Sponsoring Work Visa UK: Guide for Employers

To be eligible for a sponsorship licence, your business must have a UK presence and be trading lawfully. If you have multiple branches or locations in the UK, you can apply for one licence to cover all your linked entities. If not, you might apply for separate licences for each branch depending on your circumstances.

The UKVI will check for any unspent criminal convictions and could refuse your application if you have committed an offence of dishonesty, such as fraud or money laundering, or if you had a sponsor licence revoked in the last 12 months.

The UKVI may also visit your business to check if it meets the requirements and that you have the capability of carrying out your duties.

You usually need to provide 4 documents (or 4 combinations of documents), unless you are one of the following:

• public body recognised by the UK Government, such as a local authority
• a company listed on the London Stock Exchange Main Market

To get a sponsor licence, you will need to provide the following documents:

• evidence that you have a current, UK-registered corporate bank account
• a certificate of VAT registration
• proof of ownership or lease of business premises, or a rent agreement
• Latest audited or unaudited accounts

You can send your submission sheet and supporting documents by either scanning or taking pictures of them and sending them via email to the address listed on the submission sheet. If you are unable to scan and send documents by email, contact UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) using the contact details provided on the submission sheet.

Note that you will need to provide different types of documents depending on the type of sponsorship licence you are applying for. Our team can help you figure out exactly what documents you will need and provide a checklist suited to your needs. Call us at 0333 305 9375 for immediate assistance and help with your situation.

The licence you need depends on whether the workers you want to hire are:

• ‘Workers’ – for skilled or long-term employment
• ‘Temporary workers’ – for specific types of temporary employment

You can apply for either a licence covering one type of worker or a combined licence covering both types.

1. Worker Licence

A ‘Worker’ visa will allow you to sponsor people for skilled employment. The type of work can be short-term, long-term or permanent depending on the worker’s visa.

The licence is made up of:

• Skilled Worker
• Senior or Specialist Worker visa (Global Business Mobility)
• Minister of Religion
• International Sportsperson

2. Temporary Worker Licence

If you want to sponsor someone temporarily, you can apply for a Temporary Worker licence. This will let you sponsor people including for volunteering and job-shadowing. You can only get a Temporary Worker licence for specific types of employment, and visas.

The licence is made up of:

• Scale-up Worker
• Creative Worker
• Charity Worker
• Religious Worker
• Seasonal Worker
• Secondment Worker
• Government Authorised Exchange
• Graduate Trainee
• UK Expansion Worker

Certificates of sponsorship (CoS) are certificates issued to employees by the employers who want to hire foreign workers.

The certificates are electronic records and allow employers to sponsor the migrants, who can then apply for visas and work permits. The certificates are obtained through an online application process and must be used for the skilled worker visas within the 3 months of their issuance date.

When you assign a certificate of sponsorship to a foreign worker, you will need to pay a fee of £199 for workers and £21 for temporary workers. The fee is £199 for an international sportsperson assigned to your organisation for more than 12 months, and £21 for 12 months or less.

If you assign a certificate of sponsorship to someone applying for a Skilled Worker or Senior or Specialist Worker visa, you might have to pay an additional charge. This is called the ‘immigration skills charge’. If the worker is applying for a visa to work in the UK for 6 months or more, or inside the UK for any length of time, you may have to pay this.

Defined CoS

The UK Home Office offers Defined Certificates of Sponsorship to people applying for a Skilled Worker Visa from outside the UK.

You need to get a defined certificate for these workers through the sponsorship management system (SMS). When you get your sponsor licence, you’ll have access to the SMS.

Your application will usually be approved within one working day. If UKVI needs to carry out extra checks on your application, it may take longer to approve it. Once your application has been approved, defined certificates will appear in your SMS account and can then be assigned to a worker.

Undefined CoS

Skilled Workers applying from within the UK, as well as applicants on all other visas, are eligible for undefined CoS.

When you apply for a licence, you’ll be asked to estimate the number of undefined certificates you’ll need in your first year.

If you do not have an A-rating on your licence, you may only request one certificate of sponsorship at a time. Once you receive an A-rating on your licence, you can then request up to 4 additional CoS using the SMS.

To get a sponsor licence for your organisation, you need to:

• Check if your business is eligible
• Select the type of licence you need
• Decide who will be in charge of sponsorship
• Fill out and submit the online application form for the sponsor licence
• Pay the fee online
• Send the supporting documents to UKVI

The UKVI usually processes most applications within less than 8 weeks. However, you can pay an extra £500 to get a decision within 10 working days. This service is limited to only a few applications each day and the acceptance is based on a first-come, first-served basis.

After you apply for a Sponsor Licence and your application is approved, you will be given a licence rating. This will allow you to issue Certificates of Sponsorship if you have jobs that can be sponsored.

The licence is valid for four years and if you fail to meet your responsibilities as a sponsor, you may lose your licence.

If your application is refused, you can apply for a review if you think the caseworker made a mistake or if supporting documents were not considered. Note that you cannot simply reapply because you disagree with the decision.

You can renew your sponsor licence within 90 days of the expiry date printed on your current sponsor licence. You can apply for the licence renewal using your sponsor management system (SMS) account and logging in as a Level 1 user.

The UKVI will also send you a letter 120 days before the expiry date of your licence to remind you that it is time to renew it. The fee to renew your licence is the same as the fee required to apply for a licence for the first time.

If you fail to renew your licence in time, and you still wish to sponsor workers, you will have to apply for a new licence. In the meantime, your existing sponsored workers’ permission will be cancelled.

Employers have several responsibilities in order to sponsor a foreign worker. The following are some of the responsibilities of an employer who is sponsoring workers from outside the UK:

• Check that your foreign workers have the necessary skills, qualifications or professional accreditations
• Assign the CoS to workers only when they are eligible for sponsorship
• Inform UKVI if sponsored workers do not comply with their visa conditions or if they stop coming to work
• Keep copies of relevant documents, and make a record of when you made the check
• Keep track of your employees’ immigration statuses
• Keep the contact details of the workers

If your circumstances change, for example, your address or role, your business stops trading or becomes insolvent, or you are involved in a merger or takeover, you must inform the UKVI within 20 working days.

If you don’t fulfil these responsibilities, your licence can be downgraded, suspended or withdrawn.