How long does a sponsor licence take?
Short answer
About eight weeks as standard, or ten working days with the £750 priority service. A pre-licence compliance visit can add months. Fees are £611 for small or charitable sponsors and £1,682 for medium and large ones, and the ongoing duties are identical whatever the size of the employer.
A sponsor licence is the gateway to hiring most overseas workers: without one you cannot assign a Certificate of Sponsorship, and candidates cannot apply for a Skilled Worker visa to work for you.
Timing and cost
- Standard processing: around eight weeks, and many straightforward applications are decided sooner.
- Priority service: £750 extra for a decision within ten working days — faster, but no more likely to succeed.
- Compliance visit: if UKVI selects your application for a pre-licence visit, expect several additional months. Build that risk into recruitment plans.
- Fees: £611 for small or charitable sponsors, £1,682 for medium and large organisations.
What UKVI is really assessing
The licence turns on your systems, not your intentions. You need robust HR processes: right to work checks, records of recruitment, accurate contact details and absence monitoring, and named Key Personnel — an Authorising Officer, a Key Contact and Level 1 Users of the Sponsor Management System. A compliance officer may visit before or after the grant to test whether those systems exist in practice.
Ongoing duties, and the cost of failing them
Once licensed you must use the Sponsor Management System to assign Certificates of Sponsorship and to report changes in a sponsored worker’s circumstances — non-attendance, a change of role, or employment ending early. You must keep prescribed records and cooperate with compliance visits.
Failures lead to the licence being downgraded, suspended or revoked, and the consequences run past the business: when a licence is revoked, sponsored workers usually face curtailment with around 60 days to find a new sponsor or leave. That is why sponsorship should be treated as an ongoing compliance function rather than a one-off application.
You can outsource day-to-day SMS administration to an immigration firm, but the legal responsibility stays with your organisation and its Authorising Officer — you cannot contract out liability for a compliance failure. For a business needing only one or two overseas hires, weigh that permanent obligation against the recruitment benefit before applying.
Related guides
Sponsor Licence for Employers
UK employers who want to hire workers from outside the UK (and outside the existing settled workforce) generally need a sponsor licence issued by the Home Office. Without a licence, you cannot issue Certificates of Sponsorship to prospective employees, meaning overseas workers cannot apply for a Skilled Worker visa to work for you. This guide explains the process and ongoing obligations.
8 min
Certificate of Sponsorship Explained
A Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) is a virtual document — essentially a reference number — assigned by a licensed UK employer to a specific overseas worker. It is required for most work-based visa applications under the points-based system. Without a valid CoS, a work visa application cannot proceed.
5 min
Employer Sponsor Duties and Compliance
Any employer who sponsors overseas workers under the UK points-based system must hold a sponsor licence and comply with a range of ongoing legal duties. Failure to meet these duties can result in the licence being downgraded, suspended, or revoked — which would seriously affect all sponsored workers.
6 min
Sponsor Licence Revocation: What Workers and Employers Should Know
Sponsor licence revocation is a Home Office sanction that ends a company's ability to sponsor workers. For workers on Skilled Worker, Health & Care Worker, or other sponsored visas, revocation means they have 60 days to find a new sponsor or leave the UK. The number of revocations rose sharply in 2023-2024, particularly in the care sector. This guide covers both sides.
10 min
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