UK sponsor licence FAQs

It's the Home Office's published list of organisations permitted to sponsor migrants on UK visa routes such as Skilled Worker. This site mirrors that register, kept in sync with GOV.UK.

Search the organisation's name on the sponsors page. A match means it appeared on the register as of the last successful sync - always verify anything consequential directly on GOV.UK.

It's Home Office permission for an organisation to sponsor migrants on certain UK visa routes, e.g. Skilled Worker. It's a legal permission, not a hiring pipeline.

No. A licence means the organisation is permitted to sponsor a visa if it chooses to hire someone who needs one. It says nothing about current vacancies.

A-rated sponsors are fully compliant with their sponsor duties. B-rated sponsors have had compliance issues and are given a time-limited action plan to fix them before being downgraded or losing their licence entirely.

Worker routes (e.g. Skilled Worker) are longer-term, points-based routes. Temporary Worker routes (e.g. Seasonal Worker, Charity Worker) are time-limited. Some organisations hold licences on both.

A sync runs daily at 06:00 UTC, fetching the latest published register from GOV.UK. If nothing has changed since the last publish, the sync records that and nothing else happens.

The Home Office removes sponsors that lose their licence, but this site currently can't distinguish that from a rename or an office relocation - both look identical to a removal in the underlying diff. See the methodology page for the full explanation.

No. This is an independent, unofficial mirror. It exists to make the register easier to search and track changes in - always confirm anything important directly on GOV.UK.

Directly from GOV.UK's published register of licensed sponsors, via its official content API - see Data & methodology for the full sync process.

This checker is built and maintained by annaizu, which helps UK employers manage sponsor licence compliance. Checking whether an organisation genuinely holds a sponsor licence is a question our own customers ask constantly - this tool makes that check public and free for anyone.

It's inferred from keywords in the organisation's name and isn't part of the official register - treat it as a rough guide, not a fact.