Sponsor licence: the eight-week application, step by step
Key personnel, HR systems evidence, the compliance visit and how to avoid the common refusal reasons.
12 min · Employer · Updated Jun 2026
The rule
A UK sponsor licence lets an employer issue certificates of sponsorship for Skilled Worker and other routes. The Home Office decides most applications in about eight weeks (or ten working days with the paid priority service) and checks four things: the business is genuine, the roles are genuine skilled vacancies, HR systems can meet sponsor duties, and the key personnel have no adverse history.
The licence is a compliance undertaking, not a form. Once granted, you must report changes within ten working days, keep right-to-work and contact records, and expect a compliance visit.
What the consulate or authority actually counts
- Companies House registration, VAT, PAYE and business bank statements
- Evidence of trading: lease, insurance, recent invoices
- Job descriptions mapped to the occupation code with the going rate
- Named authorising officer, key contact and level-1 user with clean records
- An HR process document showing how attendance, absence and contact details are tracked
Where it goes wrong
- Occupation code chosen by title rather than duties
- Authorising officer with an unspent conviction or previous sponsor breach
- No genuine vacancy: the role was created for a specific candidate
- Missing a change report (new director, new address) after grant
How vistolane for business handles it
The employer workspace tracks each certificate, expiry and report deadline, stores right-to-work evidence against the hire and produces the sponsor-duty audit trail a compliance officer asks for. Licence applications themselves are filed by a licence-checked immigration partner you choose from the directory.
The compliance check on the /compliance page tests salary threshold and occupation code before the offer letter is sent.