Sponsor licence for small businesses
Small UK employers can hold a sponsor licence on exactly the same terms as large ones, and pay a lower fee for it: £611 for a Worker licence instead of £1,682. What changes is the evidence, not the eligibility.
- £611
- Worker licence fee for a small or charitable sponsor
- 50 or fewer
- Employees — one of the small-sponsor size tests
- £480 / year
- Immigration Skills Charge per sponsored worker, small sponsor
- £525
- Certificate of Sponsorship, per worker
The short answer
A small business is not at a disadvantage on eligibility.
A small UK business can hold a sponsor licence, pays a lower fee than a large one, and faces the same legal test. The two things that decide the outcome are whether you can evidence genuine UK trading or operating activity through Appendix A documents, and whether your HR systems would stand up to a compliance visit. Neither depends on headcount. Both are fixable before you apply, which is why a small employer should take the eligibility review seriously and not treat the application as a form-filling exercise.
The small sponsor size test
At least two of these must apply.
- Annual turnover
- £15 million or less
- Total assets
- £7.5 million or less
- Employees
- 50 or fewer
- Registered charity
- Treated as a small sponsor by default
Why the size test matters twice
What a small employer has to prove
Genuine UK presence
Corporate documents, a UK business bank account with a regulated institution, and evidence you are trading or operating lawfully.
A genuine vacancy
A real role, at the right skill level, paid at or above the applicable general threshold and the going rate for its occupation code.
Suitable key personnel
UK-based people inside your organisation, honest and free of unspent relevant convictions, who understand the duties they are taking on.
HR systems that work
Attendance and absence monitoring, current contact details, right-to-work evidence, and a documented process for reporting to the Home Office.
Sector requirements
Where your sector is regulated — care, health, education — the relevant registration or accreditation must be in place first.
Fee capacity
The licence fee, certificate fees and the Immigration Skills Charge for the whole sponsorship period, paid by the business, not the worker.
Costs for a small sponsor
Home Office fees only. Our professional fee is quoted separately, in writing.
- Worker licence — small or charitable
- £611
- Temporary Worker licence
- £611
- Priority service (optional)
- £750
- Certificate of Sponsorship, per worker
- £525
- Immigration Skills Charge, per worker
- £480 / year
- Home Office decision time
- Most under 8 weeks
Common reasons small employers get refused
- No UK business bank account with a regulated institution, where one is required.
- Insufficient or mismatched Appendix A documents — names, addresses or dates that do not agree with each other.
- No evidence of genuine trading, particularly for a recently incorporated company.
- A vacancy that does not meet the skill level or going rate for its occupation code.
- An Authorising Officer who is not the most senior person responsible for HR, or who is not UK-based.
- HR systems that cannot show attendance, absence or right-to-work monitoring at a compliance visit.
- A required sector registration, such as CQC, not yet in place.
There is no appeal against a licence refusal
Related
Other routes worth checking
Sponsor licence application service
The managed end-to-end service, what it covers and how our fees are quoted.
Read moreSponsor licence cost calculator
Model the licence, certificate and Immigration Skills Charge cost for your headcount.
Read moreImmigration compliance
The duties, record keeping and right-to-work checks you take on once the licence is granted.
Read moreReady when you are
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