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UK Immigration & Sponsor Compliance for Employers
Sponsorship gives you access to international talent and a continuing set of duties to the Home Office. We help employers obtain a licence, use it properly, and protect it.
The sponsorship lifecycle
Most employer problems arise between the grant of a licence and the first compliance visit. These five stages are how we organise the work.
01
Become a sponsor
Licence readiness, key personnel, systems and the application itself.
02
Recruit internationally
Skilled Worker eligibility, CoS assignment and immigration onboarding.
03
Manage your licence
SMS actions, reporting duties, record keeping and ongoing obligations.
04
Test your compliance
Mock audits and readiness reviews before UKVI does it for you.
05
Protect your licence
Home Office enquiries, compliance visits, suspension and revocation.
Employer services
Sponsor Licence Application
Whether your organisation is ready, who your key personnel should be, and what UKVI will expect to see.
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Sponsor Licence Compliance
The duties that continue after grant, and how to hold them without a dedicated compliance function.
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Sponsor Licence Mock Audit
A structured review of files, systems and records against what a compliance officer would ask for.
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Skilled Worker Sponsorship
Role eligibility, genuine vacancy, sponsorship decisions and the onboarding sequence.
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Certificate of Sponsorship
Assigning a CoS correctly, common errors and what they cost later.
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Sponsor Management System
Reporting changes, user management and keeping the SMS an accurate record.
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Right to Work Compliance
Establishing and maintaining a statutory excuse across your workforce.
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Home Office Compliance Visits
What a visit involves, who is interviewed and how to prepare properly.
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Sponsor Licence Suspension
Responding to suspension, the representations stage and the effect on your workers.
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Sponsor Licence Revocation
Consequences for the organisation and sponsored staff, and the options available.
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Corporate Immigration Retainer
Ongoing named-adviser support for HR teams carrying sponsor duties.
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Thresholds, fees and salary rates are deliberately not stated on these pages. Where a decision turns on a current figure, we check the position in force at that date.
Questions employers ask
What happens if my sponsor licence is suspended?
Suspension stops you assigning new Certificates of Sponsorship while the Home Office investigates. Existing sponsored workers keep their permission during the suspension. You are given the reasons and a period to make written representations. That response is usually the most important document in the matter, and it should be evidenced rather than argued.
Can a sponsor licence be revoked?
Yes. Revocation follows serious or unresolved breaches of sponsor duties. Sponsored workers are normally given a limited period to find a new sponsor or leave the UK, and the organisation faces a cooling-off period before it can reapply.
What happens during a Home Office sponsor compliance visit?
A compliance officer checks that your organisation operates as described and that your systems match your duties: personnel files, right to work documents, recruitment records, contracts, pay records, absence monitoring and reporting. Visits may be announced or unannounced, and key personnel are usually interviewed.
What records must a Skilled Worker sponsor keep?
Broadly, evidence of the worker’s right to work, identity and contact details, recruitment and role evidence, absence records and up-to-date terms of employment. The current list sits in the Home Office sponsor guidance appendices, which change, so we work from the version in force at the time of the review.
What should employers check before sponsoring a worker?
That the role genuinely exists and meets the requirements of the route, that the worker meets them too, that your records will support the decision if examined, and that you can meet the reporting duties that follow. The check to avoid is treating sponsorship as a recruitment formality.
What happens to workers if a sponsor loses its licence?
Their permission is curtailed and they normally have a limited period to find a new sponsor, switch to another route where they qualify, or leave. Employers with staff in this position should take advice quickly, because timing determines what options remain.
Ongoing Sponsor Licence & Immigration Compliance Support
Sponsor compliance is an organisational responsibility, not a task that ends when a licence or visa is granted. A retainer gives your HR team a named adviser for sponsorship questions, SMS actions, reporting duties, worker changes, CoS assignment, Right to Work checks, periodic compliance reviews and policy updates.
