Skilled Worker route · Employer-side

Skilled Worker sponsorship: what UK employers actually need to know.

Direct answer

The Skilled Worker route is the main UK visa route through which employers can sponsor international workers. To sponsor a worker your business needs a sponsor licence, the role must sit at the required skill level with a valid SOC code, and the salary must meet the higher of the £41,700 general threshold or the SOC code going rate. A Skilled Worker visa lasts up to 5 years per Certificate of Sponsorship, and after 5 continuous years on the route the worker may qualify for settlement. The full first-year cost to the employer for one sponsored worker — covering the sponsor licence application, CoS, and Immigration Skills Charge — typically lands between £3,000 and £7,000 depending on sponsor size and route options.

Who this applies to: UK SME employers (20–150 employees typically) planning to hire international talent under the Skilled Worker route, and deciding whether to apply for a sponsor licence, what the realistic timeline looks like, and what the total cost is.

Regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority

The core eligibility

The three things that have to line up before you can sponsor.

Sponsoring a Skilled Worker is not a single decision — it is the intersection of three independent eligibility tests. Get any one wrong at CoS assignment and the worker's visa is at risk.

→Your business — must hold a UK sponsor licence under the Worker route, and must remain A-rated to assign new CoS

→The role — must sit at the required skill level (RQF level 3 or higher), have a valid SOC code from the eligible-occupations list, and be a genuine vacancy

→The salary — must meet whichever is the higher of the £41,700 general threshold or the SOC code going rate (some lower thresholds apply for new entrants, PhD-level roles, and Immigration Salary List roles — verify the applicable figure before CoS assignment)

→The worker — must meet the English language requirement, have an offer from your business, and hold a valid Certificate of Sponsorship

→If any of these break (e.g. salary reduction, role change, business size change) the sponsor reporting duties are triggered within 10 working days

Salary thresholds

What the worker has to be paid.

General salary threshold

The headline minimum salary for a Skilled Worker visa. Always compared against the SOC code going rate — the higher figure applies.

£41,700 per year

Going rate (SOC-specific)

Published in the Skilled Worker visa going rates table on gov.uk. For some SOC codes the going rate is below £41,700 and the £41,700 floor applies; for others (technology, healthcare, senior commercial roles) the going rate is materially higher.

Varies by SOC code

New entrant threshold

Reduced threshold available to workers who meet defined new-entrant criteria (e.g. under 26, recent PhD, student-to-Skilled-Worker switch). Verify the current new-entrant rate before relying on it.

Lower discounted rate

Immigration Salary List (ISL) threshold

Discounted threshold applies for roles on the Immigration Salary List, which replaced the Shortage Occupation List. The list and its salary discounts are revised periodically — always check the current ISL before assignment.

Lower discounted rate

PhD-level role threshold

Roles in defined PhD-level SOC codes attract a lower threshold. Verify the applicable figure against the current Workers and Temporary Workers guidance.

Lower discounted rate

The general threshold figure is current as published by the Home Office at the time of last review. New entrant, ISL, and PhD-level thresholds are subject to change — verify the applicable figure against the current going rates table on gov.uk before any CoS assignment.

The cost picture

First-year Home Office cost to sponsor one Skilled Worker.

Sponsor licence application (one-off)

Small/charitable sponsor / medium or large sponsor. One-off at licence application.

£611 / £1,682

Priority service (optional)

Reduces Home Office processing from 8 weeks to 10 working days. Slots limited.

+ £750

Certificate of Sponsorship

Per Worker-route CoS, paid by the sponsor at SMS assignment.

£525

Immigration Skills Charge — small/charity

Year 1 + each additional 6 months. Paid in full upfront at CoS assignment.

£480 + £240/6mo

Immigration Skills Charge — medium/large

Year 1 + each additional 6 months. Paid in full upfront at CoS assignment.

£1,320 + £660/6mo

Professional support (Harveys Legal)

Fixed-fee sponsor licence application support. Excludes Home Office fees, which are passed through transparently.

From £1,750 + VAT

Worker-side costs (visa application fee, Immigration Health Surcharge) are typically paid by the worker but are sometimes reimbursed by the employer as part of the offer. The IHS adds materially to the worker's first-year cost on a multi-year visa.

The timeline

From 'we want to hire' to 'CoS assigned'.

Most SME employers underestimate the licence side and overestimate the worker side. The realistic 'we want to hire' to 'CoS assigned' timeline is usually 8–12 weeks if you start from no sponsor licence — most of which is sponsor-side preparation, not Home Office processing.

→Weeks 0–3 — sponsor licence readiness review and document preparation. Often the longest leg, especially for first-time sponsors.

→Weeks 3–5 — sponsor licence application submitted, optionally with priority service

→Weeks 5–7 — Home Office decision (standard) — or 10 working days under priority service from the date a priority slot is allocated

→Weeks 7–8 — CoS allocation request and assignment through SMS once the licence is approved

→Weeks 8–12+ — worker's own Skilled Worker visa application, biometrics, and entry to the UK

→Compress this timeline only when the application is genuinely ready — paying for priority on an unprepared application accelerates a refusal, not the approval

Ongoing sponsor obligations

What you sign up to once a Skilled Worker is sponsored.

A sponsor licence is not a one-off transaction — it is an ongoing regulated relationship with the Home Office. Every sponsored worker on your licence triggers a continuing set of reporting and record-keeping duties. The sponsor duties exist whether the worker is your highest-paid hire or your most junior.

→Report defined worker events through SMS within 10 working days (failure to start, absence over 10 working days, change of duties, location move, salary reduction, end of sponsorship)

→Report defined sponsor-organisation events within 20 working days (key personnel change, ownership change, business address change, branch addition)

→Keep right-to-work check evidence, contract, salary records, attendance records for each sponsored worker — retrievable on request

→Co-operate with Home Office compliance visits — typically unannounced

→Maintain A-rated status — a B-rating downgrade pauses new CoS assignment under several routes

What goes wrong

The five Skilled Worker sponsorship mistakes we see most often.

→Choosing the wrong SOC code at CoS assignment — usually because the role title was matched superficially rather than against the actual duties. The going rate flows from the SOC code, so this error cascades.

→Setting salary at the £41,700 threshold when the SOC code going rate is higher — under-paying the worker against the going rate is a sponsor compliance breach, not just a hiring decision

→Underestimating the upfront ISC bill — a medium/large sponsor on a 5-year CoS pays £6,600 in ISC at the moment of assignment, on top of the £525 CoS fee

→Assigning a CoS for the maximum 5-year period when the role only realistically needs 3 — locking the business into a higher ISC bill than needed

→Treating the licence as the finish line — and then missing the 10-day reporting events that determine whether the licence stays A-rated

How Harveys helps

What we do for UK employers planning their first Skilled Worker hire.

Harveys Legal works with UK SME employers across the full Skilled Worker sponsorship cycle — from the first 'should we apply?' conversation through to ongoing compliance. The work is delivered to fixed-fee scopes where possible, with retainer support for sponsors who want the ongoing duties handled outside the business.

→Sponsor Licence Readiness Review — from £395 + VAT — diagnostic-only review of whether your business is operationally ready to apply

→Sponsor Licence Application — from £1,750 + VAT — fixed-fee preparation and submission, including SOC code review and salary verification

→CoS / SMS Desk — per-assignment support including SOC selection, salary check, and ISC calculation

→Audit-Ready Sponsor Compliance retainer — from £295/month + VAT — ongoing reporting, record-keeping, and compliance support

→All work delivered under IAA Level 1 regulation — Regulation No. F202537009

Common questions

Questions employers ask us.

The general salary threshold is £41,700 per year, but the actual minimum salary for a specific role is the higher of £41,700 or the SOC code going rate. For some senior or technical roles the going rate is well above £41,700 — for example certain healthcare, technology, and finance roles. Discounted thresholds apply for new entrants, PhD-level roles, and roles on the Immigration Salary List. Always check the going rate for the specific SOC code before setting the salary at CoS assignment.

First-year Home Office cost is typically £3,000–£7,000 for a single sponsored worker, depending on sponsor size, sponsorship duration, and whether priority service is used. The largest variable is the Immigration Skills Charge — £480 (small/charity) or £1,320 (medium/large) for the first 12 months, plus £240 or £660 for each additional 6 months, paid upfront at CoS assignment. The Sponsor Licence application fee (£611 or £1,682) and the CoS fee (£525) are smaller but still significant.

Realistically 8–12 weeks from 'we want to hire' to 'CoS assigned and ready for the worker to apply'. Of this, the Home Office's standard sponsor-licence processing takes up to 8 weeks. Priority service can reduce that to 10 working days for £750 — but most of the timeline is sponsor-side preparation, not Home Office processing, so priority only helps when the application is genuinely ready.

Most UK SMEs can. The Home Office assesses operational genuineness rather than size — a 20-employee tech startup with paying customers and a real product can sponsor a Skilled Worker. What matters is your ability to demonstrate the business is a genuine, trading operation with the systems to meet sponsor duties: HR records, attendance monitoring, right-to-work checks, and named key personnel. A readiness review is the safest way to find out before committing to the application fee.

Up to 5 years per Certificate of Sponsorship, depending on the period you specify in the CoS. After 5 continuous years on the Skilled Worker route the worker may be eligible to apply for settlement (indefinite leave to remain), subject to meeting the residence and salary requirements at that point.

Most material changes trigger sponsor reporting duties within 10 working days through SMS — including change of duties, change of work location, and salary reduction. A significant change of role or a salary reduction below the applicable threshold may also require the worker to submit a change-of-employment application. Take advice before making material changes to a sponsored worker's terms — both sides of the equation (sponsor duty and worker visa) need to be managed together.

Related services & resources

IAA

Regulated immigration advice

Harveys Legal is regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority.

Firm Reg No. F202537009. Verify on the IAA register before engagement.

Planning your first Skilled Worker hire? Get the cost and timeline picture before you commit.

Book a consultation. We will walk through your specific role and worker scenario — SOC code, salary, sponsorship duration, business size — and give you the full Home Office cost and a realistic timeline. We will tell you plainly if a sponsor licence is not yet the right move. Harveys Legal supports immigration applications, sponsor compliance preparation and related legal processes. Final decisions remain with the Home Office or relevant decision-maker.

Book a Consultation →Estimate your sponsor licence costs

Harveys Legal supports immigration applications, sponsor compliance preparation and related legal processes. Final decisions remain with the Home Office or the relevant decision-maker.