Who needs a sponsor licence
An employer needs a sponsor licence before it can employ most people who need permission to work in the UK and who are applying from abroad. That covers the Skilled Worker, Health and Care Worker, Senior or Specialist Worker, Scale-up and temporary worker routes, and EU, EEA and Swiss nationals who arrived after 31 December 2020. It applies to unpaid work too, such as running a charity. No licence is needed to employ Irish citizens, or people with settled or pre-settled status or indefinite leave to remain.
The licence is held by the organisation, not by any one worker. Once it has one, the employer can assign a certificate of sponsorship to each person it wants to recruit. Holding a licence does not guarantee that a worker will be granted a visa.
Which type of licence to apply for
| Licence | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Worker | Skilled Worker (including Health and Care), Senior or Specialist Worker, Minister of Religion and International Sportsperson |
| Temporary Worker | Scale-up, Creative, Charity, Religious, Government Authorised Exchange, International Agreement, Seasonal, and the Global Business Mobility routes for graduate trainees, service suppliers, UK expansion and secondment |
A business can apply for both at once. The choice decides which certificates the employer can assign, and each has its own duties. Applying for the wrong one costs a fee and weeks of waiting.
Who can be licensed
The Home Office will not license a business that has unspent criminal convictions for immigration offences or for crimes such as fraud or money laundering, or that cannot show it has the people and systems to monitor sponsored workers. It also will not grant a licence if:
- your licence was revoked in the last 12 months, or in the last 24 months if it has been revoked more than once;
- you applied unsuccessfully in the last six months, unless the refusal was because a representative sent the application, you missed a deadline for reasons outside your control, or you applied as a Scale-up sponsor without qualifying.
The people you must name
You name an authorising officer, a key contact and at least one level 1 user to run the sponsorship management system. They must be people the Home Office can trust, and the authorising officer must be senior and competent, staying responsible if things go wrong. The documents you send depend on the business: commonly proof of incorporation, PAYE and VAT registration, employer’s liability insurance and recent bank statements. Sworn documents must be witnessed by a qualified, independent person.
Licence fees
| Licence | Small or charitable | Medium or large |
|---|---|---|
| Worker | £611 | £1,682 |
| Temporary Worker | £611 | £611 |
| Worker and Temporary Worker | £611 | £1,682 |
| Add a Worker licence to a Temporary Worker licence | No fee | £1,071 |
| Add a Temporary Worker licence to a Worker licence | No fee | No fee |
You are usually a small sponsor if at least two of these are true: annual turnover of £15 million or less, assets of £7.5 million or less, 50 employees or fewer. Registered, exempt and excepted charities are charitable sponsors. The sponsor must pay the fee itself: asking a sponsored worker to pay it, or any cost linked to the application, can lead to revocation.
How long it takes
Most applications are decided in under eight weeks, and the Home Office may visit the business first. A priority decision within ten working days costs a further £750, and places are limited each day. If you think a refusal was caused by a caseworker’s mistake or by documents not being considered, you can ask for a review, but not simply because you disagree.
Your rating and how long the licence lasts
A successful applicant is given an A-rating, which lets it assign certificates and lists it on the register of licensed sponsors. The licence usually stays valid for as long as you continue to meet the requirements. Licences for Scale-up Workers and UK Expansion Workers are valid for four years and cannot be renewed. An A-rating can be downgraded to a B-rating if duties are not met: see suspension, downgrade and revocation.
Why applications are refused
Most refusals come from the same few causes: the business cannot show it is genuine and trading, the documents do not match what the application says, key personnel have a disqualifying history, or there is no sensible way of keeping the records the licence demands. All can be put right before applying, which is why it is worth having the application checked first.
How we help
We check eligibility and the roles you want to fill, choose the right licence, prepare the application and the evidence, and advise on the duties that follow. See certificates of sponsorship and the cost of sponsoring a worker.
