missed with no permission and no explanation you accept.
A significant change to the job
Salary, duties, hours, occupation code or work location changing enough to matter.
A change to your business
Address, ownership, structure, a merger or takeover, insolvency, or a change of key personnel.
Working days exclude weekends and bank holidays. The clock starts when the event happens, not when someone in HR finds out about it.
A licence is lost in stages, not all at once
Each rung has a way back except the last two. Knowing which rung you are on is the difference between a fixable problem and an operational emergency.
Downgrade to B-rating
Recoverable
UKVI finds your systems fall short but believes they can be fixed.
You cannot assign new certificates until you complete a chargeable action plan. Existing sponsored staff keep working. Fail the plan and the licence goes.
Suspension
Recoverable
UKVI suspects a serious breach and needs to investigate.
Sponsorship stops while the investigation runs. You cannot assign certificates. Your name stays off the published register during this period.
Revocation
Terminal
A serious breach is made out, or a B-rated sponsor fails its action plan.
The licence is withdrawn. Certificates already assigned are cancelled, and sponsored employees normally have 60 days to find another sponsor or leave the UK. There is no appeal.
Cooling-off period
Terminal
A licence is revoked, or an application is refused for a suitability reason.
You are usually barred from applying again for a set period, commonly 12 months, and sometimes longer. Your hiring plan stops for that whole period.
Civil penalty
Terminal
Illegal working is found, whether or not it involves a sponsored worker.
A penalty per worker, on top of anything that happens to the licence. An unpaid penalty is itself a reason to refuse a future licence application.
What a compliance visit looks for in your industry
The duties are the same everywhere. What a visiting officer actually pulls out of your files is not.
Four ways in, priced up front
Professional fees, excluding VAT and Home Office charges. Nothing on this site takes a payment — every price below starts a conversation with an adviser.
Licence readiness review
£350 + VATCredited against a full application if you go ahead
A straight answer on whether you would be granted today, and a list of what to fix if not.
Entity and suitability check against the eligibility tests
Role, occupation code and salary assessment for your first hire
HR systems gap analysis against the record-keeping duties
Written findings with a fix list, in priority order
Full licence application
£1,500 + VATExcludes the Home Office fee
We prepare and submit the whole application, and handle UKVI from filing to decision.
Everything in the readiness review
Document pack assembled, checked and submitted
Key personnel nominated and briefed on their obligations
Pre-licence visit preparation, including a mock walkthrough
All UKVI correspondence handled until the decision
Licence plus first sponsored hire
£2,800 + VATExcludes Home Office and visa fees
The licence, the certificate and the worker's visa application, run as one piece of work.
Everything in the full licence application
Certificate of sponsorship requested and assigned
The worker's visa application prepared and submitted
Right to work check carried out and recorded correctly
12 months of compliance support from the grant date
Ongoing compliance
From £180 + VATPer month. Rolling — cancel with 30 days' notice
The part employers forget to buy, and the reason most licences get into trouble.
Annual mock audit against the current UKVI framework
Reporting deadlines tracked and filed on your behalf
Right to work checks reviewed across the workforce
Key personnel changes handled when staff move on
Named adviser on call for anything UKVI sends you
Prices exclude VAT and all Home Office fees — see what the Home Office charges. No card details are taken on this website.
The eight we are asked most
General information, grounded in current GOV.UK guidance. It is not advice on your business — that needs a conversation.
It is permission from the Home Office to employ people who do not already have the right to work in the UK. You need one to hire most overseas nationals, including EU citizens who arrived after 31 December 2020. You do not need one for Irish citizens, people with settled or pre-settled status, or anyone with indefinite leave to remain.
Yes, but the bar is the same: you have to show a genuine trading business with a genuine vacancy and the means to pay the salary. A company incorporated last month with no trading history, no contracts and no bank activity will struggle, and a refusal on suitability grounds carries a cooling-off period.
Most applications are decided in less than 8 weeks. A priority service is available for an additional £750, which brings that down to around 10 working days — but only a small number of priority slots are released each working day, so it is not something you can rely on being available when you need it.
The Worker licence fee is £611 for small or charitable sponsors and £1,682 for medium or large sponsors. A Temporary Worker licence is £611 whatever your size. After that, each hire costs £525 for the certificate of sponsorship on Worker routes, plus the Immigration Skills Charge at £480 per year for small sponsors and £1,320 for medium or large ones.
They might, before the licence is granted and at any point afterwards. Visits are often unannounced. The visiting officer is checking whether the HR systems you described in the application actually exist and are actually being used — so describing a process you have not built yet is a bad idea.
There is no appeal. You can ask for an error correction review if the caseworker got something factually wrong, but not simply because you disagree. Most refusals mean a cooling-off period, commonly 12 months, before you can apply again — which is why getting the first application right matters more than getting it in quickly.
A downgrade. UKVI has found your systems fall short but thinks they can be fixed. You cannot assign new certificates until you complete a chargeable action plan, though existing sponsored staff keep working. Fail the action plan and the licence is revoked.
Certificates already assigned are cancelled, and sponsored employees normally have 60 days to find another sponsor or leave the UK. For a business that depends on sponsored staff, this is an operational emergency, not a paperwork problem.
Or reach a person directly
If your licence has been suspended or you have been served a compliance report, phone rather than emailing. Those have deadlines measured in days.