How to Get a Sponsor Licence: UK Fees, Steps and Sponsor Duties

How to get a sponsor licence: the short answer

To get a sponsor licence, a business must show the Home Office that it is a genuine organisation operating or trading lawfully in the UK, that it has suitable people and HR systems to meet its sponsor duties, and that it will offer roles that meet the rules of the visa route. The GOV.UK employer guide reduces the process to six steps: check the business is eligible, check the job is suitable, choose the type of licence, decide who will manage sponsorship, apply online and pay the fee, and be ready for UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) to visit.

Most applications are decided in less than eight weeks. A successful applicant gets an A-rated licence, appears on the public register of sponsors and can assign Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS), the electronic records each worker needs to apply for a visa. A licence is valid indefinitely unless it is revoked or surrendered, except on the UK Expansion Worker and Scale-up routes, where it lasts a maximum of four years.

Which licence do you need: Skilled Worker and Global Business Mobility

The licence type follows the workers you plan to sponsor. GOV.UK divides licences into a "Worker" licence for skilled or long-term employment and a "Temporary Worker" licence for specific categories, and a business can hold one or both. For commercial employers the main routes are:

• Skilled Worker. The general route for hiring someone into an eligible job at the required salary, whether they are abroad or already in the UK.
• Senior or Specialist Worker (Global Business Mobility). A Worker route for multinational groups transferring established employees to the UK, previously the Intra-company Transfer visa.
• UK Expansion Worker (Global Business Mobility). A Temporary Worker route for staff sent to set up a UK branch or subsidiary of an overseas business that is not yet trading here.
• Graduate Trainee, Secondment Worker and Service Supplier. Temporary Worker routes within Global Business Mobility for graduate transfers, secondments under high-value contracts and services contracts.

The Part 1 guidance states that if an application succeeds, the routes chosen will be the only ones on which the business can sponsor workers, although routes can be added later. A sponsor licence is an employer's permission to fill roles, unrelated to investment-led schemes such as those in our guides to Vanuatu citizenship by investment costs and the end of Latvia's property residence route.

Sponsor licence requirements: who can apply

Any organisation can apply if it can prove it is genuine, operating or trading lawfully in the UK, honest and dependable, and capable of carrying out its sponsor duties. Part 1 also requires any registration or licence the business legally needs to trade, suitable key people, adequate HR and recruitment practices, and an ability and intention to offer work that meets the definition of an "eligible role".

The guidance gives examples of failure. A business whose finance comes mainly from a related company or private investors rather than customers is unlikely to be treated as trading, nor is one engaged in "circular trading", where invoices pass mainly between commonly owned entities. On eligible roles, the Home Office may doubt a small shop that has only ever employed shop assistants, a small fast food outlet claiming to need a full-time business development manager, or salaries that look out of line with turnover.

Some factors block a grant. GOV.UK says an applicant cannot have unspent convictions for immigration offences or listed crimes such as fraud or money laundering. An organisation whose licence was revoked in the last 12 months, or the last 24 months after more than one revocation, will not get a new one, and an applicant refused in the previous six months will not usually succeed.

Key personnel and the sponsorship management system

Every applicant must nominate three key personnel roles, which one person or several can fill. The employer guide describes them as:

• Authorising Officer. A senior and competent person responsible for the actions of staff and representatives who use the sponsorship management system (SMS).
• Key Contact. The main point of contact with UKVI, a role a UK-based legal representative qualified to give immigration advice can fill.
• Level 1 User. The person who runs the licence day to day on the SMS, assigning CoS and reporting changes.

Key personnel must be based in the UK most of the time, must not be contractors or consultants engaged for a specific project, and must have no history of non-compliance. At least one Level 1 User must be an employee, partner or director and a settled worker. UKVI fines in the past 12 months, unspent convictions for listed offences and unpaid VAT or excise duty among the people named can sink an application.

The August 2026 guidance changed the SMS. Since 9 September 2026 sponsors cannot appoint new Level 2 Users; existing ones must be upgraded or deactivated before 9 March 2027, after which GOV.UK says they will be deactivated automatically. Multi-factor authentication has applied since 3 September 2026, and the Home Office intends to remove inactive SMS accounts, warning that a sponsor may lose its licence if it does not keep users' details current.

Documents: what Appendix A requires

Supporting documents prove the business is genuine and meets the route rules. Appendix A to the sponsor guidance requires most organisations to send at least four documents: any that are mandatory for their type of organisation or route, topped up from a general list. That list includes proof of HMRC registration for PAYE, VAT or Corporation Tax, the latest accounts, business bank statements, employer's liability insurance of at least £5 million, a signed lease or proof of ownership of premises, and client invoices or contracts.

• Start-ups. A business trading in the UK for less than 18 months must send its latest statement for a business account with a UK bank or building society regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority.
• Regulated businesses. Where a registration or licence is legally needed to trade, such as for adult social care or financial services, evidence of it is mandatory.
• Skilled Worker applicants. The business must also explain why it is applying, give its sector and opening hours, and provide a hierarchy chart of owners, directors and board members; with 50 or fewer employees it must list every employee and job title. For each planned job it gives the title, occupation code, duties, hours and pay, and explains how any identified worker was found.

Documents not in English or Welsh need a certified translation.

How to apply for a sponsor licence, step by step

Part 1 says the online form takes about 20 to 30 minutes once everything is gathered, and UKVI cannot supply a copy afterwards, so keep screenshots. The sequence is:

1. Choose the routes and read the route-specific guidance for each.
2. Appoint key personnel and check each meets the suitability rules.
3. Decide on branches. A group with several sites or entities chooses between one licence covering branches and separate licences.
4. Estimate CoS needs for the first year, with reasons.
5. Register and complete the form through the UKVI online sponsor application service, and pay the fee.
6. Send the submission sheet and documents within five working days. The Authorising Officer signs every page of the sheet, which contains a declaration that the business will meet its sponsor duties, and the documents are emailed as PDF, JPEG or PNG files.
7. Disclose history. Say whether the business has been suspended or removed from a sponsor register in the last five years, has a prosecution pending, or knows of unpaid VAT or excise duty at an organisation it was involved with in a similar role.
8. Stay available. UKVI emails the Key Contact for anything further and allows five working days; missing that deadline means refusal and a lost fee.

If a mandatory document is missing, Appendix A says the application is invalid: it is rejected unconsidered, the fee is refunded and the business must start again. Knowingly giving false information leads to refusal or, if found later, revocation.

Sponsor licence fees and the Immigration Skills Charge

How much does it cost to get a sponsor licence? The GOV.UK fee table at 17 October 2026 shows £611 for small or charitable sponsors and £1,682 for medium or large sponsors on a Worker licence, and £611 for any Temporary Worker licence. A business is usually a small sponsor if at least two of these apply: turnover of £15 million or less, total assets of £7.5 million or less, and 50 employees or fewer.

Each CoS also carries a fee, and for Skilled Workers and Senior or Specialist Workers the sponsor normally pays the Immigration Skills Charge on assignment. The Immigration Skills Charge (Amendment) Regulations 2025 raised the charge by 32% from 16 December 2025, with exemptions for certain research, higher education, clergy and sports occupation codes.

Cost (GOV.UK, 17 October 2026)	Small or charitable sponsor	Medium or large sponsor
Worker licence application	£611	£1,682
Temporary Worker licence application	£611	£611
Adding a Worker licence to a Temporary Worker licence	No fee	£1,071
Pre-licence priority decision (limited places)	£750	£750
Certificate of Sponsorship, Worker routes	£525	£525
Certificate of Sponsorship, Temporary Worker routes	£55	£55
Immigration Skills Charge, first 12 months	£480	£1,320
Immigration Skills Charge, each further 6 months	£240	£660
Immigration Skills Charge, maximum for 5 years	£2,400	£6,600
Sponsorship action plan after a B-rating	£1,579	£1,579
Priority change of circumstances request	£350	£350

Workers pay their own visa costs: on the Skilled Worker visa page, £819 from outside the UK for up to three years or £1,618 for longer, the immigration health surcharge of usually £1,035 a year, and £1,270 in savings unless the sponsor certifies maintenance. The sponsor's costs must stay with the sponsor: Part 1 says the Home Office will normally revoke a licence if the business recoups, or tries to recoup, the licence fee, the relevant CoS fees, the Immigration Skills Charge or associated administrative costs from a worker.

Processing times and what happens after you apply

How long does it take to get a sponsor licence? GOV.UK says most applications are decided in less than eight weeks, longer if UKVI visits. A £750 priority service aims for a decision within 10 working days, but places are limited each working day and allocated first come, first served.

Stage	Official timing
Send submission sheet and documents	Within 5 working days of applying online
Answer a request for more information	5 working days
Standard licence decision	Most in less than 8 weeks
Priority licence decision	Within 10 working days, limited places
Defined CoS for an overseas Skilled Worker	Usually within 1 working day
Extra undefined CoS	Usually within 12 weeks
Worker applies for visa using the CoS	Within 3 months of assignment
Skilled Worker visa decision	Usually 3 weeks outside the UK, 8 weeks inside
Change of circumstances on the SMS	Up to 18 weeks, or 5 working days for £350

The decision goes to the Authorising Officer by email, with the sponsor licence number and the maximum CoS allocation. After a refusal, a business can request a review only if it believes a caseworker made a mistake or ignored documents, not because it disagrees; otherwise it must normally wait six months to reapply.

Certificates of sponsorship: allocation and defined versus undefined CoS

A certificate of sponsorship is an electronic record with its own reference number, which the worker uses to apply for a visa within three months, and no more than three months before the job starts. Defined certificates are for Skilled Workers applying from outside the UK and are requested one by one through the SMS. Undefined certificates cover Skilled Workers applying inside the UK and all other routes, and come from an annual allocation: the application form asks for a first-year estimate on each route with detailed reasons, and UKVI may grant fewer or set the allocation to zero if not satisfied.

Each CoS must describe the real job. The Part 3 compliance guidance makes a mismatch between the work actually done and the occupation code or job description on the certificate a ground on which a licence will be revoked. A worker moving to a role with a different occupation code needs a new certificate, and GOV.UK says the Immigration Skills Charge is then due for any extra time it adds.

Salary and skill thresholds after the July 2025 changes

Since 22 July 2025, new Skilled Worker sponsorship has been limited to jobs skilled to RQF level 6 or above. The explanatory memorandum to Statement of Changes HC 997 said this meant a reduction of around 180 eligible occupations. Lower-skilled occupations stay open only on the Immigration Salary List or the interim Temporary Shortage List, or for workers already in the route; workers sponsored in RQF 3 to 5 roles on those lists cannot bring dependants, and entry clearance for care workers and senior care workers closed.

The Skilled Worker visa guidance sets the standard minimum salary at the higher of £41,700 a year and the occupation's "going rate". Applicants under 26, recent graduates, trainees, relevant STEM PhD holders and qualifying postdoctoral researchers can be paid 70% to 90% of the going rate, but not below £33,400 (£37,500 for a non-STEM PhD). Immigration Salary List jobs need £33,400 and the standard going rate. New applicants need English at level B2, while workers who held the visa before 8 January 2026 and are extending need B1.

Route	Minimum salary	Other key test
Skilled Worker (standard)	Higher of £41,700 or the going rate	Job at RQF 6 or on a shortage list
Skilled Worker (new entrant, PhD, postdoctoral or ISL)	At least £33,400 (£37,500 for a non-STEM PhD)	Reduced share of the going rate
Senior or Specialist Worker	Higher of £52,500 or the going rate	12 months' work for the group outside the UK
UK Expansion Worker	Higher of £52,500 or the going rate	12 months overseas unless paid over £73,900

These are immigration thresholds only: employers still face minimum wage, working time and equal pay rules, and groups with European staff have the separate duties set out in our guide to EU pay transparency implementation.

Sponsor duties, reporting and Home Office compliance checks

Sponsor duties cover reporting, record keeping, complying with immigration law and wider UK law, and not acting in a way that is not conducive to the public good. Under the Part 3 guidance, changes to a sponsored worker's circumstances must normally be reported within 10 working days and changes to the organisation within 20. Reportable worker events include:

• not starting within 28 days;
• unauthorised absence for more than 10 consecutive working days;
• unpaid or reduced-pay absence of more than four weeks in a calendar year, or any other pay cut;
• a change of normal work location, including permanent home working; and
• the end of sponsorship for any reason, including resignation, dismissal or redundancy.

Insolvency, a substantial change of business, a merger or a takeover must also be reported. Appendix D, whose version of 8 October 2026 reflects the extension of the Right to Work Scheme to other working arrangements from 1 October 2026, lists the records to keep, normally for one year after sponsorship ends. HR files are also subject to the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR, including the transfer issues covered in our analysis of whether the EU-US Data Privacy Framework is still valid.

Compliance checks can come at any time, announced or unannounced, on site or by video. Officers may interview managers and workers, inspect records and check other staff for illegal working, and sponsors must give access to their premises and to third-party sites where sponsored staff work. Because the duties extend to wider UK law, pay and working-conditions failures can become sponsorship problems, which is why employment lawyers often join the audit; liabilities of the kind seen in the Tesco equal pay litigation show the stakes.

Why sponsor licences are refused, suspended or revoked

The Home Office can cut a CoS allocation, downgrade a licence to a B-rating, suspend it or revoke it. A B-rated sponsor cannot assign certificates to new workers, must pay £1,579 for an action plan within 10 working days, and can be B-rated only twice in a rolling four-year period. Suspension removes the business from the public register and allows 20 working days for a written response; existing workers are unaffected unless the licence is revoked.

Annex C1 of the Part 3 guidance lists grounds on which a licence will be revoked, including:

• knowingly giving false information in the application or a CoS request;
• an unspent conviction for a listed offence, or having no UK trading or operating presence;
• losing a registration or licence the business needs to trade;
• two or more civil penalties for employing illegal workers, or failing to pay a first one;
• failing to complete an action plan or pay its fee;
• an SMS user assigning a CoS to themselves, a close relative or a partner; and
• a worker doing a role that does not match the CoS, a role that is not an eligible role, or being supplied to a third party as labour.

Civil penalties against an owner, director or Authorising Officer under the residential right to rent rules also appear, relevant for directors with letting portfolios as the Renters' Rights Act reshapes landlord duties. Revocation applies across all routes, workers' permission will normally be cancelled or shortened, there is no appeal, and the business cannot reapply for at least 12 months, or 24 months after a second revocation.

Overseas companies setting up in the UK: the UK Expansion Worker route

An overseas business with no UK trading presence can sponsor staff to set it up through a UK Expansion Worker licence if it has a UK "footprint". The Global Business Mobility sponsor guidance accepts UK business premises, such as a lease, or a UK branch or new subsidiary registered with Companies House. A business already actively trading in the UK must use the Senior or Specialist Worker or Skilled Worker routes instead.

The overseas business must be trading and have traded for at least three years before applying, with evidence exceptions for certain Japanese and Australian businesses and companies on specified stock exchanges. Investment-only entities such as private equity and venture capital firms are not treated as trading. The applicant needs a credible plan to establish a UK trading presence within two years in the same line of business, through a wholly owned subsidiary, a branch or another permitted group structure. Our guide to the branch vs subsidiary choice covers that decision, and corporate advisers usually handle the Companies House steps.

If the Authorising Officer is overseas, the licence starts with a Provisional rating and one CoS, which that person assigns to themselves to obtain entry clearance; once they have permission, the licence can be upgraded to an A-rating and up to nine further certificates requested. The allocation can never exceed 10, the licence lasts four years without renewal, and after two years the route's CoS allocation falls to zero. The UK Expansion Worker visa page requires at least £52,500 or the going rate, normally 12 months' prior work for the business outside the UK unless pay exceeds £73,900, and a £340 fee, and allows a maximum stay of two years with no route to settlement. Once trading, the UK entity can add other routes and switch staff. Payroll, PAYE and assignees' residence under the statutory residence test, explained in our guide to UK tax residence, are worth settling early with tax advisers, as is brand protection, covered in our guide to registering a trademark internationally.

When to use an immigration lawyer and what to prepare

Advice is worth taking when the facts are not simple: a start-up or virtual business, a group with several entities, a UK Expansion Worker application, a role near the salary or skill thresholds, a previous refusal, a pending prosecution or civil penalty, a merger involving sponsored staff, or any UKVI letter announcing a compliance visit, downgrade or suspension.

Before the first meeting, gather:

• company details, the group structure and a current hierarchy chart;
• the latest accounts, bank statements, PAYE and VAT references and the premises lease;
• any sector registration or licence needed to trade;
• the proposed Authorising Officer, Key Contact and Level 1 Users;
• the jobs to be sponsored, with duties, occupation codes, hours and salaries, and how any identified workers were recruited; and
• right to work, absence and HR record processes, plus past UKVI correspondence.

Corporate INTL's Find an Expert directory lists lawyers and advisers in more than 150 jurisdictions. Readers can search for immigration specialists in the United Kingdom, browse advisers in the United Kingdom across practice areas, or use the Find an expert form under this article to submit a request and be put in touch with a member. For a simple case, GOV.UK and this checklist show how to get a sponsor licence; for anything else, early advice usually costs less than a refusal and a six-month wait.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to get a sponsor licence?

GOV.UK lists £611 for small or charitable sponsors and £1,682 for medium or large sponsors on a Worker licence, and £611 for a Temporary Worker licence. Each Worker CoS costs £525, and the Immigration Skills Charge is usually payable on top: £480 or £1,320 for the first 12 months.

Who can apply for a sponsor licence?

Any genuine organisation operating or trading lawfully in the UK can apply if it has suitable key personnel and HR systems and intends to offer eligible roles. Unspent convictions for listed offences, a revocation in the last 12 months, or a refusal in the last six months usually prevent a grant.

How long does it take to get a sponsor licence in the UK?

GOV.UK says most applications are decided in less than eight weeks, longer if UKVI visits the business. A £750 priority service aims for a decision within 10 working days, but only a limited number of places are available each working day, allocated first come, first served.

Does a sponsor licence expire?

Usually not. Under the current Part 1 guidance a licence is valid indefinitely unless the Home Office revokes it or the sponsor surrenders it. The exceptions are the UK Expansion Worker and Scale-up routes, where a licence lasts a maximum of four years and cannot be renewed.

What is the Immigration Skills Charge?

It is a charge the sponsor pays when assigning a CoS to a Skilled Worker or Senior or Specialist Worker. Since 16 December 2025 it is £480 for the first 12 months for small or charitable sponsors and £1,320 for others, plus £240 or £660 for each further six months. Sponsors must not pass it on to workers.

What is the minimum salary for a Skilled Worker visa?

The standard minimum is the higher of £41,700 a year and the going rate for the occupation code. New entrants, some PhD holders, postdoctoral researchers and jobs on the Immigration Salary List can be paid less, but generally not below £33,400. The job must normally be skilled to RQF level 6.

What happens if my sponsor licence is revoked?

Revocation applies to every route on the licence, the business is removed from the register and cannot sponsor anyone, and the Home Office will normally cancel or shorten sponsored workers' permission. There is no right of appeal against the decision.

Can I get my sponsor licence back after it is revoked?

Not by appeal. A business can make a new application only after a cooling-off period of at least 12 months from revocation, or 24 months if it has had a licence revoked more than once. It must start a fresh application and pay the fee again.

Can an overseas company get a sponsor licence before trading in the UK?

Yes, through the UK Expansion Worker route, if it has a UK footprint such as premises or a Companies House registration, has traded overseas for at least three years and has a credible plan to start trading in the UK within two years. It can sponsor up to 10 workers.

Sources

1. GOV.UK: UK visa sponsorship for employers (updated 16 October 2026)
2. Home Office: Workers and Temporary Workers, guidance for sponsors Part 1, apply for a licence (version 08/26, 28 August 2026)
3. Home Office: Workers and Temporary Workers, guidance for sponsors Part 3, sponsor duties and compliance (version 08/26, 28 August 2026)
4. Home Office: Sponsor guidance Appendix A, supporting documents for sponsor applications (version 04/26, 8 April 2026)
5. Home Office: Sponsor guidance Appendix D, record-keeping duties (version 10/26, 8 October 2026)
6. Home Office: Sponsor a Global Business Mobility worker (version 04/26, 8 April 2026)
7. GOV.UK: Skilled Worker visa
8. GOV.UK: UK Expansion Worker visa (Global Business Mobility)
9. Home Office: Explanatory memorandum to the Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules HC 997 (1 July 2025)
10. The Immigration Skills Charge (Amendment) Regulations 2025, SI 2025/1324 (legislation.gov.uk)

About this article

This guide was researched and written by The Corporate INTL Newsroom, which covers cross-border legal, regulatory and business developments for lawyers, professional advisers and financiers in over 150 jurisdictions. It has been checked against the GOV.UK employer guide and visa pages, the Home Office Workers and Temporary Workers sponsor guidance (Parts 1 and 3, Appendices A and D and the Global Business Mobility guidance, in the versions listed above), the explanatory memorandum to Statement of Changes HC 997 and the Immigration Skills Charge (Amendment) Regulations 2025. Fees, thresholds and processing times are those published at the date of review and change regularly, so check GOV.UK before applying. This article is general information, not legal or immigration advice; for advice on a specific application or compliance issue, consult a qualified immigration adviser. Last reviewed 17 October 2026. For more analysis like this, visit the Corporate INTL newsroom or subscribe to Corporate INTL.