Sponsoring overseas workers
Your duties as a licensed sponsor, and the checks UKVI expects you to keep.
Updated June 2026 · general information, not legal advice
Sponsor duties
- Holding a sponsor licence is a privilege with ongoing duties. You must keep accurate records, report relevant changes to UKVI, and only assign Certificates of Sponsorship for genuine roles that meet the route's requirements.
- You must carry out a compliant right-to-work check on every worker you sponsor before they start, plus any follow-up checks where their permission is time-limited. Failing to do so breaches your duties and can lead to a civil penalty and licence revocation.
Re-checks and monitoring
- Re-verify each sponsored worker's status on a regular cadence (an annual digital check is a sensible default) and before any visa expires. Tenavo tracks visa expiry and your next re-check date for each sponsored worker.
- Monitor that sponsored workers stay in the role and on the terms you sponsored them for, and report changes such as a change of role, salary, or early termination within the required time.
Records to keep (Appendix D)
- Keep right-to-work evidence, contact details, role and salary records, and immigration documents for each sponsored worker, retained for the duration of sponsorship plus the required period.
- Sponsor guidance has changed several times during 2026 — read the current guidance in full and keep your processes up to date.