You’ll be given a licence rating if your application is successful.

You’ll be able to issue certificates of sponsorship if you have jobs that are suitable for sponsorship.

Your licence usually stays valid for as long as you continue to meet the eligibility requirements.

If you have a licence to sponsor Scale-up Workers or UK Expansion Workers, it will be valid for 4 years. You will not be able to apply for another licence to sponsor these types of workers.

You may lose your licence if you do not meet your responsibilities as a sponsor.

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 workers 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.

You can sponsor a worker if the job they’re going to do:

• complies with the UK minimum wage and working time regulations - the worker’s visa may be refused and you may lose your sponsor licence if it does not

• meets the other criteria needed for their visa

JV Legal can advise and guide you on job suitability, if you’re sponsoring:

• a skilled worker

• a health or care worker

• a worker on any type of ‘Global Business Mobility’ visa (senior or specialist worker, graduate trainee, secondment worker, UK expansion worker or service supplier)

• a scale-up worker

• a worker on a government authorised exchange

• a seasonal worker

• a worker on an International Sportsperson visa

• a worker on an international agreement

• a creative worker

• a charity worker

• a minister of religion or religious worker

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 worker.

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 on a temporary basis, 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 which 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 sponsoring a scale-up worker

Your sponsorship responsibilities as a sponsor for a scale-up worker will end 6 months after they get permission to come to or stay in the UK.

After that, a scale-up worker can do any of the following until their visa expires:

• continue working for you without getting a new certificate of sponsorship

• change jobs without getting a new sponsor

You need to appoint people within your business to manage the sponsorship process when you apply for a licence. 

The main tool they’ll use is the sponsorship management system (SMS).

The roles are:

• authorising officer – a senior and competent person responsible for the actions of staff and representatives who use the SMS

• key contact – your main point of contact with UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI)

• level 1 user – responsible for all day-to-day management of your licence using the SMS

These roles can be filled by the same person or different people.

You can also appoint an optional level 2 user once you have your licence. This is an SMS user with more restricted access than a level 1 user, for example they cannot withdraw a certificate of sponsorship.

Most applications are dealt with in less than 8 weeks. UKVI may need to visit your business.

You may be able to pay an extra £500 to get a decision within 10 working days. This service is limited to a small number of applications every working day. Faster decisions are allocated in the order that requests arrive (first come, first served).

You’ll be told how to ask for a faster decision after you apply.

You must assign a certificate of sponsorship to each foreign worker you employ. This is an electronic record, not a physical document. Each certificate has its own number which a worker can use to apply for a visa.

When you assign the certificate to a worker, they must use it to apply for their visa within 3 months. They must not apply for their visa more than 3 months before the start date of the job listed on the certificate.

You might have to pay an additional charge when you assign a certificate of sponsorship to someone applying for a Skilled Worker or Senior or Specialist Worker visa. This is called the ‘immigration skills charge’.

You must pay the immigration skills charge if they’re applying for a visa from:

• outside the UK to work in the UK for 6 months or more

• inside the UK for any length of time