Sponsor Licence

A UK sponsor licence is what lets a genuine UK employer hire someone who needs a work visa. Without it you cannot assign a Certificate of Sponsorship, and without a CoS the worker cannot apply.

Worldwide Immigration Ltd is an IAA-regulated immigration advice organisation (Ref F201900032, Level 3). We prepare sponsor licence applications for SMEs, train key personnel, and stay on the file after grant so a compliance visit does not become a revocation. Advisers are not SRA-regulated solicitors.

This page is general information as at 29 September 2026. Home Office fees and sponsor guidance change. We verify the live GOV.UK tables before every application.

Who needs a sponsor licence

You need a sponsor licence if you want to sponsor a worker on a UK immigration route that requires employer sponsorship, such as Skilled Worker. A worker who already has immigration permission allowing them to work without sponsorship may not require you to hold a sponsor licence.

A licence does not guarantee the worker will be granted a visa.

Worker or Temporary Worker

• - Worker licence — Skilled Worker and other long-term work routes. This is what most SMEs apply for.
• - Temporary Worker licence — short-term routes (creative, charity, seasonal and similar).
• - You can apply for both on one application. Medium and large sponsors pay the Worker fee for the combined licence.

What UKVI actually checks

UKVI is looking for a genuine UK business that can sponsor without creating illegal working. In practice that means:

• - You are a genuine organisation operating or trading lawfully in the UK. A virtual or remote business model does not by itself prevent a sponsor licence, but you still need a genuine UK operating or trading presence. With little or no physical office space, UKVI is highly likely to run a compliance check with the Authorising Officer and may visit their physical address.
• - You can appoint suitable Authorising Officer, Key Contact and Level 1 User.
• - You have HR systems capable of maintaining the records required by Appendix D and meeting the applicable sponsor reporting deadlines — generally 10 working days for specified changes concerning sponsored workers and 20 working days for many reportable changes to the organisation, unless the guidance specifies otherwise.
• - The roles you intend to sponsor are genuine vacancies at the right skill and salary level (see skill, salary and English below).
• - Key people and the organisation do not have a disqualifying compliance history.

UKVI may visit before deciding. Most applications are decided in under 8 weeks.

Skill, salary and English for Skilled Worker

For most new Skilled Worker applications, the role must be at RQF Level 6 or above and normally pay at least £41,700 per year or the applicable going rate, whichever is higher. Different skill and salary requirements may apply under the Immigration Salary List, Temporary Shortage List, tradeable-points and transitional provisions. New applicants are normally required to demonstrate English at CEFR B2, while transitional B1 provisions apply to certain existing Skilled Workers.

The £41,700 figure does not apply without exception. The applicable salary depends on the relevant tradeable-points option and occupation code. Exceptions and transitional provisions we will check on your facts include:

• - roles on the Immigration Salary List (ISL);
• - eligible medium-skilled roles on the Temporary Shortage List (TSL);
• - workers covered by the transitional arrangements for those already in the Skilled Worker route before 22 July 2025;
• - the separate transitional salary arrangements for qualifying workers who entered the route before 4 April 2024;
• - relevant PhD and STEM PhD salary options;
• - new entrants; and
• - specified health and education occupations, including roles subject to national pay scales.

From 22 July 2025, most medium-skilled occupations (including many care roles) sit outside Skilled Worker unless they remain on an eligible list or a transitional provision applies. Do not assume a care or medium-skilled vacancy can still be sponsored, or that dependants follow automatically.

The normal English requirement for a Skilled Worker application under the rules in force from 8 January 2026 is CEFR B2 in reading, writing, speaking and listening. B1 continues to apply where the applicant’s most recent Skilled Worker grant was subject to the B1 requirement under the earlier rules.

Sponsor licence fees from 8 April 2026

You must pay the licence fee yourself. UKVI may revoke the licence if you try to recover it from a sponsored worker.

Figures above match the Home Office immigration and nationality fees table for use from 8 April 2026, re-checked on 29 September 2026. The later table dated 8 October 2026 keeps the same sponsor-licence and CoS headline figures — still re-check GOV.UK on the day you pay.

You are usually a small sponsor if at least two of these apply: annual turnover £15 million or less; total assets £7.5 million or less; 50 employees or fewer. Registered charities pay the small rate. If you are unsure, check with the Home Office Business Helpdesk before you pay — the fee is not refunded on refusal. The detailed sponsor-size rules can depend on the applicable statutory definition, particularly for group structures or connected companies, so the current Home Office guidance should be checked before the application is submitted.

Priority: eligible applicants may be able to pay an additional £750 for a decision within 10 working days. Availability is limited, and not every sponsor route is eligible.

What it costs to hire the first worker

The licence is only the start. When you assign a CoS you also pay:

• - Certificate of Sponsorship (Worker / Skilled Worker): £525. Temporary Worker CoS: £55. You must not recover this from a Skilled Worker.
• - Immigration Skills Charge (Skilled Worker and Senior or Specialist Worker): small/charity £480 for the first 12 months then £240 per extra 6 months; medium/large £1,320 then £660. Pay the full visa length in one go. Some roles are exempt — we check before you assign.

Example (illustration only): a small sponsor, first Skilled Worker, 3-year CoS ≈ licence £611 + CoS £525 + ISC £1,440 (£480 × 3). Professional fees sit on top. Visa application fees and the Immigration Health Surcharge are paid by the worker unless you choose to fund them.

Does the licence expire?

The old 4-year renewal was removed on 6 April 2024. In most cases the licence stays valid until you surrender it or UKVI revokes it. Scale-up and UK Expansion Worker licences are still capped at 4 years. Your annual CoS allocation still has to be managed — unused CoS do not roll over.

Application checklist — people and documents (Block C)

Before you pay UKVI, treat the application as a readiness file, not a form-fill:

1. 1. Authorising Officer — a senior and competent person responsible for the sponsor licence and for the actions of staff and representatives who use the Sponsorship Management System (SMS); they must meet the Home Office eligibility requirements.
2. 2. Key Contact — main UKVI contact (can be the same person as the Authorising Officer, or a UK-based representative where eligible).
3. 3. Level 1 User — at least one eligible SMS user for day-to-day sponsorship (employee, director or partner within the organisation, and usually a settled worker, subject to Part 1 exceptions). You must keep at least one eligible Level 1 User for the life of the licence.
4. 4. SMS readiness — plan who will log in, keep contact details current, and use multi-factor authentication when MFA is enabled on your licence (see SMS FAQs below; detail on our SMS spoke).
5. 5. Genuine UK trading / operating presence — Appendix A evidence that you are a genuine organisation operating or trading lawfully in the UK (or a UK Expansion Worker footprint where that route applies).
6. 6. Supporting documents — the mandatory and route-specific documents on the live GOV.UK Appendix A lists, ready to email within five working days of submission, with names, dates and addresses that match the online form.
7. 7. Genuine vacancy / eligible role — roles you intend to sponsor must meet the route criteria (skill, salary, English and occupation code). Thin or circular trading, or roles that do not look necessary for the business, raise refusal risk.

We map Key Personnel and Appendix A readiness before you pay. We do not claim solicitor status and we do not litigate licence action.

Soft links — duties and right to work

Ongoing sponsor duties (Part 3 reporting, Appendix D records, salary and absence reporting) sit beside the licence application. For employer-facing duties detail, see our guide to UK sponsor duties and Skilled Worker rules in 2026. For prescribed right-to-work checks with eVisa share codes (including the 1 October 2026 expansion of who may need a statutory excuse), see How UK employers run a right-to-work check with an eVisa share code in 2026.

For SMS MFA, Level 2 sunset and inactive-user handling in depth, use our spoke Sponsor SMS Access 2026: MFA, Level 2 Sunset and Inactive Users rather than treating this money page as a second SMS pillar.

How we run the application

1. 1. Eligibility and risk — trading evidence, premises, key personnel, likely SOC codes and salary. Honest view on refusal risk before you pay UKVI.
2. 2. Appendix A file — incorporation, bank, HMRC, premises, org chart, job specs, key-personnel ID and right to work.
3. 3. SMS application — we complete the form, submission sheet and document set so names, dates and addresses match.
4. 4. Decision and SMS handover — CoS allocation, defined vs undefined CoS, and a short duties briefing for your Level 1 User.
5. 5. After grant — reporting, salary changes, absences, compliance-visit prep. This is where licences are actually lost.

London office: 124 City Road, EC1V 2NX. Farnborough office: Abbey House, 282 Farnborough Road, GU14 7NA. Remote instructions across the UK.

If the application is refused

There is no right of appeal against a sponsor licence refusal. In limited cases you can send an Error Correction Request within 14 calendar days if UKVI made a caseworking error or did not consider evidence sent with the original application. That is not a full reconsideration, you cannot normally add new evidence, and you may only make one request. Otherwise you may need to fix the reasons and reapply after any cooling-off period (usually 6 months).

Book a paid consultation or call 020 3488 2308. Email inquiry@worldwideimmigration.co.uk.

Prepared with Shyamal Jha and Vikas Dhankhar, IAA Level 3 advisers. London: 124 City Road, EC1V 2NX. Farnborough: Abbey House, 282 Farnborough Road, GU14 7NA.

Worldwide Immigration Ltd is regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority (IAA Ref F201900032, Level 3). Advisers are not SRA-regulated solicitors. This page is not legal advice on your facts.