The UK Government has made significant changes to guidance for sponsors and UK Immigration Rules which employers licensed to sponsor migrant workers need to adopt immediately.
The backdrop is a rise in enforcement activity by UK Visas and Immigration (‘UKVI‘), largely driven by data-sharing across government systems (including HMRC, PAYE and Companies House) rather than traditional site visits.
Right to Work Checks
Sponsors are now the first employers to adopt an expanded right to work check regime expected to be rolled out in some form for all employers later this year. Employers with a sponsor licence must now check the right to work of any worker they wish to employ or sponsor, including workers who are not direct employees, whether sponsored or not. As well as employees, this now includes any worker they ‘directly engage.’ A sponsor licence can now be revoked where a sponsor is “employing or engaging” a worker (whether sponsored or not) who does not have the right to work or is working in breach of the conditions of their permission in the UK.
Most sponsors will not have been carrying out right to work checks on self-employed workers and will be unaware of their status as it has not been a requirement previously.
We have written to the Home Office for more clarity. Wording of the new sponsorship guidance suggests sponsors should now check the status of all self-employed, zero-hour and directly engaged contractors to protect against the loss of their licence to sponsor workers, but it remains ambiguous. Sponsors may want to take legal advice on how best to protect themselves and review their right to work processes accordingly.
Reading Sponsor Guidance in Full
Sponsors are now required to read the sponsor guidance in full including Parts 1, 2 and 3, the appendices, the route specific guidance and the glossary and to remain aware of its contents (i.e. any updates implemented).
The relevant guidance documents for Skilled Worker sponsors are included below:
- Workers and Temporary Workers – guidance for sponsors part 1: apply for a licence
- Sponsor a worker: sponsor guidance part 2
- Workers and Temporary Workers: guidance for sponsors part 3: sponsor duties and compliance
- Sponsor a Skilled Worker
- Sponsor guidance appendix A: supporting documents for sponsor applications
- Sponsor guidance appendix B: immigration offences and sponsorship
- Sponsor guidance appendix C: civil penalties and sponsorship
- Sponsor guidance appendix D: keeping records for sponsorship
- Workers and Temporary Workers: guidance for sponsors: glossary
Sponsors with other routes on their licence should make sure to read the route-specific guidance available here.
These documents run to several hundreds of pages. Guidance changes often, and at short notice. UKVI expects Level 1 Users to log into the Sponsor Management System at least once a month to review the message board. This should detail updates and we recommend this is diarised monthly.
Employment Rights
Sponsors have a responsibility to comply with wider UK law, including UK employment law. The guidance has now been updated to specifically require sponsors to ensure their workers understand their employment rights. It is worth reviewing documents provided to workers.
Salary Varying Between Pay Periods
The Immigration Rules on payment of Skilled Workers were also updated on 8 April 2026. From this date, a worker must be paid the required salary or above for sponsorship in monthly or less frequent pay periods, or as otherwise specified in their contract. Salary must meet the going rate for their occupation code for each hour worked during each pay period. In addition, the average salary must meet the required amount across any three-month period for monthly or less frequent pay periods, or in any 12-week period in more frequent pay periods (rather than over a year as was previously the case).
If the amount sponsored Skilled Workers are paid differs between pay periods, there are new rules regarding how UKVI will determine salary across a longer working pattern and also how UKVI will consider situations where a person repays their employer for certain immigration costs.
