TRW & Co · Employment, Pensions & Immigration
Business Immigration Lawyers in London
UK employers now hire overseas talent under a tighter, costlier system: higher salary thresholds, graduate-level skill requirements and active Home Office enforcement. Our business immigration lawyers London clients instruct handle sponsor licences, Skilled Worker and Global Business Mobility hires, founder visas, right to work compliance and the immigration side of transactions.
Key pointA sponsor licence is a continuing compliance relationship, not a permission: most licence losses stem from weak record-keeping, mismatched occupation codes and missed reporting deadlines rather than from the original application.
At a glance
Skilled Worker salary floor
The general threshold is £41,700 a year or the occupation's going rate, whichever is higher, with a lower floor in defined cases such as new entrants.
Graduate-level roles required
Since July 2025 most new Skilled Worker roles must be higher skilled; medium-skilled roles qualify only via shortage lists or transitional rules.
Penalties for illegal working
Civil penalties can reach £60,000 per illegal worker, and knowingly employing one can lead to five years' imprisonment and an unlimited fine.
Licence ratings matter
A B-rated sponsor cannot assign new certificates to new recruits; recovery requires a paid action plan and only two B-ratings are allowed.
Settlement reform is pending
The government proposes a ten-year normal qualifying period for settlement, but it must change the Immigration Rules before that applies.
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What business immigration covers in the UK
Business immigration is the law that governs how organisations bring people from overseas to work in the UK and keep them lawfully employed. The work that business immigration lawyers London employers instruct ranges from first sponsor licence applications to Home Office compliance audits, executive transfers, founder visas and the immigration side of acquisitions and restructurings.
Since free movement ended, the scope is wide. A UK employer usually needs a sponsor licence to employ someone from outside the UK, and that includes citizens of the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland who arrived after 31 December 2020. Irish citizens, people with settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme and those with indefinite leave to remain do not need sponsorship.
The subject becomes a board-level question when a hiring plan depends on overseas talent, when the business opens a UK entity for the first time, when a deal brings sponsored workers into the group, or when UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) arrives for a compliance visit.
Who is affected
The obligations fall on every UK employer, whether or not it sponsors anyone, because the right to work rules apply to all hires. Sponsors carry a second layer of duties. Senior individuals, founders and investors face their own route choices, which often interact with tax residence and family plans.
The legal and regulatory framework
The legal architecture has three layers. The Immigration Act 1971 provides the power to control entry and stay. The detailed requirements sit in the Immigration Rules, including Appendix Skilled Worker, which are changed through Statements of Changes laid before Parliament. Sponsors are then bound by the Home Office's guidance for sponsors, which sets out licence duties in detail.
The Home Office, acting through UKVI, grants licences and visas. Immigration Enforcement deals with illegal working. Refusals of most work visas carry no right of appeal, only administrative review, and challenges to licence decisions are usually brought by judicial review.
The right to work regime
Under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006, an employer that employs someone without the right to work can face a civil penalty. GOV.UK states that the civil penalty can be up to £60,000 for each illegal worker. Knowingly employing an illegal worker, or having reasonable cause to believe they lack the right to work, is a criminal offence punishable by up to five years' imprisonment and an unlimited fine. Employers that carry out the prescribed checks correctly have a statutory excuse against the civil penalty.
The checks themselves have changed. eVisas have replaced physical immigration documents for most migrants, so many checks are now online using a share code. Our guide to right to work checks explains the methods.
Recent reform
Since July 2025 the work routes have tightened. For most new Skilled Worker applications, the job must be classed as "higher skilled", broadly graduate-level; "medium skilled" roles qualify only if they appear on the Immigration Salary List or the Temporary Shortage List, or in limited transitional cases.
The government has also proposed an "earned settlement" model that would make ten years the normal qualifying period for settlement. It ran a consultation on earned settlement, but those proposals must be implemented through changes to the Immigration Rules before they bind, so we check their status for every client. Business immigration lawyers London employers rely on need to track both what is in force and what is announced.
Work routes and how to choose between them
Choosing the right route is the most important early decision. It affects cost, timing, whether the person can bring dependants and whether time counts towards settlement.
| Route | Typical use | Sponsor licence needed? | Key point |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skilled Worker | Long-term hires in eligible roles | Yes (Worker licence) | Salary at least £41,700 or the going rate, whichever is higher, unless a lower rate applies |
| Senior or Specialist Worker (Global Business Mobility) | Transfers of established employees within a multinational | Yes | Does not lead to settlement on its own |
| UK Expansion Worker (Global Business Mobility) | Overseas business setting up its first UK presence | Yes, with a provisional rating | Licence valid for four years; one initial certificate for the authorising officer |
| Scale-up Worker | Hires by fast-growing UK businesses | Yes | Worker gains flexibility after the initial sponsored period |
| Global Talent | Leaders and emerging leaders in endorsed fields | No | Requires endorsement or an eligible award |
| Innovator Founder | Founders with an innovative, viable, scalable business | No (endorsing body instead) | Endorsement is the critical step |
| Graduate | Recent UK graduates | No | Two years if applying by 31 December 2026; 18 months from 1 January 2027 |
Skilled Worker: the default route
GOV.UK confirms that the Skilled Worker minimum salary is usually the higher of £41,700 a year and the going rate for the occupation code. A lower floor of £33,400 can apply in defined cases, such as new entrants, and there are separate rules for some health and education roles based on national pay scales. New applicants must now prove English at level B2; those who held the visa before 8 January 2026 and are extending need B1. Our Skilled Worker visa guide covers the detail.
Dependants are another dividing line. Workers in "medium skilled" occupations first sponsored after 22 July 2025 generally cannot bring a partner or children, subject to narrow exceptions. That alone can determine whether a candidate accepts an offer.
Founders, investors and senior transfers
For founders, the choice is usually between the Innovator Founder visa, the Global Talent route and setting up a UK company that then sponsors its own staff. For multinationals sending a team to start operations, the UK Expansion Worker route is designed for that purpose. Business immigration lawyers London founders work with should map the route against the business plan, not the other way round.
Getting and keeping a sponsor licence
The sponsor licence is the gateway for most employer-led routes. GOV.UK describes two licence types: a Worker licence for skilled or long-term employment and a Temporary Worker licence for specific temporary categories. A licence usually stays valid for as long as the sponsor continues to meet the requirements, except that Scale-up and UK Expansion Worker licences last four years.
The Home Office's sponsorship guidance sets the Worker licence fee at £611 for small or charitable sponsors and £1,682 for medium or large sponsors. A business is usually a small sponsor if at least two of the following apply: annual turnover of £15 million or less, total assets of £7.5 million or less, and 50 employees or fewer. The sponsor must pay the fee itself.
Key personnel
Every licence needs an authorising officer, a key contact and at least one level 1 user who manages the licence on the sponsorship management system. UKVI checks these people for suitability, including unspent convictions and previous involvement with a sponsor whose licence was revoked. Choosing the wrong person, or someone with no real authority, is a frequent cause of refusals and later compliance failures.
Ratings, downgrades and revocation
A successful applicant receives an A-rating. A sponsor that falls short of its duties can be downgraded to a B-rating, which stops it assigning new certificates of sponsorship to new recruits. To recover, it must follow a UKVI action plan, which costs £1,579 and must be paid within ten working days. A licence can have only two B-ratings while valid. If a licence is revoked there is no appeal, and the business must wait at least twelve months before reapplying. Our article on avoiding suspension and revocation explains how audits are run.
A sponsor licence is not a one-off permission. It is a continuing compliance relationship with the Home Office, and the obligations last as long as the licence.
Process and timeline for a first sponsored hire
Business immigration lawyers London businesses instruct for a first hire typically run the following sequence. Timings vary with UKVI processing and whether a compliance visit is ordered.
- Check eligibility and the role. Confirm the UK entity is genuinely trading, identify the correct occupation code, check whether it is higher or medium skilled, and test the salary against the general threshold and going rate.
- Prepare HR systems. Put in place right to work processes, record-keeping, absence monitoring and a reporting procedure before applying; UKVI may visit to check them.
- Appoint key personnel. Choose an authorising officer, key contact and level 1 user with genuine authority and clean suitability records.
- Apply for the licence. Complete the online application, pay the fee and submit the supporting documents listed in the sponsor guidance, with certified translations where needed.
- Assign the certificate of sponsorship. Once A-rated, assign a certificate with accurate job, salary and hours details and pay the immigration skills charge where it applies.
- Visa application. The worker applies online, proves identity, meets English and financial requirements and, if applying from certain countries including Bangladesh, provides a tuberculosis test certificate.
- Onboard and monitor. Complete the right to work check before employment starts, record it, and report changes through the sponsorship management system within the deadlines in the guidance.
The immigration skills charge is payable when a certificate is assigned for most Skilled Worker and Senior or Specialist Worker applications, and it must cover the full period of the visa. The sponsor guidance does not allow the licence fee or the immigration skills charge to be passed on to the worker. Build both into the hiring budget, and check whether the occupation code is one of the research roles that GOV.UK lists as exempt.
Documents and evidence to assemble
UKVI decisions turn on documents. For a licence application, expect to provide:
- Corporate evidence that the business is genuine and operating lawfully in the UK, such as audited or management accounts, VAT and employer PAYE registration, a business bank account and premises evidence.
- Evidence specific to the sector, for example regulatory registrations or licences.
- An organisation chart showing where sponsored roles sit and who the key personnel report to.
- Job descriptions that genuinely match the chosen occupation code, with salary and hours.
- HR policies on right to work, record-keeping and absence monitoring.
For each sponsored worker, the sponsor must keep the documents required by the sponsor guidance, including evidence of right to work checks, contact details and attendance records. During an audit, UKVI will compare job descriptions with the work actually being done and with payroll data. Business immigration lawyers London employers use for audit preparation should test that alignment before UKVI does.
Risks and common mistakes
Choosing the wrong occupation code
The occupation code drives the skill level, the going rate and whether a role qualifies at all. Employers sometimes choose a code because its going rate is lower or because it is classed as higher skilled, even though the duties do not fit. UKVI treats a mismatch between code and duties as a sign that the vacancy is not genuine, which can lead to refusal of the certificate, the visa or even the licence. The safer approach is to start from an honest job description, match it to the code using the official coding tools, and adjust the salary if the correct code has a higher going rate.
Treating sponsorship as an HR formality
Sponsors must monitor immigration status, keep records, track attendance, keep contact details up to date and report problems, such as a worker who stops coming to work. They must also report significant business changes, including insolvency, mergers or takeovers, within 20 working days. These duties are routinely missed when the only person who understood the licence leaves. A licence-holder should have written procedures, a trained deputy and periodic internal audits, so that compliance does not depend on one individual.
Missing the immigration angle on deals and restructurings
A sponsor licence cannot simply be transferred with shares or assets. In a share sale the licence usually stays with the same entity but the change of ownership must be reported. In an asset sale or TUPE transfer the buyer generally needs its own licence, and new certificates may be required, within a short window. Redundancy or relocation programmes can also affect sponsored workers' permission. We advise alongside our M&A lawyers and TUPE and redundancy team so that sponsored employees are not left without status after completion.
Assuming today's settlement rules will still apply
Many workers accept a UK role because the route leads to settlement after five years. The government has said it intends to make ten years the normal qualifying period and that changes may apply to people already in the UK who have not yet settled. Until the Immigration Rules are amended, the current route-specific rules apply, but employers should avoid promising settlement in offer letters and should help key staff plan applications around known dates, such as the planned move to a higher English requirement for settlement.
Under-documented right to work checks
The statutory excuse against a civil penalty only protects an employer that carried out a prescribed check, in the prescribed way, before employment began, and kept a clear record. Common failures include checking an expired document, accepting a photocopy, forgetting follow-up checks for time-limited permission and failing to keep the online check result. Because the civil penalty is assessed per illegal worker, a systemic failure can be costly and may also put a sponsor licence at risk.
Cross-border angle: Bangladesh, the EU, the Gulf and Asia
TRW & Co's network gives us a particular view of inbound mobility. For Bangladeshi groups opening a London presence, the UK Expansion Worker route or a UK subsidiary that applies for its own licence are the usual paths; our Bangladeshi businesses in the UK team handles the corporate set-up alongside the immigration filings. Individuals from Bangladesh must provide a tuberculosis test certificate for longer stays, and documents in Bengali must be accompanied by certified translations. Our guide to the Skilled Worker visa from Bangladesh sets out the practical steps.
For EU, Gulf and Singaporean businesses, the key questions are whether staff should be transferred under Global Business Mobility or hired by the UK entity, and how payroll, social security and tax residence will work. EU nationals who arrived after 2020 need the same permission as anyone else. Where employees remain on a foreign contract, home-country employment law may continue to apply alongside UK mandatory rules.
Business immigration lawyers London groups instruct should also consider whether a UK presence creates a taxable permanent establishment, and whether a founder's personal move affects their residence elsewhere. Our personal and family immigration team handles family members' applications.
How TRW & Co's business immigration lawyers London clients instruct can help
TRW & Co's London office is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. We advise employers, founders and investors on UK immigration as part of a wider employment and corporate practice. Where litigation in the higher courts is required, for example in a judicial review of a licence revocation, we instruct specialist counsel.
Sponsor licence applications
We test eligibility, prepare HR systems and documents, advise on key personnel and prepare the application. Our guide on how to get a sponsor licence gives an overview.
Compliance audits and remediation
We run mock UKVI audits, review right to work records and certificates against payroll, and fix gaps before a compliance visit. Where a licence is suspended or downgraded, we prepare the response and action plan.
Hiring and transfers
We advise on route selection, occupation codes, salary compliance, certificates of sponsorship and visa applications for Skilled Worker, Global Business Mobility and Scale-up hires.
Founders and senior individuals
We advise founders, investors and executives on Innovator Founder, Global Talent and other routes, coordinating with tax and private client advice where the move is part of a wider relocation.
Transactions and restructurings
We carry out immigration due diligence, plan licence changes for share and asset deals, and protect sponsored employees through TUPE transfers and reorganisations.
Employment integration
We align immigration with contracts, policies and exits, working with our employment law practice so that a dismissal or settlement does not cause a reporting failure.
See the full range of TRW & Co's practices for related corporate, tax and employment work.
Checklist for decision-makers
- Do we know which of our current and planned hires need sponsorship, and which already have status?
- Does each role map honestly to a higher-skilled occupation code, and does the salary meet both the general threshold and the going rate?
- Have we budgeted for licence fees, the immigration skills charge and the worker's visa costs, and decided who pays what lawfully?
- Are our authorising officer, key contact and level 1 users senior enough, trained and free of suitability issues?
- Are right to work checks prescribed, recorded and repeated for time-limited permission?
- Do we have a written process for reporting worker and business changes within the deadlines?
- Have deals, restructurings and exits been checked for their effect on the licence and sponsored workers?
- Are we monitoring proposed settlement and route changes, including our summary of the immigration reforms, and avoiding promises we cannot keep?
To discuss a licence, audit or hire with our business immigration lawyers London team, contact TRW & Co.
Frequently asked questions
01Do we need a sponsor licence to hire EU nationals?
Usually, yes. GOV.UK states that a sponsor licence is normally needed to employ someone from outside the UK, including citizens of the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland who arrived after 31 December 2020. No licence is needed for Irish citizens, people with settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, or people with indefinite leave to remain. Candidates on routes that permit work without sponsorship, such as Graduate or Global Talent, can also be employed without a licence, subject to right to work checks.
02How long does a sponsor licence application take?
Timing depends on UKVI's processing times when you apply and whether it decides to carry out a pre-licence compliance visit. Preparation on the employer's side is often the longer part: confirming eligibility, appointing key personnel, assembling corporate documents and putting HR systems in place. A priority service is sometimes available for licence applications, subject to daily limits. We recommend starting the licence process before you need to make a sponsored hire, because the certificate of sponsorship can only be assigned once the licence is granted.
03What salary must a Skilled Worker be paid?
GOV.UK states that the usual minimum is the higher of £41,700 a year and the going rate for the occupation code. A lower floor of £33,400 a year applies in defined circumstances, such as new entrants and some extension cases, and certain health and education roles follow national pay scales. Workers first sponsored before 22 July 2025 may benefit from transitional rules on extension. Salary must also comply with the national minimum wage, and the Home Office checks whether the salary actually paid matches the certificate.
04What happens if our sponsor licence is suspended?
Suspension usually follows a compliance visit or information suggesting a breach. The sponsor is told the reasons and given a short period to respond with representations and evidence. During suspension, it cannot assign new certificates of sponsorship, and existing workers may be affected if the licence is later revoked. The outcome may be reinstatement, a downgrade to a B-rating with an action plan, or revocation. A fast, well-evidenced response is critical, as there is no appeal against revocation and a twelve-month wait applies before reapplying.
05Can we recover the immigration skills charge from the worker?
No. The sponsor guidance does not allow sponsors to pass the immigration skills charge or the licence fee on to the sponsored worker, and GOV.UK warns that asking a worker to pay the licence fee can lead to revocation. Some employers consider clawback clauses for other relocation costs, but these need care under employment law and the sponsor rules. The immigration skills charge is not payable for dependants, and GOV.UK lists certain research and higher education occupation codes that are exempt.
06Can a Skilled Worker bring their family to the UK?
Usually, workers in higher-skilled roles can bring a partner and children under 18 as dependants. Workers in medium-skilled occupations who were first sponsored after 22 July 2025 generally cannot, apart from limited exceptions such as children born in the UK. Dependants must show a relationship recognised under the rules and, unless exempt, sufficient funds. Because this rule can decide whether a candidate accepts, employers should check the classification of the occupation code before making an offer.
07Is the five-year route to settlement changing?
The government has proposed an earned settlement model under which ten years would become the normal qualifying period, with some people able to qualify sooner based on contribution, and it has said changes may apply to people already in the UK. It consulted on the proposals, but they take effect only when the Immigration Rules are changed. Until then, current route-specific rules apply. Separately, the English language requirement for many settlement routes is scheduled to rise. Employers should avoid promising settlement timelines in offer letters.
Sources and official materials
- GOV.UK: UK visa sponsorship for employers — Licence types, fees, ratings and sponsor duties
- GOV.UK: Skilled Worker visa – your job — Salary thresholds and eligible occupations
- Sponsorship: guidance for employers and educators — Home Office sponsor guidance documents
- Immigration Rules: Appendix Skilled Worker — The rules for the Skilled Worker route
- GOV.UK: Penalties for employing illegal workers — Civil penalties and criminal offence
- GOV.UK: Check a job applicant's right to work — How to carry out right to work checks
- Home Office: Earned settlement consultation — Proposed changes to the route to settlement
General information only, current as at 21 October 2026. It is not legal advice and does not create a solicitor–client relationship. It reflects the law of England and Wales unless stated otherwise; Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate legal systems, and the law changes frequently. Check current official sources and take advice on the facts of your matter.