Services
Sponsor Licences for Employers
Help for employers applying for a sponsor licence and sponsoring their first workers.
For organisations that want to sponsor overseas workers and need a licence, and for newly licensed sponsors.
Services within Sponsor Licences for Employers
A sponsor licence is an ongoing responsibility, not a one-off permission. The Home Office expects the organisation to be genuine, operating or trading lawfully in the UK, able to offer genuine roles and able to meet its reporting and record-keeping duties.
How we can help employers
- Checking whether the organisation needs a licence, and which route.
- Preparing a sponsor licence application and its supporting documents.
- Choosing key personnel.
- An orientation to the Sponsor Management System and your main duties once licensed.
- Assigning a Certificate of Sponsorship and the worker's visa application.
The business must be ready
Before applying, the organisation should understand the roles it wants to sponsor, the documents required, its HR and right to work systems and the people responsible for sponsorship.
When we may need to refer you
Where a licence has been refused, suspended, downgraded or revoked, or the Home Office has raised compliance concerns or a civil penalty, the matter is outside our Level 1 authorisation. We will signpost you to an appropriately authorised adviser.
How WLIS can help
- 1 We check that the route suits your plans and that the matter is a straightforward one within our IAA Level 1 authorisation.
- 2 We review your eligibility and your documents, and explain plainly anything that needs attention.
- 3 We give you a document checklist written for your circumstances rather than a generic one.
- 4 We prepare the application form and supporting documents, and you check and approve the final information before anything is submitted.
- 5 We help with submission, biometrics or identity steps, and your eVisa and UKVI account after the decision.
What we can and cannot help with
We provide advice and application assistance for straightforward immigration matters within our IAA Level 1 Immigration authorisation. Where a matter falls outside that authorisation — for example because it involves adverse immigration history, a discretionary or human-rights claim, an administrative review, an appeal or tribunal work — we will tell you and signpost or refer you to an adviser authorised at the appropriate level.
If an application is refused, we will explain the decision and whether any further work remains within our Level 1 authorisation. Where an administrative review, an appeal or other higher-level casework is needed, we will signpost or refer you to an appropriately authorised adviser. We do not provide appeal or tribunal representation.
UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) makes the final decision on every application. No immigration adviser can guarantee that an application will be approved.
Questions clients often ask
Do we need a sponsor licence to employ someone from overseas?
If the person does not already have permission that allows the work, then usually yes. Someone with settled status, a Graduate route visa or a dependant's permission may be able to work without sponsorship. The safe order is to check the individual's status first, then decide whether a licence is needed.
What are our duties once we hold a licence?
Record keeping, reporting changes within the required time, cooperating with the Home Office and only sponsoring genuine roles at the correct rate. The duties sit with the organisation, not with the individual who happens to handle HR, which is why they need to survive a change of staff.
What happens if the Home Office visits?
Visits can be announced or unannounced and typically cover personnel files, right to work checks, absence records and the reality of the sponsored roles. If a visit has led to compliance concerns, or to a licence being suspended, downgraded or revoked, the matter is outside our Level 1 authorisation, and we will signpost you to an appropriately authorised adviser.
Official sources we check
We check what we publish against the Home Office's own guidance. These are the GOV.UK pages behind the advice on this site — use them to confirm anything you read here, because the rules change and the official page is always the current one.
- UK visas and immigration (opens on GOV.UK in a new tab)
- Applying for a visa from outside the UK (opens on GOV.UK in a new tab)
- Extending or switching inside the UK (opens on GOV.UK in a new tab)
- Family visas and financial requirement (opens on GOV.UK in a new tab)
- Skilled Worker and sponsor rules (opens on GOV.UK in a new tab)
- Sponsor guidance collection (opens on GOV.UK in a new tab)
- Student visa (opens on GOV.UK in a new tab)
- Graduate visa (opens on GOV.UK in a new tab)
- Standard Visitor (opens on GOV.UK in a new tab)
- Returning resident visa (opens on GOV.UK in a new tab)
- Settlement (indefinite leave to remain) (opens on GOV.UK in a new tab)
- Long residence (opens on GOV.UK in a new tab)
- British citizenship (opens on GOV.UK in a new tab)
- EU Settlement Scheme (opens on GOV.UK in a new tab)
- British National (Overseas) visa (opens on GOV.UK in a new tab)
- HM Armed Forces settlement (opens on GOV.UK in a new tab)
- eVisas and UKVI accounts (opens on GOV.UK in a new tab)
- DNA evidence in immigration applications (opens on GOV.UK in a new tab)
- Home Office immigration and nationality fees (opens on GOV.UK in a new tab)
- Immigration Advice Authority (opens on GOV.UK in a new tab)
GOV.UK content is published by the UK government and is not part of this website.
Talk to us about sponsor licences for employers
Tell us what you want to apply for, the status you hold now and when your current permission ends. We will confirm whether the matter is within our Level 1 authorisation and offer a suitable appointment.
The enquiry form is on this site and reaches us directly. Please do not send identity documents until we ask for them.