Sponsor Licence Application: Guide for Employers

A certificate of sponsorship (CoS) is a legal, digital document issued by UK sponsor licence holders to foreign workers that allows them to apply for a UK visa. It confirms they are sponsored by a UK employer and have a genuine job offer in the UK as part of their visa application.

All businesses or organisations that want to hire workers from outside the UK, whether temporarily or long-term, will need to apply for a sponsor licence. This includes private businesses of all sizes, public sector organisations, companies with charitable status, and educational institutions.

A non-UK citizen who requires permission to work in the UK, or who is already resident in Britain but wants to change employment, will need a sponsor. This includes temporary workers, voluntary workers, and, as per Brexit rules, those from the EU and Swiss nationals who arrived in the UK after 31 December 2020. Any business looking to hire such workers will need a valid sponsor licence.

For example, if you’re looking to hire temporary workers for a summer period, and they are eligible to work in the UK via the Global Business Mobility Senior visa route, you will need a temporary worker sponsor licence to be able to do this legally. Or, if you’re a company with charitable status that wants to sponsor non-UK nationals to complete voluntary work, you will also need a valid sponsor licence.

Operating a business and employing migrant workers without a sponsor licence in the UK leads to severe consequences, such as criminal prosecution and substantial financial penalties. Fines can be up to £45,000 per illegal worker and can be doubled or even tripled for repeat offenders. Businesses can also incur further legal costs on top of this. Operating without a sponsor licence would generally have a profound effect on business profit and operations, and significantly damage your company’s reputation within the UK and beyond.

There are different types of sponsor licences, each designed to meet specific business needs. For example, if you only want to employ foreign workers temporarily, you should apply for the Temporary Worker licence. If you want to sponsor employees long-term, you should apply for a Worker Sponsor license. If you wish to sponsor both long-term and temporary workers, you can apply for a license that covers both.

If you’re an educational institution, looking to sponsor students only, you should apply for a Student Sponsor licence, or if you want to sponsor all three types of workers (long-term, temporary and students), you can apply for a sponsor licence that covers all three.

The governing body responsible for the legal framework surrounding sponsorship licenses is known as UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI). It sets out the requirements and duties of all licensed sponsors. To be successful in a sponsor licence application, your business and the key personnel within your company responsible for sponsorship management must meet specific requirements.

Your business must:

• Be a genuine and legitimate business operating and trading within the UK.
• Have a genuine need for sponsored foreign workers.
• Have the capacity to fulfil sponsorship duties and be willing to cooperate with the UK Home Office (this includes allowing visits to the business premises).
• Prove it is financially stable enough to take on foreign workers.
• Offer genuine job roles eligible for sponsorship with salaries that meet the minimum pay requirements.
• Prove that there are sufficient HR procedures in place for record keeping.
• Be able to submit supporting documents as part of the sponsor licence application process.
• Not had a sponsor licence revoked in the past 12 months.

Key personnel or anyone involved in sponsorship management must:

• Not have any unspent criminal convictions for crimes relating to things like immigration offences, fraud or money laundering.
• Not have had a sponsor licence revoked in the past 12 months.
• Be able to provide any requested relevant information and supporting documents to prove their eligibility.

All sponsor licence applicants must submit supporting documents to prove their eligibility as part of their application. The documents needed can vary depending on the type and nature of the business; however, generally, the required documents as mandatory include:

• Business Registration Documents – to prove you are operating a viable business that is registered with the relevant authorities within the UK.
• Financial Information – documents such as bank statements, audited accounts, and evidence of VAT registration to prove the financial stability of your business.
• Employer’s Liability Insurance Certificate.
• PAYE and Accounts Office Reference Number – proof that your business is registered with HMRC.
• Business Premises – documents that prove the ownership or lease of your business premises.
• Sponsorship Management – you must provide details of the key personnel within your company who are responsible for sponsorship.
• Genuine Vacancy – you must provide detailed proof of the job roles you are offering, including a job description and salary information.
• Cover Letter – you will need to detail your reason for applying for a sponsor licence, the nature of your business or industry, and your weekday opening and operating hours.
• A hierarchy chart – this should detail all owners, directors and board members.
• Names and Job Title List – if you have 50 or fewer employees, you should send a list with the details of each worker within your company.
• Contact Details – you must supply a contact telephone number and list the details of everyone who has access to the email address associated with the application.

It is worth noting that it is wise to ensure you have all relevant documents ready to submit before you apply for your sponsor licence. There is a specified timeframe in which you will need to submit your documents (usually 5 working days), and therefore, it is useful to be prepared beforehand.

It is also highly important to ensure your documents are valid and accurate. A decision on a sponsor licence application relies heavily on the supporting documents that you submit, so you want them to be correct and complete to secure your best chance of success.

You can submit additional documents if you think it may help strengthen your application. The Home Office will consider any extra supporting evidence in accordance with the rules. Examples of additional documents include:

• Health and Safety certificates (if appropriate for your business).
• Details of any pension schemes offered by the business.
• Fire risk assessment documents.
• Planning permission documents (if relevant to your organisation and application).

You must apply online for a sponsor licence via the UK government’s website. The application takes around 20 to 30 minutes to complete, and you will need a credit or debit card to pay the application fee.

On completion, you will receive a submission sheet. You will need to complete this and send it, along with your supporting documents if requested, to the given email address. You can scan or take photographs of your documents, but they will need to be of a high enough quality that they can be read easily. You will need to make sure your files are:

• in PDF, JPEG, or PNG format

and:

• have descriptive titles, with 25 or fewer characters.

All of your submitted supporting documents must be written in English or Welsh. If your supporting documents are in any other language, you must supply a certified translation at your own cost. It is also important to note that any affidavits or statutory declarations must be witnessed by an independent and qualified body such as a adviser.

You should ensure that you fill out the application correctly and that all aspects, including the submission sheet and all of your supporting documents, are error-free. Mistakes can result in your sponsor licence application being refused, which can be costly and massively time-consuming.

You should receive a decision on your sponsor licence application within 8 weeks; however, some applications can take longer depending on your circumstances. UKVI may decide they need to visit your business premises beforehand to see that everything is above board and as it should be.

If you need or want a quicker decision, you may be able to pay a fast-track fee of £500 to get a decision within 10 working days. However, this service is limited to a small number of applications per day and is operated on a first-come, first-served basis. You will be given information on how to apply for a faster decision at the end of your online application.

The fee for your sponsorship licence application will vary depending on what licence you are applying for. Please see the figures listed below:

A sponsor licence is valid between 4 and 10 years, depending on the chosen route. In previous years, all sponsor licenses needed to be renewed after 4 years; however, in April 2024, the renewal date for most licenses changed to 10 years and were set to renew automatically, removing the need for sponsors to manually renew them. Only UK Expansion Worker routes and Scale-Up routes continue to need a sponsor licence renewal after 4 years.

There are different aspects to a sponsorship management role, and all key personnel responsible for management need to be aware of their duties. For example, they should:

• Build and maintain relationships with existing and potential sponsors.
• Negotiate agreements between all parties involved in sponsorship and manage sponsor expectations.
• Manage the logistics, reporting and evaluation of sponsorship within the company.
• Use the sponsorship management system correctly.
• Meet all legal obligations and ensure all parties are aware of their responsibilities regarding sponsorship.
• Develop sponsorship strategies to keep sponsorship in line with business goals.
• Create sponsorship packages to attract different types of sponsored workers.
• Create objectives surrounding sponsorship and track the progress of these.
• Train and educate foreign workers about sponsorship to maximise their engagement with and impact on the business.

If your sponsor licence application is refused, your next steps or options will depend on the reasons for refusal. There is no right to appeal a sponsorship licence refusal, but you can ask for a review if you think the case worker dealing with your application has made a mistake. You may be able to reapply straight away, or you may be subject to a 6-month cooling-off period depending on your circumstances.