Sponsor licence guide for UK employers

A sponsor licence is the Home Office’s permission for an organisation to employ people who need a work visa. With a licence an employer can assign a Certificate of Sponsorship, the electronic record a worker uses to apply for a Skilled Worker or other work visa. An approved licence starts with an A-rating, and the organisation is listed on the public register of licensed sponsors. Sponsoring someone does not guarantee that they will get a visa.

The sponsor licence check searches that register by organisation name, and sponsor licence data shows what changed on it each month.

Source: GOV.UK, UK visa sponsorship for employers, checked 3 Oct 2026.

GOV.UK says an employer usually needs a licence to employ someone from outside the UK, including citizens of the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland who arrived after 31 December 2020. That includes unpaid work. A licence is not needed for some groups, for example:

• Irish citizens
• people with settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme
• people with indefinite leave to remain in the UK

Source: GOV.UK, UK visa sponsorship for employers: overview, checked 3 Oct 2026.

The Home Office charges for the licence once, then for each certificate, plus the Immigration Skills Charge for most Skilled Worker certificates. The sponsor pays these: GOV.UK says a licence may be revoked if the worker is asked to pay them. Legal fees, if any, are separate and set by the firm.

An organisation is usually a small sponsor if at least 2 of these apply: annual turnover of £15 million or less; total assets worth £7.5 million or less; 50 employees or fewer. Registered charities (and excepted, exempt and ecclesiastical charitable bodies) pay the small-sponsor fees. The cost calculator adds these up for a number of workers and a sponsorship period.

Source: GOV.UK, Apply for your licence; Certificates of sponsorship; Immigration skills charge, checked 3 Oct 2026.

Standard

Most applications in less than 8 weeks

Priority (eligible routes)

£750 extra, considered within 10 working days

Priority places are limited each working day and allocated first come, first served. Some routes, including Scale-up, Seasonal Worker and the Global Business Mobility expansion, secondment and service supplier routes, are not offered priority. UK Visas and Immigration may visit the business before deciding. Once licensed, defined certificates for Skilled Workers applying from outside the UK are usually approved within one working day.

Source: GOV.UK, Apply for your licence; Pre-licence priority service guidance, checked 3 Oct 2026.

Annex L1 of the sponsor guidance lists the circumstances in which the Home Office will refuse an application. Among them:

• sending a false document with the application (L1 a)
• an unspent conviction for a relevant offence (L1 b)
• an unpaid civil penalty for employing illegal workers, or applying within 12 months of paying one (L1 d and e)
• a licence revoked in the previous 12 months, or 24 months after more than one (L1 h)
• not sending requested documents or information within the time limit (L1 k)
• no processes and systems in place to meet sponsor duties (L1 n)
• intending to supply sponsored workers to a third party as labour (L1 o)
• no operating or trading presence in the UK (L1 p)
• the application being sent by a representative rather than the organisation (L1 r)
• a refused application in the last 6 months, with some exceptions (L1 t)

Annexes L2 and L3 list further grounds on which an application will normally, or may, be refused.

Source: GOV.UK, Sponsor guidance Part 1: apply for a licence, Annex L1, checked 3 Oct 2026.

A licensed sponsor reports changes about sponsored workers within 10 working days and about the organisation within 20 working days, keeps the records in Appendix D, carries out right to work checks and assigns certificates only for roles that meet the route’s rules. A sponsor that falls short can be downgraded to a B-rating (with a £1,579 action plan), suspended or lose its licence. The compliance checklist lists each duty with its paragraph reference.

Source: GOV.UK, Sponsor guidance Part 3: sponsor duties and compliance, checked 3 Oct 2026.

Not for most routes under the current guidance. A sponsor licence is valid indefinitely unless the Home Office revokes it or the sponsor surrenders it. Scale-up and UK Expansion Worker licences last at most 4 years. A licence still depends on the sponsor continuing to meet the eligibility requirements and its duties.

Source: GOV.UK, Sponsor guidance Part 1, paragraph L3.8, checked 3 Oct 2026.

• How to apply for a sponsor licenceThe Home Office sponsor licence application step by step, from choosing routes and key personnel to sending documents and getting a decision.
• Sponsor licence eligibility requirementsThe tests the Home Office applies before granting a sponsor licence, from a genuine UK trading presence to suitability checks and eligible roles.
• Sponsor licence supporting documentsWhat Appendix A asks sponsor licence applicants to send, how many documents, the 5 working day deadline and the format UKVI accepts.
• Sponsor licence processing timesHow long the Home Office takes to decide a sponsor licence, the priority service, what can delay a decision, and timings for certificates after a grant.
• Why sponsor licence applications are refusedThe grounds in Annexes L1 to L3 of the sponsor guidance on which the Home Office will, normally will, or may refuse a licence, and what follows.
• Sponsor licence key personnel rolesThe Authorising Officer, Key Contact and Level 1 User explained, who can fill each role, the checks UKVI makes and the September 2026 changes.
• Authorising Officer duties on a sponsor licenceWhat the sponsor guidance expects of an Authorising Officer, who can take the role, what they sign and approve, and what happens if the role is vacant.
• The sponsorship management system (SMS) explainedWhat the Home Office sponsorship management system is for, who can use it, how access works after a licence is granted, and the user manuals.
• Certificates of Sponsorship for employersWhat a Certificate of Sponsorship is, what a sponsor must put on it, the fee, the 3-month window and the start-date rules, from the sponsor guidance.
• Defined and undefined Certificates of SponsorshipThe difference between defined and undefined Certificates of Sponsorship, when each is used, how a defined CoS is applied for and the 90-day rule.
• Certificate of Sponsorship allocation requestsHow sponsors get, increase and renew their annual allocation of undefined Certificates of Sponsorship, what UKVI weighs and the priority option.
• The Immigration Skills Charge explainedWho pays the Immigration Skills Charge, how much it costs by sponsor size and length of stay, the exemptions, and when it is refunded.
• Sponsor compliance dutiesThe five groups of duties a licensed sponsor keeps, from reporting and records to wider UK law, with Home Office guidance references.
• Right to work checks for sponsorsHow right to work checks fit a sponsor's duties: the three check types, timing, follow-up checks, record keeping and the sanctions.
• Sponsor reporting duties and deadlinesWhat a licensed sponsor must report to the Home Office, how to report it, and the 10 and 20 working day deadlines in the sponsor guidance.
• Record keeping for sponsorsThe documents Appendix D says a sponsor must keep for each sponsored worker, how long to keep them, and what the Home Office can ask to see.
• Home Office compliance visits and checksHow Home Office compliance checks on sponsors work: when they happen, what officers look at, how to co-operate and what can follow.
• Sponsor licence suspensionWhat sponsor licence suspension means, when the Home Office uses it, the 20 working day response window and the possible outcomes.
• Sponsor licence revocationHow sponsor licence revocation works: the three annexes of grounds, effects on sponsored workers, the cooling-off period and reapplying.
• B-ratings and sponsorship action plansWhat a B-rating means for a sponsor, how a downgrade happens, the action plan and its fee, the three-month limit and the possible outcomes.
• Sponsor licence renewal and validityHow long a sponsor licence lasts now that renewal has ended, the four-year exceptions, and what keeps a licence active.
• Adding a route to a sponsor licenceHow a licensed sponsor adds a route, when a fee applies, who must approve it, and when adding a route is blocked.
• Care worker sponsorship after July 2025What changed on 22 July 2025 for sponsoring care workers and senior care workers (codes 6135 and 6136), and the transition rules to 2028.
• Changes of circumstances for sponsorsWhich organisation changes a sponsor must report, the 20 working day deadline, how to report them, and what happens in insolvency or a takeover.

All employer guides

Licensed sponsors on the register, occupation codes with going rates and fees for each sector.

• NHS and healthcare
• Social care and care homes
• IT and software
• Engineering
• Construction and surveying
• Hospitality and chefs
• Education
• Councils and public sector