Regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority · Ref No. F201700062
Sponsor Licences
A sponsor licence is not a one-off application. It has to be maintained.
Changes inside the organisation — people leaving, addresses changing, ownership moving, new routes being added — often carry reporting obligations and time limits.
Sponsor licences are static records attached to a business that keeps changing. People leave, addresses change, companies restructure, and the licence quietly stops describing reality.
The Home Office expects most changes to be reported through the Sponsorship Management System, many within twenty working days. Late or missing reports are one of the most common findings on a compliance visit because they are simple to check.
Reportable changes include changes to key personnel, changes of trading name or address, changes to the ownership or control of the business, insolvency events, and the creation or closure of branches where sponsored workers are based.
There are also worker-level reports: a sponsored employee not starting, leaving early, changing role or work location, or being absent without pay beyond the permitted period.
Some changes require a change of circumstances application rather than a simple report, and some — such as certain mergers and takeovers — require action within a defined window or the licence lapses.
When a business is sold or workers transfer under TUPE, the receiving entity must hold an appropriate licence and must report the transfer. Sponsored workers can be left without valid sponsorship if this is handled after the fact.
We plan the immigration side alongside the transaction so that the sponsored workforce is covered on completion, not weeks later.
What is actually needed depends on your circumstances. We confirm the list with you before anything is prepared.
We look at the organisation, the roles involved and what has already been done, so advice is based on the actual position rather than assumptions.
We set out what the Home Office will expect to see and where the evidence or the internal position needs work.
We help prepare the application, supporting documents and the internal record keeping that sits behind it.
We advise on requests for further information, compliance activity and any conditions attached to the outcome.
This page is general information about UK immigration and is not advice on your individual circumstances. Requirements, guidance and procedures change. Please obtain advice before relying on anything published here.
We will tell you how UKU can assist, and what the realistic options are.
