UK sponsor licence & Skilled Worker visas, simplified

Processing times depend on Home Office workload, application completeness, and your organisation's readiness. Recruitroo helps ensure your application is complete and compliant to avoid avoidable delays.

A CoS is a virtual document with a unique reference number that you assign to each worker you want to sponsor. It contains details about the job and salary. Workers need a CoS to apply for their Skilled Worker visa. You must have an active Sponsor Licence to issue a CoS.

Key duties include: maintaining accurate records, reporting changes to the Home Office within specified timeframes, conducting Right to Work checks before employment, and keeping your HR systems up to date. Failing to comply can result in downgrading or revocation of your licence.

All new Sponsor Licences start with an A-rating. If you breach your duties, the Home Office may downgrade you to a B-rating, requiring an action plan to return to A-rating. Recruitroo's compliance management helps you maintain your A-rating.

Yes, we offer ongoing compliance management services including CoS management, record keeping, reporting obligations, mock audits, and quarterly compliance reviews. We can also help if you've been downgraded and need to return to A-rating.

The Home Office sponsor licence application fee is £574 for small sponsors and charities, or £1,579 for medium and large organisations. On top of that you pay £525 per Certificate of Sponsorship and the Immigration Skills Charge per sponsored worker per year. See our sponsor licence cost guide for the full breakdown and who pays what.

A defined CoS is used when the worker is applying for a Skilled Worker visa from outside the UK — you request it through the sponsor management system and it needs Home Office approval before you can assign it. An undefined CoS is used for workers already in the UK who are switching or extending; these come from your annual allocation and can be assigned directly. Both carry the same per-CoS fee.

The Immigration Skills Charge is a fee the sponsor pays for each Skilled Worker they sponsor, for every year of sponsorship — £364 per sponsored year for small sponsors and charities, or £1,000 per sponsored year for medium and large sponsors. It cannot be passed on to the worker, and some roles (for example certain PhD-level occupations) are exempt.

The Temporary Shortage List (alongside the Immigration Salary List) lets employers sponsor some roles that sit below the usual RQF 6 graduate skill level, on a time-limited basis. It was introduced after the July 2025 rule changes and is due to be reviewed and phased out, so it's best treated as a short-term route rather than a permanent one. We check whether a specific role qualifies as part of case-readiness.