Key Takeaways
- Visa sponsorship is how a UK employer takes legal responsibility for an overseas worker so they can be granted a work visa.
- Employers need to hold a sponsor licence from UK Visas and Immigration before they can sponsor anyone.
- Sponsors assign a Certificate of Sponsorship for each worker, which confirms the role, salary and hours.
- Sponsorship comes with ongoing duties. The employer has to keep records, report certain changes and stay compliant, or risk losing the licence.
- The rules change quite often. Salary, skill and English language requirements have all shifted recently, so you should always check the current position before you rely on a figure.
The word sponsorship can keep coming up if you’ve been offered a job in the UK or been told you need to be sponsored. The same is true if you run a business and you find the perfect candidate who happens to be from overseas.
It can sound official and it little daunting if you’re not entirety sure what it means, but it’s more straightforward than it first appears. That said, the detail matters and the rules have changed a lot recently. In simple terms, sponsorship is the way the UK’s immigration system connects an overseas worker to a UK employer who takes responsibility for them.
This guide explains what visa sponsorship is, how it works for both sides and what the employer signs up to. If you’d rather talk your own situation through, Osbourne Pinner offers a free 30-minute consultation with a business immigration solicitor. You can also read our detailed guide to the sponsor licence requirements for employers.
What does visa sponsorship actually mean?
The UK runs a points-based immigration system. For most work visas, an overseas national can’t just apply on their own. They need a UK employer to sponsor them, which means the employer vouches for them and takes on legal responsibility for the role they’re coming to do.
Sponsorship is really two things working together:
- The employer has to be approved to sponsor workers at all
- Then it has to sponsor the specific person for the specific job
Miss either half and there’s no valid sponsorship.
The sponsor licence
Before an employer can sponsor anyone, it needs a sponsor licence from UK Visas and Immigration. This is permission for the business to bring in overseas workers under routes such as the Skilled Worker visa.
To get one, the business has to show that it’s:
- A genuine organisation
- Operating lawfully
- Offering real roles
- Got the HR systems to meet its sponsor duties
A licence might seem like a one-off box to tick. But once granted, it only stays in place while the employer keeps meeting its obligations. The Home Office can suspend or revoke it if a business falls short. In that sense, the licence is an employer’s most valuable, but also their most losable, immigration asset.
The Certificate of Sponsorship
Holding a licence lets an employer sponsor workers. But each individual worker also needs their own Certificate of Sponsorship, usually shortened to CoS. While this sounds like a paper certificate, it’s actually an electronic record the employer assigns through the Sponsor Management System.
The CoS confirms the key facts of the job::
- The role and its occupation code
- The salary
- The hours
- The employment dates
The worker then uses the reference number from that CoS when they make their visa application. Without a valid CoS, the worker has nothing to apply on.
How does it work step by step?
For a typical Skilled Worker case, the journey looks like this.
- The employer applies to UKVI for a sponsor licence, if it does’t already hold one.
- Once licensed, the employer confirms the role is genuine and meets the skill and salary requirements for the route.
- The employer assigns a Certificate of Sponsorship to the chosen worker.
- The worker applies for their visa, using the CoS reference and meeting the other requirements, including the English language standard.
- Once the visa is granted, the employer carries out a right to work check before the worker starts, and then manages its ongoing sponsor duties.
What are the employer’s ongoing duties?
This is the part businesses sometimes underestimate. Sponsorship is a continuing responsibility. A sponsor has to keep proper records, monitor its sponsored workers and report certain things to the Home Office. That includes a worker not turning up, a change of role or a change in the business itself.
Enforcement has stepped up considerably. The Home Office now cross-checks payroll data and has lowered the threshold for taking action. Getting the ongoing compliance wrong can cost a business its licence, which is why many employers take advice on setting their systems up properly from the start.
The rules keep changing
This is the honest health warning on any sponsorship article. The requirements move frequently. Here’s what’s changed in recent months:
- The English language standard for first-time Skilled Worker applicants rose to level B2
- The way salary compliance is measured shifted to each pay period rather than an annual average
- The skill level for most sponsored roles is now graduate level
- There have also been changes to the fees an employer pays
With that in mind, you should never rely on an old figure you read somewhere. Check the current position on GOV.UK or take advice before you commit. A number that was right last year could well be wrong today.
Is there such a thing as sponsoring yourself?
Sort of, though the name is misleading. What people call a self-sponsorship visa isn’t a separate route. It’s where someone sets up or runs a genuine UK company and that company obtains a sponsor licence, before sponsoring them under the Skilled Worker route.
The business is the sponsor, not the individual. It can work, but it has to be a real trading business meeting all the usual sponsor duties, so it definitely needs careful setting up.
Talk to a business immigration solicitor at Osbourne Pinner
Whether you’re an employer looking to sponsor overseas talent or you need advice on getting a licence in place, our sponsor licence solicitors can help. We are a multi-office firm with solicitors in London (Piccadilly and Canary Wharf), Harrow and Manchester, and our business immigration team advises on licence applications, Certificates of Sponsorship and ongoing compliance. We can also advise on the self-sponsorship route where that fits.
We offer a free 30-minute consultation with a business immigration solicitor, Monday to Friday, with no obligation. It costs nothing to find out where you stand. We do not offer Legal Aid.
Call us on 0203 983 5080, message us on WhatsApp, or email [email protected] to arrange your consultation.
Please note that this article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. We always recommend speaking to a qualified solicitor for advice tailored to your specific circumstances.
