Sponsor License

For a Skilled Worker sponsor licence, the organisation typically enlists at least one candidate and role they would like to make their initial nomination for.

The employee’s salary should equal or exceed £41,700, and if their occupation code on the SOC 2020 list above has a higher minimum salary than this, it must also exceed that amount both on a yearly and hourly basis.

The above list on the Suitability Requirements section lists the types of Skilled Workers an organisation is allowed to employ prior to their application.

New overseas recruitment for adult social care roles is closed from July 2025. Existing sponsored workers may still switch or extend under transitional rules until 2028. Other healthcare roles (e.g. laboratory technicians, biomedical scientists) remain eligible.

Health and Care jobs now bear a minimum salary of £31,300 per year, while several related occupations have different salary requirements, these are:

1171: health services and public health managers and directors

1231: health care practice managers

1232: residential, day and domiciliary care managers and proprietors

2113: biochemists and biomedical scientists

2114: physical scientists

3111: laboratory technicians

3211: dispensing opticians

3212: pharmaceutical technicians

6135: care workers and home carers

6136: senior care workers

As there have been comprehensive changes to occupations related to health and social care over Summer 2025, contact us for specifics on your salary and occupational requirements.

Previously named Intra-company Transfer visa and Tier 2 (Intra-company Transfer) Long-term Staff visa, the Senior and Specialist Worker visa now requires a minimum salary of £52,500, and if the eligible occupation of the employee requires a higher minimum, it must match that amount instead.

If you have been in the UK since 6 April 2011 on any of the following visas, you do not have to meet a salary requirement:

• Tier 2 (Intra-company Transfer) Long-term Staff visa
• Intra-company Transfer visa
• Senior or Specialist Worker visa (Global Business Mobility)

For this temporary worker route, you need to be sponsored by:

• An organisation running an approved exchange scheme
• A higher education institution (if you are a sponsored researcher, visiting academic or examiner)
• A government department or agency

The visa temporarily allows the holder to:

• Be in the UK for work experience, training, an Overseas Government Language Programme, research or a fellowship through an approved government authorised exchange scheme (see the list here)
• Work depending on the sponsorship and minimum salary requirement per Skilled Worker visa rules, or work at a second job for maximum 20 hours per week
• Bring partners or dependents if eligible

Before applying to a Seasonal Worker sponsor licence, you must submit and pass a ‘request for information’ request from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Once this is successful, your business will be invited to apply for a sponsor licence.

Your organisation must be an overarching body, and you are not allowed to directly employ the workers you sponsor. You must also pay at least the minimum wage while following the UK’s rules on how many hours their Seasonal Workers are allowed to work.

Current rates as of April 2025 are: £12.21 for aged 21 and over, £10 for aged 18 to 20 and £7.55 for aged under 18 and apprentices.

Contact Us for further information on Seasonal Worker sponsor licences.

Similar to Seasonal Worker, organisations wanting to sponsor International Sportspersons must first receive an endorsement from a Sports Governing Body, and its list can be accessed here.

When applying, your organisation must be structured as a sporting body, sports club, events organiser or other organiser operating, or intending to operate, in the sporting sector. You cannot apply as an overseas-based sports club, organisation, or agent.

The workers’ minimum salary must meet at least the level of one of the SOC 2020 Codes 3431 (Sports players) or 3432 (Sports coaches, instructors and officials).

Applying for this licence requires your organisation to be either a:

• Country or territory’s diplomatic mission or consular post recognised by the UK
• Recognised international organisation established by an international treaty signed by the UK, listed on the exempt organisations list.

According to UKVI Guidance, your application will include any acknowledgements the UK Government seeks from your Head of Mission or Organisation, and a limited waiver for inviolability and immunity to enter your residence or premises to undertake compliance activity during the time your sponsor licence application is being considered or at a time after its grant.

Organisations seeking to be granted a Creative Worker sponsor licence must be a part of the creative sector. They will either already be operating or intending to operate as one of the organisation types below:

• A national arts body
• An events organiser
• A producer
• A venue
• An agent
• A promoter or promotion company
• A production company
• A media organisation

With this licence, they are able to employ or assign certificates of sponsorship to occupations in the following main areas:

• Ballet
• Dancers in dance forms other than ballet
• Performers in film, television, opera, and theatre productions
• Workers in film and television productions
• Fashion industry models

As there are varying arrangements on how you may employ workers in this sector, as well as caveats on certain artistic practices, please contact us for specific guidance on your organisation and its structure.

To obtain this sponsor licence, an organisation must follow one of the three relevant charity legislation depending on the part of the UK they are operating from:

• For England and Wales, the Charities Act 2011
• For Scotland, the Charities and Trustee Investment Act 2005
• For Northern Ireland, the Charities Act 2008

In line with the applicable legislation above, they must either be:

• A registered, excepted or exempt UK-based charity,
• Or an ecclesiastical corporation (sole or body corporate), that has been established for charitable purposes

An organisation seeking to obtain a Minister of Religion or Religious Worker sponsor licence, they must firstly be a genuine organisation with no intention to deceive.

Furthermore, they need to meet the following specific requirements:

• Having charitable status. To prove the organisation’s charitable status, see the previous section on the Charity Worker sponsor licence to see which legislation the organisation should follow.
• The organisation should be a guiding structure for a faith-based community with a common system of belief and spiritual goals, codes of behaviour and religious practice, which exists to support and/or propagate common beliefs and practices and where beliefs:
  • Include any religious belief or similar philosophical belief in something transcendental, metaphysical or ultimate
  • Exclude any philosophical or political belief concerned with man, unless that belief is similar to religious belief
• Not discriminatory against anyone in their community depending on a person’s gender, nationality or ethnicity
• Is documented to receive financial and material support for the core religious ministry from the linked congregation or community on a voluntary basis, without promise or coercion
• Follows and does not encourage others to breach UK rules and regulations
• Do not work against the public’s interest or have an adverse effect on personal and family life defined by UK laws

1.Monitoring Employees

• You must have HR systems in place which let you monitor;
  • Employees immigration status
  • Keep copies of relevant documents for each employee, such as passport and right to work information
  • Track and record employees attendance
  • Update employee contact details
  • Report to UKVI if any issues arise, such as if your employee stops coming to work.

2. Reporting duties

• If there are any significant changes regarding a sponsored worker that this is promptly reported on your sponsorship management system.
  • Changes you must report within 10 days:
    • If a sponsored worker does not start their intended role for sponsorship, you must include in your report any reasons given for their non-attendance.
    • If the sponsored worker is absent for more than 10 consecutive days, you must report this 10 days from the 10th day.
    • If the sponsored workers contract ends earlier than intended.
    • If you stop sponsoring a worker for any reason.
    • If there are any significant changes in the sponsored workers employment, such as a promotion or change in job title.
    • If a sponsored worker’s employment is affected by TUPE or similar protection.
    • If a worker’s sponsor changes but they will remain working for the same employer and in the same employment
    • If the size or charitable status of your business changes.

3. Changes you must report within 20 days:

• Change of you companies name or the name of any of your branches.
  • Sell all or part of your business.
  • Are involved in a merger or are taken over.
  • Stop trading or go into an insolvency procedure.
  • Substantially change the nature of your business
  • Convicted of a relevant offence.