The sponsor licence register, explained
What a sponsor licence is, what each visa route on the register means, how ratings work, and what it means when an employer disappears from the list.
What a sponsor licence is
A licensed sponsor is a UK employer or organisation that the Home Office has approved to sponsor people from outside the UK for a work visa. Most UK work visas, including the Skilled Worker visa used for nurses, care workers, engineers, chefs and IT staff, cannot be applied for directly. The applicant first needs a Certificate of Sponsorship from an employer that holds a sponsor licence. The Home Office grants the licence, rates it, can suspend or revoke it, and publishes the list of current holders as the register of licensed sponsors. An employer that is not on the register cannot sponsor a visa.
To get a licence an employer applies to UK Visas and Immigration, pays a fee, names key personnel responsible for compliance, and agrees to duties such as keeping right-to-work records, reporting absences and changes of role, and paying at least the going rate for the job. Licences are granted for four years and, since April 2024, no longer need renewing. The Home Office can visit, downgrade, suspend or revoke a licence at any time.
The published register lists each licensed organisation by name and town, the type and rating of its licence, and the route or routes it is licensed for. It carries no licence number, company number, address or date. One organisation appears once per route.
Worker routes
Worker routes cover longer-term employment. Most allow extensions and several lead to settlement in the UK.
| Route on the register | Visa | What it lets the sponsor do |
|---|---|---|
| Skilled Worker | Skilled Worker visa (including the Health and Care Worker visa) | The main UK work visa. Lets the sponsor employ overseas nationals in eligible skilled jobs, from nurses and care workers to engineers, chefs and software developers, for up to 5 years at a time, with a route to settlement. |
| Global Business Mobility: Senior or Specialist Worker | Senior or Specialist Worker visa | For multinational companies transferring senior managers or specialists from an overseas branch to the UK business. Replaced the Intra-company Transfer route in April 2022. |
| Global Business Mobility: Graduate Trainee | Graduate Trainee visa | For multinationals moving recent graduates on a structured training programme to the UK for up to a year. |
| Global Business Mobility: UK Expansion Worker | UK Expansion Worker visa | For an overseas business sending a small team to set up its first UK branch. The licence is provisional until the UK entity is trading. |
| Global Business Mobility: Service Supplier | Service Supplier visa | For contractual service suppliers and self-employed professionals coming to the UK under a trade agreement. |
| Global Business Mobility: Secondment Worker | Secondment Worker visa | For workers seconded to the UK under a high-value contract or investment between their overseas employer and the UK sponsor. |
| Scale-up | Scale-up Worker visa | For fast-growing UK businesses hiring skilled staff. The worker only needs the sponsor for the first six months. |
| Tier 2 Ministers of Religion | Minister of Religion visa (T2) | For religious organisations employing ministers, missionaries or members of a religious order in a leading role. |
| International Sportsperson | International Sportsperson visa | For sports clubs and governing bodies bringing in elite players and coaches endorsed by their sport. |
Temporary Worker routes
Temporary Worker routes cover short-term, time-limited work and do not lead to settlement.
| Route on the register | Visa | What it lets the sponsor do |
|---|---|---|
| Creative Worker | Creative Worker visa | For theatres, production companies, orchestras and similar bringing in performers, artists and crew for up to 12 months (24 in some cases). |
| Charity Worker | Charity Worker visa | For registered charities hosting unpaid voluntary workers for up to 12 months. |
| Religious Worker | Religious Worker visa | For religious organisations hosting people in non-pastoral religious work, such as preaching or working in a religious order, for up to 24 months. |
| Government Authorised Exchange | Government Authorised Exchange visa | For approved exchange schemes: work experience, training, research and fellowships run by government departments or endorsed bodies. The sponsor is usually the scheme operator, not the host employer. |
| International Agreement | International Agreement visa | For work covered by international law or treaty, such as private servants in diplomatic households and employees of overseas governments. |
| Seasonal Worker | Seasonal Worker visa | For the handful of Home Office-approved scheme operators who place seasonal horticulture and poultry workers with farms for up to six months. |
| Creative & Sporting | Creative and Sporting visa (closed 2021) | The former combined route for performers and sportspeople, split into Creative Worker and International Sportsperson in October 2021. |
Not on this register: the Student route, which has its own register of licensed student sponsors; and visas that need no sponsor, such as the Graduate, Youth Mobility, Global Talent and family routes.
Ratings
| Rating | Meaning |
|---|---|
| A rating | Full compliance. The sponsor can assign Certificates of Sponsorship and recruit from overseas normally. |
| B rating | Downgraded after compliance concerns. The sponsor is on a time-limited action plan with the Home Office and cannot sponsor new workers until it is restored to an A rating. Failure to complete the plan leads to revocation. |
| Provisional | Used on the UK Expansion Worker route for an overseas business that does not yet have a trading UK presence. The sponsor can assign only a small number of certificates until the licence is upgraded. |
| A (Premium) | Member of the former Premium customer service scheme, a paid support tier the Home Office closed in 2024. It did not affect what the licence permitted. |
| A (SME+) | Member of the former SME+ customer service scheme, a paid support tier for smaller sponsors. It did not affect what the licence permitted. |
What it means when an employer is removed
The register only ever shows who is licensed today. When an entry disappears, one of the following has happened; the Home Office does not say which, and SponsorMonitor reports it as "removed from register".
| Cause | What it means |
|---|---|
| Revocation | The Home Office withdrew the licence, usually after a compliance visit found breaches: paying below the going rate, no genuine vacancy, poor record keeping, or exploitation. Sponsored workers then have 60 days to find a new sponsor or leave. |
| Surrender | The sponsor gave the licence up voluntarily, often because it no longer recruits overseas or has merged, closed or changed legal entity. |
| Expiry | Licences last four years. Before April 2024 they had to be renewed; one that was not renewed lapsed and dropped off the register. |
| Suspension | During an investigation the Home Office can suspend a licence. Suspended sponsors are usually removed from the published register and reappear if the suspension is lifted. |
An employer that returns to the register is shown as re-listed. An entry that vanishes while a near-identical name appears in the same town is treated as a rename and the two pages are linked.
If your employer's licence is removed
If you hold a visa sponsored by an employer whose licence is revoked, the Home Office normally shortens your permission to 60 days, during which you can apply to switch to a new sponsor or another visa. If the licence was surrendered or expired, your existing visa is usually unaffected until it needs extending. Suspension on its own does not cancel sponsored workers' visas. Take advice from a regulated immigration adviser; this site is a record of the register, not legal advice.