Hiring International Workers: Employer Obligations UK 2026

As a UK employer, hiring an international worker places you under a set of legal obligations enforced by the Home Office — obligations that carry civil penalties of up to £60,000 per illegal worker, licence revocation, and in serious cases criminal prosecution. Every employer who wants to hire from overseas must hold a valid sponsor licence, conduct robust right to work checks, assign the correct Certificate of Sponsorship, pay the Immigration Skills Charge, and maintain compliance records throughout employment. Understanding exactly what those duties are — and in what sequence they must be met — is the purpose of this guide.

Who This Guide Is For

This article is written for HR managers, business owners, and in-house legal teams at UK organisations that are hiring, or planning to hire, workers from outside the United Kingdom and Ireland. It covers the Skilled Worker route in detail because that is the route most employers use for sponsored employment, with relevant references to other routes where they differ. It does not cover illegal working in detail beyond its penalties.

Disclaimer: This guide provides practical orientation only. It is not immigration legal advice. Where your situation involves eligibility questions, compliance risk, or complex individual circumstances, consult a solicitor regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority or an adviser regulated by the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC).

Obligation 1 — Hold a Valid Sponsor Licence

Why the licence comes first

You cannot lawfully employ a worker on the Skilled Worker, Health and Care Worker, or most other sponsored routes unless your organisation is listed on the Home Office's Register of Licensed Sponsors. The register is public, and workers and their advisers routinely check it before accepting a job offer.

The application is made to UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI), the operational arm of the Home Office. You apply online via the Sponsor Management System (SMS), pay the application fee, and submit supporting documents evidencing that your business is genuine, legally operating, and capable of meeting sponsorship duties. For a full walkthrough of the process, see our guide How to Apply for a UK Skilled Worker Sponsor Licence.

Licence types and ratings

Licences are granted under two tiers of routes: Worker routes (including Skilled Worker, Senior or Specialist Worker, and Health and Care Worker) and Temporary Worker routes. Most employers who want to hire permanent or long-term staff need a Worker route licence.

Licences can be rated A-rated (full, compliant status) or B-rated (reduced privileges, typically following a compliance concern). New applicants are granted A-rated status on approval. Slipping to B-rated status significantly restricts your ability to assign new CoS.

How long does it take?

UKVI publishes processing time targets. In practice, straightforward applications can be decided within eight weeks; priority processing (subject to an additional fee, where available) can reduce this. For a realistic timeline broken down by stage, see UK Sponsor Licence Application Timeline: How Long It Takes.

What the licence costs

The application fee varies by organisation size — small or charitable sponsors pay a lower rate than medium and large organisations. There is also the ongoing Immigration Skills Charge (see Obligation 4 below). See UK Sponsor Licence Cost and Fees Breakdown 2026 for a full breakdown. All fees should be verified at gov.uk/uk-visa-sponsorship-employers before submission, as they are subject to change.

Obligation 2 — Conduct Right to Work Checks Before Employment Begins

The legal framework

Under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 (as subsequently amended), every UK employer must check that a worker has the right to work in the UK before employment commences. A correct and timely check provides a statutory excuse against a civil penalty if that worker is later found to be working illegally.

The penalty structure for employing an illegal worker is significant. As of 2026, maximum civil penalties can reach up to £60,000 per worker — verify the current ceiling with the Home Office or a licensed adviser, as the figure has been revised upward in recent legislation. Repeat offences, deliberate evasion, or evidence of exploitation can lead to criminal prosecution.

How to conduct the check for sponsored workers

For workers with immigration status (including Skilled Worker visa holders), the correct method in 2026 is the Home Office online right to work checking service, accessed via gov.uk. The worker generates a share code and provides it alongside their date of birth. You enter these details into the service and the result must be saved and stored. Manual document checks remain appropriate for British and Irish citizens presenting a valid passport but are not the standard route for visa holders.

The check must be:

• Carried out before the first day of work, not retrospectively
• Carried out on the correct service — printing a share code confirmation is required for your records
• Repeated at the expiry of a time-limited permission (follow-on checks are required for workers on temporary leave)

Record retention

Retain the output of every check — whether a document copy or a saved online check result — for the duration of employment and for two years after the employment ends. Records must be stored securely and be retrievable during a compliance visit.

Obligation 3 — Assign a Certificate of Sponsorship

What the CoS is

A Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) is not a physical document. It is a unique reference number generated in the Sponsor Management System that tells the Home Office which role you are sponsoring, at what salary, in which location, and for how long. The worker uses the CoS reference number to make their visa application. For a full explanation of the CoS process, see Certificate of Sponsorship Explained for Employers 2026.

Defined vs Undefined CoS

Mixing up these two types — for example, assigning an Undefined CoS to someone applying from abroad — is a recordable compliance error and can invalidate the worker's application.

Salary and SOC code requirements

Every CoS must specify the worker's Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code, the job title, and the gross annual salary. The salary must meet both the general Skilled Worker minimum threshold and the going rate for that specific SOC code, whichever is higher. Salary thresholds are revised periodically; always verify the current threshold for the relevant SOC code in the Home Office Appendix Skilled Occupations or with a qualified adviser before making a written offer.

A useful illustration: if the general threshold is £38,700 but the going rate for a particular accounting SOC code is £42,000, the worker must be offered at least £42,000. Undercutting the going rate is one of the most common reasons compliance audits identify problems — see the broader list in Why Sponsor Licence Applications Get Refused (2026).

Obligation 4 — Pay the Immigration Skills Charge

The Immigration Skills Charge (ISC) is a levy paid by the sponsoring employer at the point of assigning a Defined CoS or certain Undefined CoS. It is calculated per year of sponsorship (or part thereof) and varies by employer size:

These are indicative figures based on published rates. Verify the current rate at gov.uk before assigning a CoS, as rates are subject to change.

Critically: the ISC must be paid by the employer and must never be recovered from the worker. No legitimate employer charges a worker for their visa sponsorship costs. Doing so would breach the sponsor guidance, may constitute an unlawful deduction from wages, and has led to licence revocations.

Obligation 5 — Meet Ongoing Compliance Duties After Approval

Obtaining the licence is the beginning, not the end. Home Office compliance duties run continuously for as long as you hold a sponsor licence.

Record keeping

You must hold, in accessible form, for each sponsored worker:

• A copy of their current passport and any previous passports covering the period of sponsorship
• Their current UK address, contact details, and National Insurance number
• Contact details for their emergency next of kin
• Copies of relevant qualifications relied upon for the role
• Records of their absences (including absences that are not authorised)

Reporting duties

You must report certain events to the Home Office via the SMS within defined timeframes. Reportable events include:

• The worker does not turn up on their first day
• The worker's employment is terminated (for any reason) before the end of the CoS
• The worker is absent without permission for ten or more consecutive working days
• Significant changes to the worker's role, salary, or work location
• Any changes to your organisation (TUPE transfer, change of address, directorship changes)

Most reports carry a 10 working day deadline from the date you become aware. A handful — including absences — carry a shorter window. Failure to report within the deadline is recorded against your licence.

Cooperation with Home Office visits

UKVI compliance officers can conduct announced or unannounced visits to your premises. You must cooperate, provide access to records, and make key personnel available. Obstructing a visit or failing to produce records can itself trigger a licence suspension. Read our detailed guide Sponsor Licence Compliance Duties After Approval 2026 for the full reporting matrix.

Obligation 6 — Pay and Treat Sponsored Workers Fairly

The anti-displacement and equal treatment rules

Sponsored workers must be employed in genuine vacancies that meet the skill and salary requirements of the route. You cannot use the sponsorship system to undercut resident workers by hiring overseas labour at lower rates. The salary on the CoS must reflect the worker's actual remuneration, not an artificially inflated figure.

Workers sponsored on the Skilled Worker route have the right to change employer (by obtaining a new CoS from a new sponsor) without your consent, provided they remain within the route's conditions. You cannot impose contractual clauses that penalise a worker for switching sponsors in a way that functions as a clawback of visa-related costs — such clauses have attracted Home Office scrutiny and Employment Tribunal claims.

Working hours and location

A sponsored worker must work only in the role and at the location stated on their CoS. If the primary work location changes materially, you must report this and may need to assign a new CoS. Workers on the Skilled Worker route may not work for a third-party employer unless that is specifically permitted by their visa conditions.

Common Mistakes Employers Make (and How to Fix Them)

1. Applying for the licence too late. Fix: begin the licence application as soon as you identify a vacancy you cannot fill domestically. Do not wait until you have a preferred candidate.

2. Assigning the wrong CoS type. Fix: confirm whether the worker is applying from inside or outside the UK before you raise the CoS request. Read the SMS guidance carefully; if in doubt, consult a licensed adviser.

3. Offering a salary that meets the general threshold but not the SOC going rate. Fix: look up the going rate for the specific SOC code in Appendix Skilled Occupations before drafting the offer letter. Build this into your salary benchmarking process.

4. Failing to conduct the right to work check on day one. Fix: create a pre-employment checklist that hard-stops onboarding until the check output is saved to the personnel file.

5. Not reporting a worker's absence. Fix: train line managers to escalate any unexplained absence of five or more consecutive days immediately. Do not wait until ten days have passed to act.

6. Allowing the worker's visa to expire without a renewal CoS. Fix: build expiry date alerts into your HR system linked to both the CoS end date and the visa expiry date — these are sometimes different.

7. Recovering the ISC or other visa costs from the worker via a deduction or a repayment clause. Fix: remove any such clause from your contracts immediately and review payroll records. Take legal advice if any recovery has already occurred.

8. Letting your Authorising Officer leave without appointing a replacement. Fix: the Authorising Officer is named on the licence and carries personal accountability. Any change must be updated in the SMS without delay.

Illustrative Example: A Care Home Group Hiring From Overseas

This is an illustrative scenario using fictional figures. It does not represent any real organisation or guarantee any outcome.

A medium-sized care home group with 120 employees wants to hire eight care assistants from overseas on the Health and Care Worker route (a sub-category of the Skilled Worker route). They have never sponsored before.

Step 1 — Licence application. The group appoints an HR manager as Authorising Officer and a senior administrator as Level 1 SMS user. They compile supporting documents and apply for a Worker route licence. The application fee for a medium/large employer is paid. See Sponsor Licence Application Documents Checklist 2026 for the document list.

Step 2 — Salary check. The relevant SOC code for care assistants attracts a specific going rate. The group confirms their offered salary meets both the general minimum threshold and the SOC going rate. For context on what roles in this sector look like from a candidate perspective, see Care Assistant Jobs in the UK with Visa Sponsorship 2026.

Step 3 — ISC calculation. They are hiring eight workers on three-year CoS. At the medium/large rate of £1,000 per year (indicative), the ISC is £1,000 × 3 years = £3,000 per worker, or £24,000 in total for eight workers. This is a significant business cost that must be budgeted at outset.

Step 4 — CoS assignment. All eight workers are applying from outside the UK, so Defined CoS are requested and allocated. Each CoS reference is shared with the worker to include in their visa application.

Step 5 — Right to work checks on arrival. On each worker's first day, the HR manager conducts an online share code check and saves the output to the worker's personnel file.

Step 6 — Ongoing compliance. The HR system is configured to flag CoS expiry dates 90 days in advance. Line managers are briefed on the absence reporting obligation.

A Note on Sector-Specific Contexts

The obligations described in this guide apply regardless of sector, but the practical complexity varies. Employers in logistics who sponsor overseas truck drivers in the UK or forklift drivers across European operations face the additional layer of managing workers at multiple sites or across borders, which requires careful attention to the location reporting duties. Similarly, employers in professional services sponsoring accountants in the UK will typically deal with higher salary thresholds and more complex SOC code matching.

The obligations do not change, but the operational detail of meeting them will differ by role type, employment structure, and whether workers operate at a fixed or variable location.

Where to Find Official Guidance

All employer obligations under the sponsorship system are set out in the Home Office Sponsor Guidance, published on gov.uk. This document — formally titled "Workers and Temporary Workers: guidance for sponsors" — is the primary authoritative source. It is updated periodically, and the version in force at the time you take any action is the version that applies to you.

Key official sources to bookmark:

• gov.uk/uk-visa-sponsorship-employers — Sponsor Guidance, SMS access, fee schedules
• gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa — worker-facing guidance (useful for understanding what applicants must prove)
• gov.uk/check-job-applicant-right-to-work — the online right to work checking service
• OISC register — to verify that any immigration adviser you use is properly regulated

For a step-by-step narrative of the full process from licence to visa grant, see How to Sponsor an Employee for a Work Visa: Step by Step.

Summary: The Employer Obligations at a Glance

Every obligation in the table above is independently enforceable. A failure in one area does not reduce scrutiny of the others. The Home Office compliance function is active, and both announced audits and reactive investigations (triggered by tip-offs or data matches) occur regularly.

If you are approaching the sponsorship process for the first time, or if you have concerns about your current compliance posture, the most cost-effective step is usually a compliance audit by a licensed immigration solicitor before a Home Office visit, not after one.