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

The general salary threshold is £41,700 per year, but the actual minimum for a role is the higher of £41,700 or the SOC code going rate. For some senior or technical roles, including certain healthcare, technology and finance roles, the going rate is well above £41,700. 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.

The employer, not the worker, holds the sponsorship. First the business gets a sponsor licence from the Home Office. It then assigns a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) for a specific role that meets the skill level and salary rules, and the worker uses that CoS to apply for their Skilled Worker visa. From then on the employer has sponsor duties: right to work checks, record keeping and reporting changes to the Home Office. A worker cannot sponsor themselves; they need a UK employer with a licence to offer them a sponsored role.

In order: confirm the role is eligible and find its SOC code and going rate; check the salary meets the higher of the general threshold and the going rate; apply for a sponsor licence if you do not hold one; request or allocate a CoS; assign it to the worker; then the worker applies for the visa. Most of the time is in preparing the licence application and the role details, not in Home Office processing. The Home Office makes the final decision on both the licence and the visa.

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. You must show that the business is genuine and trading, with systems for HR records, attendance monitoring, right-to-work checks and named key personnel. A readiness review can check this before you commit 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 changes to duties, work location or salary. A significant role change or salary reduction below the applicable threshold may also require a change-of-employment application. Take advice before changing a sponsored worker's terms. The sponsor duty and worker visa must be managed together.