A sponsor licence for employers: £611 for small business, a £525 certificate and up to £1,320 a year in charges — how to hire from abroad
Only an employer with a sponsor licence can hire from abroad — including EU citizens who arrived after 2020. The GOV.UK rules: prices for small and large businesses, certificates of sponsorship, the Immigration Skills Charge, the 8-week timeline and the duties that get licences revoked.
In Britain, only an employer holding a sponsor licence can hire a worker from abroad — including EU citizens who arrived after 2020. For a small business the licence costs £611, a decision usually arrives within 8 weeks, and each foreign hire then costs a £525 certificate plus the Immigration Skills Charge from £480 a year.
The GOV.UK rules: who needs the licence, what the whole route costs, the duties it puts on a business — and what gets it revoked.
Your ad could be hereAdvertise hereWhen do you need a licence — and when not?
Almost always when you employ someone without their own right to work in the UK — including citizens of the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland who arrived after 31 December 2020, and even for unpaid roles in a charity. NOT needed for: Irish citizens; people with settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme; holders of indefinite leave to remain. And note: a licence and sponsorship do not guarantee the worker a visa — that decision is the Home Office’s.
How much does the licence cost?
It depends on your size. Small and charitable sponsors pay £611 for any licence type. Medium and large ones pay £1,682 for a Worker licence (a Temporary Worker licence is £611 for everyone). You are usually “small” if at least two of three hold: turnover up to £15m, assets up to £7.5m, 50 employees or fewer. The employer must pay the fee itself: ask the worker to chip in and the licence can be revoked.
How does the vetting work?
You apply online, then send the submission sheet and supporting documents. UKVI may visit your premises to check the business is genuine and capable of sponsor duties. No licence if you have unspent convictions for immigration offences, fraud or money laundering — or if a licence of yours was revoked within the last 12 months. The usual decision time is under 8 weeks; £750 buys a 10-working-day priority decision, with a small daily quota.
What is a certificate of sponsorship and what does it cost?
A certificate of sponsorship (CoS) is an electronic record you assign to each foreign hire; they apply for the visa with its number, within 3 months. For a Skilled Worker the certificate costs £525 (£55 for a Temporary Worker). Certificates come as defined (the candidate applies from abroad; usually approved within a working day) and undefined (the candidate is in the UK; you order a yearly stock when applying for the licence).
What is the Immigration Skills Charge?
A separate levy on Skilled Worker hires: small and charitable sponsors pay £480 for the first year and £240 per further six months; medium and large ones — £1,320 a year and £660 per six months. A 5-year visa costs a small business £2,400 in charge, a large one £6,600. It is not paid for researchers and scientists under certain occupation codes, for workers switching from a study visa, or for the worker’s dependants.
What duties come with the licence?
Sponsorship is a standing reporting regime. You must: check workers’ qualifications and keep document copies; monitor their immigration status and right to work; track attendance and keep contact details current; report to UKVI if a worker stops turning up or breaches visa conditions; and report changes in the business itself — a merger, address change, ceasing trading — within 20 working days. Without HR systems for all this, the licence gets downgraded, suspended or withdrawn.
What does a full hire actually cost?
A small business hiring one specialist on a 3-year Skilled Worker visa: the £611 licence (one-off) + £525 certificate + £480 + £240 + £240 of skills charge — around £2,100 of employer costs, before the £41,700 salary floor and the worker’s own visa fees and NHS surcharge, which we counted in our Skilled Worker guide.
Where do you start, in short?
Check whether the candidate needs sponsorship at all — they may already have the right to work (settled status, ILR, a partner visa). Budget by your size category. Get the HR processes ready — they are what the visit checks. And make sure the candidate’s occupation clears the salary thresholds — otherwise the licence is a purchase with no use.
