Sponsor licence: what an employer pays to hire from abroad
A small company pays £2,576 to license itself and sponsor one worker for three years; a large one sponsoring five workers for five years, £37,307.
Employer cost of sponsoring workers
Cost to the employer
£2,576
| Sponsor licence | £611 |
| Certificate of sponsorship, each | £525 |
| Immigration skills charge, 36 months, each | £1,440 |
| Workers sponsored | 1 |
| Total | £2,576 |
The employer must pay the skills charge and the certificate itself: passing them on to the worker can cost the licence. Worker’s own visa fee and surcharge not included.
Calculated in your browser: nothing you type is sent anywhere. Not legal advice; not affiliated with the Home Office.
Published by Radif Partners · How we calculate · Home Office fees of 8 October 2026, rules checked 13 October 2026
A UK employer needs a sponsor licence from the Home Office before it can hire someone on a Skilled Worker or other sponsored work visa. The licence costs £611 for small companies and charities and £1,682 for medium and large organisations, and most applications are decided in under 8 weeks, or within 10 working days for an extra £750 where places allow. Each worker then costs the employer £525 for the certificate of sponsorship and the immigration skills charge: £480 for the first year and £240 for each further six months for a small sponsor, £1,320 and £660 for a large one. These charges belong to the employer and may not be passed on to the worker. The calculator above adds them for your size, number of hires and length of each certificate; the worker's own visa fee and health surcharge are separate.
Small or large: which fee applies
An organisation is usually a small sponsor if at least two of these are true: annual turnover of £15,000,000 or less, total assets of £7,500,000 or less, 50 employees or fewer. Registered charities in any part of the UK, excepted and exempt charities and ecclesiastical corporations count as charitable sponsors and pay the small rate. Everyone else pays the large rate, for the licence and for the skills charge. A sponsor that has told UKVI it is now small or charitable pays the small rate from then on, and is refunded the difference if the large charge was taken after that notice.
| Employer cost | Small or charitable | Medium or large |
|---|---|---|
| Worker licence | £611 | £1,682 |
| Certificate of sponsorship, each | £525 | £525 |
| Skills charge, first 12 months | £480 | £1,320 |
| Skills charge, each further 6 months | £240 | £660 |
| One worker for 3 years, licence included | £2,576 | £6,167 |
| One worker for 5 years, licence included | £3,536 | £8,807 |
Getting and keeping the licence
The application is made online with supporting documents, and UKVI may visit the business before deciding. An employer cannot get a licence with unspent convictions for immigration offences or crimes such as fraud or money laundering, nor within 12 months of a revocation (24 months after more than one), and will not usually be granted one within 6 months of a refusal. It must appoint key personnel, an authorising officer among them, and have systems to monitor its sponsored workers. The job itself must respect the minimum wage and working time rules and the salary and skill rules of the route.
A Worker licence covers Skilled Worker, Senior or Specialist Worker, Minister of Religion and International Sportsperson; a Temporary Worker licence covers routes such as Creative Worker, Charity Worker, Government Authorised Exchange, Seasonal Worker and Scale-up. The register of licensed sponsors lists who holds which, and the skills charge page explains exemptions and refunds.
What a sponsor commits to
Sponsorship is a continuing duty, not a one-off purchase. The sponsor must keep records, report changes such as a worker who stops coming to work or a change of salary, and make sure the job stays the one on the certificate. If it falls short, UKVI can downgrade the licence to a B rating, which blocks new certificates until an action plan costing £1,579 is completed, or revoke it. Significant changes to the business must be reported within 20 working days, and a change request handled through the priority service costs £350.