In most cases, yes. If the person you want to hire currently holds valid leave to remain in the UK under a route that permits in-country switching — which includes most work visas and a number of study routes — they can apply for a Skilled Worker visa without leaving the country, provided they meet all the other eligibility requirements for the role.

The key things to confirm before proceeding are: that their current visa category allows in-country switching, that the role you want them to fill meets the required skill level and salary threshold, and that your sponsor licence is already in place before you assign the Certificate of Sponsorship. You cannot assign a CoS on the strength of a pending licence application — the licence must be granted first.

If the person's current visa does not allow in-country switching, they would need to leave the UK and apply for entry clearance from overseas. We advise on the correct route during the assessment call once we know the individual's current visa status.

A compliance visit can be either announced — where the Home Office gives you notice of the visit date — or completely unannounced, where an officer arrives at your business premises without prior warning. Both types happen regularly, and since the four-year renewal process was abolished in 2024, compliance visits have become the primary mechanism the Home Office uses to assess ongoing licence holder performance.

During a visit, the officer will typically want to review your HR records for sponsored workers, your right to work documentation, evidence that your policies are actually in use rather than just drafted, your Sponsor Management System entries and reporting history, and the suitability and awareness of your key personnel — particularly your Authorising Officer. They may also want to speak to the Authorising Officer directly to assess their understanding of their responsibilities.

If your records are well maintained and your processes are followed, the visit is generally straightforward and results in no action. If there are gaps — incomplete personnel files, right to work documents that are out of date, unreported changes to sponsored workers' circumstances — the consequences can range from a formal written warning to a downgrade from an A to a B-rating, suspension of your ability to assign new CoS, or in serious cases, full revocation of the licence. Our compliance audit service is specifically designed to make you visit-ready before they arrive.

Yes, you can reapply — and we have helped a number of businesses do exactly this successfully. The starting point after a refusal is always a careful reading of the refusal letter. The Home Office is required to set out the specific grounds for the refusal, and once we understand what went wrong, we can advise on whether those issues are fixable and how to address them in a fresh application.

The most common causes of sponsor licence refusal are: HR policies that do not meet the required standard, an application lacking sufficient evidence of genuine business activity, key personnel appointments that do not satisfy UKVI eligibility criteria, and applications for roles that do not clearly meet the skill level or salary threshold requirements for the intended visa route. All of these are addressable.

There is no automatic bar on reapplying after a refusal, but you should be aware that the Home Office will note your previous application history. A second application needs to be demonstrably stronger than the first — which is exactly what a proper preparation process achieves. The cooling-off period after refusal depends on the specific grounds cited. We review the refusal letter on the initial call and advise on the timeline and approach from there.

Being realistic: from the day you first contact us to the day the Home Office issues your approval decision, you are looking at approximately 10 to 14 weeks in total, depending on which processing route you use.

Our side of the process — eligibility assessment, HR policy drafting, document preparation and application submission — is completed within ten working days of receiving your documents. The Home Office then takes over, and standard processing currently runs at eight to twelve weeks from the date of submission.

If your timeline is more urgent, the Home Office offers a priority processing service that aims to issue a decision within ten working days of submission. The current fee for this is £750, paid directly to UKVI, and it is separate from our professional fee. Not every application qualifies for priority service and places are limited, but for many businesses with urgent hiring needs it is worth the additional cost. We will give you an honest assessment of whether it is appropriate in your specific situation.

One thing worth noting: the clock starts running on Home Office processing from the date of submission, not from the date you instruct us. The sooner we start the assessment, the sooner the application is in the queue.

There is a fair amount to manage, and it is worth understanding this before you apply. The ongoing obligations of a licensed sponsor are not onerous if you have the right processes in place, but they do require consistent attention and prompt action when things change.

Your main ongoing duties include: right to work checks — you must carry these out for every sponsored worker in the specific format UKVI prescribes, using the online checking service where applicable; record keeping — you must maintain a comprehensive personnel file for each sponsored employee, including their contact details, employment history and visa documentation, and these records must be kept for the duration of their sponsorship and for at least two years after it ends; reporting — specified events must be reported to UKVI through the Sponsor Management System within ten working days, including changes to a sponsored worker's role, salary, work location, or employment status; and monitoring — you must have processes in place to track visa expiry dates and to identify and report any unauthorised absence from work.

These obligations apply from the day your licence is granted and continue for as long as you hold it. Our monthly retainer service exists specifically to take all of this off your plate, but for businesses that prefer to manage it in-house, we provide a full compliance briefing at the point of approval and remain available for ad hoc queries. The important thing is that these obligations are understood and followed consistently — because the Home Office will check.

Yes. A Skilled Worker visa is tied to a specific employer and a specific role. Even if the person you want to hire is currently working legally in the UK under a Skilled Worker visa sponsored by another company, they cannot simply transfer to you without a new Certificate of Sponsorship from your business. That means you need your own sponsor licence before you can employ them.

The process for someone switching employer on the Skilled Worker route is generally straightforward provided the new role meets the skill level and salary requirements, and provided your licence is already in place. The individual applies for a new Skilled Worker visa — or in some cases a change of employment — and can usually continue working for their existing employer until the new visa is granted.

The key point is timing. Many businesses approach us having already identified the person they want to hire and then discover they need a licence first. The sooner you start the application process, the less likely you are to lose the candidate while you wait for approval. If this is your situation, call us — we will tell you exactly what the realistic timeline looks like and whether priority processing is an option worth considering.

There is no minimum size requirement for a sponsor licence. Small businesses, limited companies with a single director, and start-ups that have been trading for less than 12 months can all apply — and we have successfully obtained licences for businesses at every stage of their development.

That said, newer businesses do face additional scrutiny. Start-ups trading for less than 18 months are required to provide evidence of a corporate bank account with an FCA and PRA-regulated UK bank, and the Home Office will look more carefully at whether the business has the HR infrastructure and operational stability to manage sponsored workers responsibly. A pre-licence compliance visit is also more likely for very new businesses.

None of this makes a licence unachievable for a small or early-stage business — it just means the preparation needs to be more thorough. We have obtained licences for companies with fewer than five employees. The eligibility criteria are the same regardless of size. What matters is whether the business is genuine, whether the role is real, and whether the HR systems and key personnel requirements can be met. We assess all of this on the initial call.

A Certificate of Sponsorship is a unique reference number assigned to a specific worker for a specific role. There are two types, and using the wrong one is a common and avoidable compliance error.

A defined CoS is used when the worker is applying for entry clearance from outside the UK — in other words, they are overseas and applying for a Skilled Worker visa to come to the UK. Defined CoS requests must be submitted to UKVI for approval before they can be assigned, and they require advance notice of the role and the individual. The Home Office allocates defined CoS from your annual allocation.

An undefined CoS is used for workers who are already in the UK and applying to switch or extend their visa — for example, someone already on a Skilled Worker visa who is changing employer, or a student visa holder applying to switch to the Skilled Worker route in-country. Undefined CoS can be assigned directly through the Sponsor Management System without prior UKVI approval, provided you have sufficient allocation remaining.

Getting this distinction wrong — assigning an undefined CoS when a defined one was required, or vice versa — can invalidate the visa application entirely. We verify the correct CoS type for every worker before anything is assigned.

This is one of the most serious consequences of non-compliance, and it is worth understanding before you apply. If your sponsor licence is suspended or revoked, the impact on your sponsored workers is immediate and significant.

In the event of a suspension, you lose the ability to assign new Certificates of Sponsorship while the suspension is in place. Your existing sponsored workers can usually continue working during the suspension period, but the situation needs to be resolved quickly — a prolonged suspension can escalate to revocation.

In the event of revocation, the consequences are more severe. Your existing sponsored workers will have their leave curtailed — typically to 60 days — and must either find a new licensed sponsor during that window or leave the UK. For a business that relies on sponsored workers, revocation is operationally catastrophic. It also carries reputational consequences and a bar on reapplying for a specified period.

The scenarios that lead to revocation are almost always the result of compliance failures that built up over time — missed reporting deadlines, inadequate right to work checks, personnel file gaps. These are entirely preventable with the right processes in place. Our compliance audit and retainer services exist specifically to ensure you never get close to this position.

No. A single sponsor licence covers your entire organisation, including all UK sites and locations operating under the same legal entity. You do not need a separate licence for each office, branch or premises — one licence is sufficient regardless of how many locations you operate from.

However, multi-site operations do create additional compliance complexity that single-site businesses do not face. Right to work documentation must be maintained at each location where sponsored workers are based. If a sponsored worker changes their primary work location — even temporarily — this must be reported to UKVI through the Sponsor Management System within ten working days. And any compliance visit may cover any of your UK premises, not just your registered head office.

For businesses operating across multiple sites — particularly in sectors like hospitality, retail, healthcare and construction where workers routinely move between locations — the compliance management burden is proportionally higher. Our retainer service is particularly well-suited to multi-site businesses because it removes the risk of missed reporting obligations that arise from a distributed workforce. We track every sponsored worker's location and ensure any reportable changes are submitted correctly and on time.