Law by Sajj
Employer guide · Updated September 2026

Getting, and keeping, a sponsor licence.

A sponsor licence lets your business hire from the whole world. It also makes you a compliance partner of the Home Office, in a year when revocations have never been higher. Here is both halves of that bargain, honestly.

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Licence fee
£611 / £1,682
Decision
~8 weeks standard
Skills Charge
£480 – £1,320 / yr
Licence expiry
None, duties are forever
01The bargain

A sponsor licence is not a permission so much as a delegation: the Home Office outsources a slice of immigration control to your HR function, and in exchange your business gets access to the global labour market. Everything about the regime makes sense once you see it that way. The duties are the price. The audits test whether you are paying it.

The price went up in 2025 and 2026: the Skills Charge rose 32 per cent, fees rose again in April, the salary threshold sits at £41,700, and a new rule requires that salary in every pay period, no annual averaging. Meanwhile more than a thousand licences a year are being revoked. Sponsorship remains absolutely worth it for businesses that need it, but 2026 is not the year to run it on goodwill and a spreadsheet.

Applying now? Start with my sponsor licence documents checklist and employer eligibility guide. My sponsor licence solicitor service sets out the work, fees and scope.
02The process

Seven stages, from application to audit-ready.

From first eligibility check to the compliance rhythm of a licensed sponsor, this is the full lifecycle. Scroll through to see what happens, when.

  1. Eligibility & evidence

    Weeks 1 – 2

    Any genuine UK organisation can apply, from a plc to a two-person startup, but you must prove you are operating lawfully and can carry sponsor duties. That means specified documents (typically four, from a prescribed list: bank statements, HMRC registration, insurance, premises evidence) and genuine vacancies at the required skill level.

  2. Key personnel appointed

    Weeks 1 – 2

    You nominate an Authorising Officer (a senior, UK-based employee responsible to the Home Office), a Key Contact, and at least one Level 1 User who runs the Sponsorship Management System day to day. Choose carefully: their conduct and even their personal history are part of your application's credibility.

  3. Application & fee

    Week 2 – 3

    The online application, supporting documents within five working days, and the fee: £611 for small sponsors, £1,682 for medium and large, at the rates set in April 2026. Standard processing runs around eight weeks; a paid priority service exists when timing is critical.

  4. Scrutiny, and possibly a visit

    Weeks 3 – 10

    The Home Office checks your documents, your online footprint and your key personnel, and may make a pre-licence compliance visit, announced or not. They are testing one question: if we give this organisation a licence, will it keep proper records, report on time and employ sponsored workers genuinely?

  5. Licence granted, first CoS assigned

    From grant

    A granted licence is rated and listed on the public register, and you can request and assign Certificates of Sponsorship at £525 each. Roles from abroad need defined CoS, requested case by case; in-country switches use your annual allocation. The Immigration Skills Charge, £480 or £1,320 per worker per year, lands at assignment.

  6. Ongoing duties, every week

    The life of the licence

    Record-keeping to Appendix D (right-to-work checks, contact details, attendance), reporting events within 10 working days (non-starters, absences, role or salary changes), and since April 2026 paying the required salary in every single pay period. New for 2026: you must proactively tell sponsored workers about their UK employment rights, and keep auditable proof that you did.

  7. Audits, and staying licensed

    Ongoing

    Licences no longer expire, which means the relationship with the Home Office is permanent, and so is the scrutiny. Compliance visits can happen at any time without a warrant. Revocations ran at record levels through 2025, increasingly without the courtesy of a suspension first. Audit-readiness is not a project; it is a filing habit.

03Frequently asked

Five questions employers ask most.

01How long does a sponsor licence application take?

Standard processing is around eight weeks from submission, plus your preparation time. A priority service is available for an additional fee when capacity allows. Budget realistically for three months from deciding to apply to assigning your first Certificate of Sponsorship.

02Can a small company or startup get a sponsor licence?

Yes, there is no minimum size, and I have obtained licences for very small businesses. What matters is genuine trading, a genuine vacancy at the required skill level, the ability to pay the required salary in every pay period, and systems capable of meeting the duties. Small sponsors also pay reduced fees: £611 for the licence and £480 per year per worker for the Skills Charge.

03What does sponsoring one worker actually cost the business?

For a medium or large sponsor hiring on a three-year visa: CoS £525, Immigration Skills Charge £3,960 (three years at £1,320), plus the licence fee amortised across your hires. Roughly £4,500 to £5,000 per worker in Home Office costs alone, and the Skills Charge cannot lawfully be recouped from the worker.

04What gets sponsor licences revoked?

The recurring themes: right-to-work failures, unreported changes, salaries drifting below the required level (now tested pay period by pay period), roles that do not match the CoS duties, and key personnel who have left without replacement. In the current enforcement climate the Home Office increasingly moves straight to revocation, which curtails every sponsored worker's visa. Most revocations I see were preventable with an internal audit.

05Do we need an immigration lawyer to hold a licence?

No, and plenty of sponsors manage well in-house. Where advice earns its keep is at the pressure points: the initial application, structural changes like mergers or name changes that must be reported, a compliance visit on the horizon, or a suspension letter, where the response window is short and the stakes are the whole sponsored workforce.

04Get in touch

Before you apply, or before they visit.

New application, mock audit, suspension response, or a workforce plan that depends on sponsorship. Tell me where you are and I'll come back within one working day with a fixed-fee proposal.

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