Apply for a Sponsor Licence In 2025 | UK Employer Sponsorship Guide

Learn how to apply for a UK Sponsor Licence, required documents, eligibility rules, and step-by-step guidance to hire skilled workers legally.

Applying for a UK sponsor licence is the first essential step for any business planning to hire overseas workers. Whether you want to recruit skilled employees, temporary workers, or global mobility staff, the Home Office requires employers to be licensed sponsors before assigning a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS).

For best UK visa and immigration advice in Manchester & London, speak to our experienced immigration solicitors. We offer expert help with visa applications, extensions, refusals, appeals, judicial reviews, ILR, and British nationality matters. Call 01614644140 or email info@deluxelawchambers.co.uk to book your consultation

Read some of our sponsor licence success stories here. As experts in applying for a sponsor licence, we understand that securing a sponsor licence is a vital step for businesses and organisations looking to bring in skilled workers from overseas.

Table of Contents

Sponsor Licence Application

You apply for your licence by completing the online application form and submitting the supporting documents specified in Appendix A to the sponsor guidance. You must pay a fee for your application. The amount you pay depends on the type of licence you are applying for, the size of your organisation, or whether you have charitable status. For further information on the application process, see section L6 of this guidance.

If you require advice or help with a sponsor licence application, please contact +441614644140 or email us at info@deluxelawchambers.co.uk for fast, professional, and affordable immigration advice from our highly experienced sponsorship lawyers. You can book an appointment online for a detailed immigration consultation.

Key Requirements for Getting a Sponsor Licence

To be approved, your organisation must satisfy the Home Office that you are:

1. A Genuine, Legally Operating Organisation

You must prove lawful UK operation through required documents (listed in Appendix A of the guidance).

2. Honest, Reliable, and Compliant

The Home Office checks your background, compliance history, key personnel, and HR systems.
Any history of illegal working, tax evasion, or immigration violations may lead to refusal.

3. Capable of Managing Sponsorship Duties

Your HR and recruitment systems must meet Home Office requirements for:

• Monitoring employee attendance
• Tracking work location
• Keeping documents
• Reporting changes via the Sponsorship Management System (SMS)

4. Offering a Genuine Job

You must provide a genuine vacancy that meets:

• Skill level criteria
• Salary thresholds
• Route-specific requirements

Key Personnel: Roles You Must Appoint

Every sponsor licence application requires naming three mandatory roles:

1. Authorising Officer

• Senior person responsible for overall compliance
• Must be an employee or office holder
• Must be based in the UK (except for UK Expansion Worker route)

2. Key Contact

• Main point of contact for the Home Office
• Can be an internal staff member or UK-based legal representative

3. Level 1 User

• Manages daily sponsorship duties in the SMS
• Must be a settled worker and part of your organisation (with some exceptions)

How to Apply for a UK Sponsor Licence (Step-by-Step)

Here is the guide to apply for a sponsor licence

Step 1: Read the Guidance & Select the Routes

Choose the Worker or Temporary Worker routes based on your hiring needs.

Step 2: Prepare Your Key Personnel

Ensure your:

• Authorising Officer
• Key Contact
• Level 1 User

meet all eligibility and suitability requirements.

Step 3: Gather Mandatory Supporting Documents

You must provide these within 5 working days after submitting your online application.

Step 4: Complete the Online Application

You will need to:

• Provide company details
• Choose sponsorship routes
• Pay the licence fee (based on company size/charity status)

Step 5: Undergo Home Office Checks

The Home Office may:

• Review your HR systems
• Conduct a compliance visit
• Request additional documentation

Step 6: Receive a Decision

Your application will result in:

• A-rating approval
• Provisional rating (UK Expansion Worker route only)
• Refusal
• Invalid rejection (missing documents or incorrect fee)

If approved, your business will appear on the Home Office Register of Licensed Sponsors.

Eligibility to apply for a sponsor licence

To be eligible for a sponsor licence, a business must meet certain criteria, including proving that the role they intend to fill is genuine and skilled, maintaining appropriate human resources practices, and demonstrating the ability to comply with immigration laws.

To get a licence as an employer, you cannot have:

• unspent criminal convictions for immigration offences or certain other crimes, such as fraud or money laundering
• had a sponsor licence revoked in the last 12 months

You’ll need appropriate systems in place to monitor sponsored employees and people to manage sponsorship in your business.

UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) will review your application form and supporting documents. They may visit your business to make sure you’re trustworthy and capable of carrying out your duties.

Sponsor Licence Duties After Approval

Once licensed, sponsors must comply with strict ongoing requirements:

You must:

• Keep accurate employee records
• Report changes within deadlines
• Maintain proper HR procedures
• Assign CoS only for genuine roles
• Cooperate with compliance checks

Failure to comply may result in:

• Licence downgrading
• Suspension
• Revocation
• Civil penalties
• Criminal prosecution for serious breaches

Is Getting a Sponsor Licence Difficult?

Getting a sponsor licence is an important step for a UK business towards success, which helps the business to find international talent. Our immigration lawyers have dealt with many businesses to obtain sponsor licence for them.

Process of Applying for a Sponsor Licence

To apply for a sponsor licence, you must follow the following steps:

• Gather documents – you must have the required documents for a sponsor licence before you submit the online application.
• Prepare online application – once you have all the documents, prepare the online application form.
• Submit online application – you can submit the drafted sponsor licence application form to the Home Office, UKVI.
• Submit documents – after the online application is submitted and fee is paid, you will need to email the documents to the Home Office.

Types of Sponsor Licences

The licence you need depends on whether the workers you want to fill your jobs are:

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

You can apply for a licence covering one or both types of workers.

Worker licence

A ‘Worker’ licence will let you sponsor people in different types of skilled employment. The skilled work can be for a short time, long-term or permanent depending on the worker’s visa.

The licence is split into:

• Skilled Worker – the role must meet the job suitability requirements
• Senior or Specialist Worker visa (Global Business Mobility) – for multinational companies which need to transfer established employees to the UK, previously the Intra-company Transfer visa
• Minister of Religion – for people coming to work for a religious organisation
• International Sportsperson – for elite sportspeople and coaches who will be based in the UK

Temporary Worker licence

A ‘Temporary Worker’ licence will let you sponsor people temporarily, including for volunteering and job shadowing. You can only get a Temporary Worker licence for specific types of employment and visas.

The licence is split into:

• Scale-up Worker – for people coming to work for a fast-growing UK business
• Creative Worker – to work in the creative industry, for example as an entertainer or artist (up to 2 years)
• Charity Worker – for unpaid workers at a charity (up to 1 year)
• Religious Worker – for those working in a religious order or organisation (2 years)
• Government Authorised Exchange – work experience (1 year), research projects or training, for example, practical medical or scientific training (2 years) to enable a short-term exchange of knowledge
• International Agreement – where the worker is coming to do a job that is covered by international law, for example, employees of overseas governments
• Graduate Trainee (Global Business Mobility) – for workers transferring to their employer’s UK branch as part of a graduate training programme
• Service Supplier (Global Business Mobility) – for workers with a contract to provide services for a UK company (6 or 12 months)
• UK Expansion Worker (Global Business Mobility) – for workers sent to the UK to set up a new branch or subsidiary of an overseas business
• Secondment Worker (Global Business Mobility) – for workers transferring from overseas to work for a different UK business as part of a high-value contract
• Seasonal Worker – allows people to come to the UK and work in horticulture (for example, picking fruit and vegetables) for up to 6 months, or poultry from 18 October to 31 December each year

If you’re currently sponsoring pork butchery workers who are on a Seasonal Worker visa, you can continue. New applications for pork butchery workers are closed and will not reopen.

Robust system for a sponsor licence application

Sponsors must undertake robust and comprehensive monitoring of all sponsored workers in their workplace, including ensuring that:

• their work environment is safe and complies with relevant Health and Safety
  requirements
• they are treated fairly by their employer
• they will receive a salary that equals or exceeds as per the soc codes
• they are allowed time off, and proper breaks
• they are provided with appropriate equipment to do their job safely
• they are housed in hygienic and safe accommodation
• they are not transported in unsafe vehicles
• they are not threatened with, or subjected to violence
• their passport is not withheld from them
• procedures are in place to enable workers to report any concerns to the
  sponsor, and to enable them to move to another employer where possible

Our team can help you set up a compliance system that helps you to get a sponsor licence.

Common Reasons Sponsor Licence Applications Are Refused

Avoid these common mistakes to prevent a 6–24 month cooling-off period:

• Ineligible key personnel
• Missing or incorrect supporting documents
• Poor HR systems
• Unspent criminal convictions
• Previous immigration breaches
• Insufficient evidence of genuine vacancy
• Using a sponsor licence for personal rather than business purposes

Licence fees

You need to pay a fee when you apply. The fee depends on the type of licence you’re applying for and what type of organisation you are.

How to tell if you’re a small or charitable sponsor

You’re usually a small sponsor if at least 2 of the following apply:

• your annual turnover is £15 million or less
• your total assets are worth £7.5 million or less
• you have 50 employees or fewer

Priority Service For Sponsor Licence Applications

The Priority Service for Sponsor Licence applications offers a faster decision-making process for businesses seeking to sponsor migrant workers. Instead of the standard 8-week processing time, the Home Office UKVI processes applications within 10 working days under this service.

When does the sponsor licence expire?

If you are granted a sponsor licence, it will be valid indefinitely, unless the UKVI revoke it or you surrender it before then. The only exceptions to this are if you are licensed on either the UK Expansion Worker route or the Scale-up route – you can only be licensed on these routes for a maximum of 4 years. We reserve the right to take action against you if we have reason to believe you pose any risk to immigration control or that you are acting, or have acted, in a way that is not conducive to the public good.

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