SPONSOR LICENSE (TIER 2)

If you have a business based in the UK, and need to hire a person from outside the UK or someone who requires Skilled Worker Visa, then you must obtain a Sponsorship License.
Before you can hire a selected individual for the job, your company needs to receive the necessary authorisation from the Home Office.

Overview

You’ll usually need a sponsor licence to employ someone to work for you from outside the UK.
This includes citizens of the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland who arrived in the UK after 31 December 2020.
This includes unpaid work, like running a charity.
You will not need a licence to sponsor certain groups, for example:

Irish citizens
those with settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme
those with indefinite leave to remain in the UK Read more about who does not need sponsorship.

Sponsoring someone does not guarantee that they’ll get a visa to work for you in the UK.

How to get a sponsor licence

Check your business is eligible.
Check if your job is suitable for sponsorship.
Choose the type of licence you want to apply for – this will depend on what type of worker you want to sponsor.
Decide who will manage sponsorship within your business.
Apply online and pay the fee.

UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) may visit your business to check it’s suitable.

After you apply

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 will be valid for 4 years. You may lose your licence if you do not meet your responsibilities as a sponsor.You must send your biometric residence permit (BRP) back to the Home Office within 5 working days of getting your certificate of British citizenship.

Cut your BRP into 4 pieces and put it in a windowless envelope.

Include a note saying you’re returning your permit because you’ve become a citizen. Include your name, date of birth and the document number (found on the front of the card) in the note.

Naturalisation BRP Returns
PO Box 195
Bristol
BS20 1BT

You’ll be fined up to £1,000 if you do not return your permit within 5 working days.

Travelling to and from the UK

Once you have a British passport you must use this to enter the UK.

If you do not want a British passport you can apply for a certificate of entitlement instead.

You cannot enter the UK using your BRP or certificate of British citizenship.

Eligibility

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 employees 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.

Job Suitability

You can sponsor a worker if the job they’re going to do has a suitable rate of pay and skill level, or meets the other criteria needed for their visa.

Read more about 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

Additional requirements for religious workers

You’ll usually have to advertise any job you offer to someone with a Religious Worker visa, unless it’s a non-essential position or involves living within a religious order (such as a monk or nun).

You must keep records of when you do not have to advertise the job. You need to prove that there is not a suitable person to take the role, who does not require sponsorship.

There are rules you must follow about how to advertise jobs for religious workers.

Additional requirements for creative workers

Creative jobs done by someone on a Creative Worker visa include:

ballet dancers and other dancers
film and TV performers
theatre and opera performers
film and TV workers
models

For creative jobs, you must make sure that either:

you comply with the creative workers code of practice (if it exists for that occupation)
the job is on the shortage occupations list

If the job is not on the shortage occupation list, and there is no code of practice, you need to check that the job cannot be done by a worker who does not need sponsoring.

If you are sponsoring a creative worker under 16

You may need to get a child performance licence if the worker is taking part in:

films, plays, concerts or other public performances that the audience pays to see, or that take place on licensed premises
paid modelling assignments

You must make sure that the person running the event applies at least 21 days before the event.

Additional requirements for workers on an International Sportsperson visa

For sporting jobs that will be done by someone on the International Sportsperson visa, you must get an endorsement letter from the relevant governing body.

Sponsoring under-18s

You can only sponsor a foreign worker under 18 on:

an International Sportsperson visa – they must be 16 or over
a Creative Worker visa – there’s no minimum age
a Government Authorised Exchange visa – there’s no minimum age

You cannot sponsor a foreign worker under 18 on any other visa.

Types of licence

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 currently sponsoring pork butchery workers who are on the Seasonal Worker visa, you can continue. New applications for pork butchery workers are closed and will not reopen.

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

Sponsorship management roles

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 theSMS
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.

Licence fees

You need to pay a fee when you apply. The fee depends on the type of licence you’re applying for and what type of organisation you are.

Type of licence	Fee for small or charitable sponsors	Fee for medium or large sponsors
Worker	£536	£1,476
Temporary Worker	£536	£536
Worker and Temporary Worker	£536	£ 1,476
Add a Worker licence to an existing Temporary Worker licence	No fee	£940
Add a Temporary Worker licence to an existing Worker licence	No fee	No fee

How to tell if you’re a small or charitable sponsor

You’re usually a small sponsor if at least 2 of the following apply:

your annual turnover is £10.2 million or less
your total assets are worth £5.1 million or less
you have 50 employees or fewer

You’re a charitable sponsor if you’re:

a registered charity in England or Wales
a registered charity in Scotland
a registered charity in Northern Ireland– if you’re not on the register, you must provide proof of your charitable status for tax purposes from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)
an excepted charity
an exempt charity
an ecclesiastical corporation established for charitable purposes

If you’re not sure which category your business fits into, contact the Business Helpdesk:

Business Helpdesk
businesshelpdesk@homeoffice.gov.uk

How long it takes to get a decision

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.

Applications refused because of a mistake

You can apply to request a review of your application if you think it was refused because:

the caseworker processing your application made a mistake
your supporting documents were not considered

You cannot apply just because you disagree with the decision.

You’ll need to do this if you’re sponsoring a worker on any of the following:

a Skilled Worker visa
a Senior or Specialist Worker visa (Global Business Mobility)
a Graduate Trainee visa (Global Business Mobility)
a UK Expansion Worker visa (Global Business Mobility)
a Service Supplier visa (Global Business Mobility)
a Secondment Worker visa (Global Business Mobility)
a Scale-up Worker visa
a Government Authorised Exchange visa
an International Agreement visa

If you’re sponsoring a worker on any other visa, you do not need to do anything.