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Sponsor Licence

Sponsor Licence

A sponsor licence grants permission to a UK business to employ foreign workers from outside the UK to work for them.

As part of your sponsor licence application, you will need to demonstrate the following:

  • You are a genuine organisation operating lawfully in the UK;
  • You are capable of carrying out your sponsor duties and evidencing your compliance as set out in the sponsor guidance; and
  • You are honest, dependable, reliable and are not engaging and have not engaged in behaviour or actions that are not conducive to the public good.

When applying for a sponsor licence, UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) requires details of all Key Personnel, who must be British, have no unspent convictions, must not be related to the applicant and must be on the company payroll.

Key personnel includes Authorising officer, key contact and Level 1 and Level 2 Users.

The costs of sponsor licence applications depend on the type of application. Please note the following:

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Temporary Worker Route Worker Sponsor Licence

Temporary Worker Route

  • The application fee is £574, with an additional £55 fee to assign each Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) to a sponsored worker.

Worker Sponsor Licence

Worker Sponsor Licence depends on the size of the organisation. The organisation will be classed as a small sponsor if:

  • Your annual turnover is £10.2 million or less.
  • Your total business assets are worth £5.1 million or less.
  • You have 50 employees or fewer.

Small or charitable sponsors pay £574. For medium or large sponsors, the licence fee is £1,579 The fee for assigning a CoS to a sponsored worker is £525.

The sponsor licence application must be completed online, and all supporting documents must be submitted within five working days of the application. This includes information about the appointed key personnel.

Once Sponsor licence is granted, you are required to comply with the sponsor licence duties. If you fail to comply, your licence can be downgraded, suspended and withdrawn.