Updated · NextMigrate Team
The Employer Wants You but Has Never Sponsored Anyone: What to Put in Front of Them
Picture yourself as a software developer in Bengaluru. After three video interviews, a small company in Manchester says the words you have waited years to hear: "We'd love to have you."
Then a pause. "But we've never sponsored a visa. We'll look into it."
A week passes. Then two. Your manager stops replying as quickly. You start to wonder if you said something wrong.
You did not. They are simply scared of something they do not understand.
The short answer: An employer who has never sponsored is rarely saying no on principle. They do not know four things: what it costs, how long it takes, who in the company must sign, and what they are agreeing to for years. Silence on those four points feels like risk. Your job is to answer them in writing before anyone asks. For the UK, that means a one-page brief covering the sponsor licence fee bands, the named roles the Home Office requires, the ongoing duties, the chance of a compliance visit, and a realistic timeline. Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland ask the same four questions in different ways.
Every figure below is a dated planning figure that the employer must confirm on the official page. This is general information, not advice on your case. Have it confirmed by a licensed adviser in the destination country: in the UK one regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority or a practising solicitor or barrister; in Canada an RCIC regulated by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants or a lawyer in good standing with a provincial law society; in Australia a migration agent registered with the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority or an Australian legal practitioner; in New Zealand an adviser licensed by the Immigration Advisers Authority or a New Zealand lawyer.
Who this is for
This is for one position: an employer wants you, and has never held a sponsor licence. You already have the leverage. What you lack is material. It fits if:
- You have a written offer, a verbal offer, or a manager who said "we would take you if the visa side works".
- The company is not on the public sponsor list, or nobody there knows.
- HR went quiet once the visa came up, or said they will "look into it" and never came back.
- It is a small or mid-sized firm where nobody owns immigration.
With no real offer, no brief will help. Look instead at who already holds a licence. For the UK, read the register of licensed sponsors.
Get four things straight first
A brief with one guessed number is worse than no brief. Once one figure is wrong, the employer stops trusting all of them.
1. The legal company that would employ you. Not the brand. The registered company name, and whether the office is a subsidiary, franchise or branch. Licences belong to legal entities. In the UK, check the name free at Companies House.
2. The employer's size. In the UK, the licence fee and Immigration Skills Charge are lower for small and charitable sponsors, tested on turnover, balance sheet and staff numbers. Show both bands and let finance place themselves.
3. The job as the visa route sees it. The occupation code, the skill level, the planned salary, and how it compares with the general salary threshold and the going rate for that code. If the employer cannot meet the going rate, their goodwill cannot help. These figures have moved more than once in recent years, so read them on GOV.UK on the day you write.
4. Your own readiness. English test, qualification recognition, professional registration if your job needs one. A licence cannot fix a registration you do not yet hold.
What a first-time sponsor really faces
The real objection is almost never the money. It is the unknown paperwork. Think of it like hosting a guest from abroad for the first time. You are not worried about the food bill. You are worried about what you do not know you need to do.
The licence application
The employer applies online with documents proving it is genuine, legal and able to meet its duties. The Home Office publishes the accepted evidence. New companies with no trading history usually need to send more, not less. The application must also name people. As published by the Home Office, a UK sponsor licence needs:
- An authorising officer: a senior person who takes responsibility for the licence and for everyone who uses it. This is the signature that makes small employers nervous, because it is a named person accepting accountability.
- A key contact: the person the Home Office talks to about the application.
- At least one level 1 user: the person who runs the online sponsorship system day to day, assigns certificates of sponsorship and files reports. Level 2 users with fewer permissions can be added later.
In a small company, one person can hold more than one role, within the rules. Everyone named goes through suitability checks.
The ongoing duties
A licence is not a one-off. It is a promise that runs for years. In most sponsorship systems, not only the UK, a sponsor agrees to:
- Keep records. Right-to-work evidence, contact details, absence records, contracts and recruitment records for sponsored workers, ready to show on request.
- Report changes. Tell the authority within short deadlines if the worker does not start, leaves, changes role or salary in a reportable way, is absent without permission for a long time, or if the sponsor's own details change.
- Follow employment and immigration law. Pay what was promised, employ the person in the sponsored role, and stop employing anyone who loses the right to work.
- Cooperate with checks. Which brings us to the visit.
The compliance visit
The Home Office may visit before deciding or at any time afterwards, with or without notice, to check that the organisation, the role and the HR systems are real. With proper staff files, this is mostly paperwork. With informal records, it is real work. Say so in your brief. Employers respect a candidate who names the awkward part first.
The wait, and the priority option
UKVI's standard processing time for sponsor licences is commonly cited at around eight weeks. A paid priority service decides in a small number of working days, but only a fixed number of slots is released each day, and in busy periods employers have tried several days running. Plan on the standard time. Treat priority as a bonus.
What it costs
This table is a planning frame, not a quote. The employer must check every figure on the official page before committing.
| Cost line (UK) | Who pays | Planning shape as published | Where to verify |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sponsor licence application | Employer | Two bands: a lower fee for small and charitable sponsors, a substantially higher fee for medium and large sponsors. Historically these have sat in the high hundreds of pounds and the low-to-mid thousands respectively | GOV.UK Home Office fees table |
| Priority processing of the licence | Employer | An additional fee, capacity-limited daily slots, not guaranteed on any given day | GOV.UK sponsorship priority service page |
| Certificate of sponsorship | Employer | A per-certificate fee. Sponsor rules restrict recouping this from the worker | GOV.UK certificate of sponsorship guidance |
| Immigration Skills Charge | Employer | Charged per sponsored worker per year of sponsorship, at a lower rate for small and charitable sponsors. Sponsors may not pass it to the worker | GOV.UK Immigration Skills Charge guidance |
| Visa application fee | Usually the worker, sometimes the employer | Varies by route and visa length | GOV.UK visa fees |
| Immigration Health Surcharge | Usually the worker, sometimes the employer | Charged per person per year of the visa, including dependants | GOV.UK IHS page |
| Legal or adviser fees | Employer | Optional. Many first-time sponsors use a solicitor for the licence application | Immigration Advice Authority register, or the SRA |
Two tips make the money talk go better.
Finance cares most about the yearly charge. The licence fee is paid once. The Immigration Skills Charge is per worker, per year. Present it as a yearly cost of employing you, and compare it with a recruitment agency fee for a local hire. That comparison usually helps you, and almost nobody makes it.
Some costs cannot legally be passed to you, so do not offer. As published, sponsors may not pass the Immigration Skills Charge to the worker, and the rules restrict recovering the certificate fee. Offering to "cover it myself" can create a compliance problem for the employer. What can be negotiated is different: see who pays the visa fees in a relocation package. Ask the employer's adviser first.
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Free eligibility check →How long it takes
Timelines are where candidates lose employers. Tell a manager "a few weeks", make them wait five months, and they withdraw the offer. Quote the slow path and let it come in early.
| Stage | Typical planning window | What can stretch it |
|---|---|---|
| Employer gathers documents and names key personnel | 1 to 4 weeks | Internal sign-off, finding an authorising officer who will accept it |
| Sponsor licence decision (standard) | Commonly cited around 8 weeks by UKVI | Requests for more evidence, a pre-licence compliance visit |
| Sponsor licence decision (priority) | A small number of working days once a slot is secured | Slots are capacity-limited daily and may be unavailable for days |
| Assigning the certificate of sponsorship | Days | Internal process, allocation questions for some certificate types |
| Worker visa application and biometrics | Weeks, varying by country and appointment availability | Biometric appointment backlogs, document errors |
| Priority or super-priority worker visa options | Shorter published windows at extra fee | Availability varies by location |
Published service times change and are suspended in surges. On your side, a police certificate or medical that expires mid-process can cost weeks.
The honest headline for the employer: from no licence, plan on three to six months before you can start. Anything faster is luck. An employer who planned for five months and gets you in three is delighted. One who was promised six weeks is angry by month three. It is like quoting for a house repair: the builder who says "eight weeks" and finishes in six gets hired again.
The one-page brief
Send this as one page, as a PDF or in the email body, to whoever raised the visa question. Keep it under 500 words. The aim is to make the decision easy.
Section 1: What the company needs. One sentence. For the UK: a Skilled Worker sponsor licence, which lets the company assign certificates of sponsorship to workers it hires into eligible roles.
Section 2: What it costs. The licence fee bands, the certificate fee, and the Immigration Skills Charge as a yearly per-worker cost. Date the figures and link the GOV.UK pages, so finance checks them rather than trusting you. Say which costs you can and cannot help with.
Section 3: How long it takes. The standard licence time, the limited priority option, and a realistic range to your start date. A range, not a date.
Section 4: Who must be named. The three roles, one line each. HR needs this most.
Section 5: What the company agrees to. Record-keeping, reporting changes within short deadlines, and the chance of a compliance visit. Three bullets. Do not soften them.
Section 6: What you have already done. English test result, qualification recognition, professional registration progress, passport validity, police certificates. This section wins people over. It shows the licence is the only thing left.
Section 7: Where to get proper advice. Note that immigration advice in the UK is regulated, and the employer should use a solicitor or an adviser regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority. You are not their adviser. You are the person who did the homework.
Attach nothing else. A manager should be able to read it on a phone and forward it to HR with one line.
When no brief will help
Some employers will never sponsor. Spotting them early saves you months.
An old company-wide "no sponsorship" policy. A hiring manager cannot override it, and pushing makes them uncomfortable.
The role does not qualify. Short-term, part-time, or below the skill and salary bar. If the occupation is the problem, the employer is not.
The company cannot prove it is genuine yet. A keen three-person startup with no premises or trading history may not have the evidence.
The person who wants you cannot approve spending. Ask early, and politely, who signs off a four-figure cost plus adviser fees.
Nobody will be the authorising officer. In small firms this stalls quietly. The owner does not want personal accountability. They rarely say so. Repeated delay with no clear objection often means this.
They need someone in six weeks. Ask what happens if you start in month five. If the answer is "the role will be gone", believe it.
They want you to pay. Some of these costs cannot legally be charged to the worker. A request to pay an individual or a personal account is a scam sign, not a negotiation. See how to verify an overseas job offer.
If two or more of these apply, stop. Stay friendly, ask to be considered if things change, and focus on employers who already hold a licence, or on routes with no employer at all. Skilled visa routes without a job offer is the honest alternative.
How other countries handle it
The brief changes by destination, because the employer's burden is very different.
| Destination | What the employer must do | Rough burden | Where to verify |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | Hold a sponsor licence, name key personnel, assign certificates, meet ongoing duties | Standing approval, then per-hire certificates | GOV.UK, Home Office |
| Canada (most employer routes) | Obtain a Labour Market Impact Assessment per position in most cases, including advertising and a fee | Per-hire, evidence-heavy | ESDC and IRCC |
| Australia | Become an approved sponsor, then nominate the position, with levy obligations | Standing approval plus per-nomination | Department of Home Affairs |
| New Zealand | Employer accreditation, then a job check, then the worker applies | Three stage, standing plus per-role | Immigration New Zealand |
| Ireland | Employment permit applied for per role, no standing licence in the UK sense | Per-hire, lighter standing burden | Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment |
A standing licence is like a gym membership: expensive the first time, cheap each visit after. A per-hire system is like paying at the door every time. So in the UK or Australia, pitch the licence as a long-term ability to hire. In Canada or Ireland, make the case for this one role. LMIA versus employer sponsorship explains the difference. New Zealand's three stages must happen in order.
Common mistakes
- Sending six pages. They do not get read. One page does.
- Quoting a fee with no date and no link. One wrong number and the whole brief loses trust.
- Promising a fast timeline. The most common way a real offer dies.
- Hiding the ongoing duties. They will find them. Better they find them in your brief.
- Offering to pay costs that cannot be passed to you. It looks kind and can cause a compliance problem.
- Acting as their immigration adviser. Give official links and name the regulator. Do not interpret the rules for them.
- Ignoring the occupation code and going rate. Goodwill cannot fix a role that does not qualify.
- Pushing after a clear policy "no". It damages a relationship that might help later.
- Assuming HR knows the process. In a company that has never sponsored, nobody does. That gap is your opening.
- Paying an agent to "arrange sponsorship". Governments grant sponsorship to employers. Anyone selling you a certificate is selling something they do not own.
What to do next
- Check the legal entity and the register. Some employers who think they have never sponsored hold an old, unused licence. That changes everything.
- Check the occupation code, skill level, salary threshold and going rate on the official page, dated today. Be honest about whether the role clears them.
- Ask the hiring manager one question: who would need to approve a cost of this size, and may you send them a one-page summary? Permission to send the brief matters more than the brief.
- Write the seven-section brief, every figure linked to its official page, on one page.
- Offer to be the one who chases. Name a next step with a date. This drops because it is nobody's job, and you are the only person with a reason to keep it moving.
- Set your own deadline. Decide now what you will do if nothing moves in four weeks, and keep applying to licensed employers meanwhile.
Frequently asked questions
Can I pay for the employer's sponsor licence myself?
Ask the employer's adviser first. As published, the Immigration Skills Charge cannot be passed to the sponsored worker, and other costs are restricted. A kind offer can create a compliance problem.
How long does a first sponsor licence take in the UK?
UKVI publishes a standard processing time, commonly cited at around eight weeks, plus a paid priority service that decides in a small number of working days. Priority slots are limited and released daily, so they can be unavailable for days. Plan on the standard time, add time for the employer's documents and your own visa, and check current service times on GOV.UK.
Who has to be named, and does it have to be a director?
A UK sponsor licence needs an authorising officer, a key contact and at least one level 1 user. The authorising officer must be a senior person who takes responsibility for the licence. The Home Office sets eligibility and suitability rules for each role. In a small company, one person may hold more than one role where the rules allow. Check the current definitions on GOV.UK.
Will there be a compliance visit, and what do they check?
It can happen before the decision or any time after, with or without notice. Officers check right-to-work records, contracts, absence records and contact details. An employer with proper right-to-work checks is mostly organising papers it already has.
What if the employer goes quiet after I send the brief?
Wait a week. Then send one short message asking whether the cost, the timeline or the internal sign-off is the sticking point. Naming the three options makes it easy to reply. If there is still no answer, plan as if it is a no, stay polite, and keep applying to licensed employers. Silence after a cost question is usually a decision nobody wants to deliver.
Can a licence application be refused, and what happens to me?
Yes. Applications can be refused, and licences can later be downgraded or revoked for compliance reasons. If the licence is refused, your offer cannot go ahead on that route, and Home Office guidance sets a cooling-off period before the employer can reapply. Its length depends on the reason, so check current guidance on GOV.UK. That is why you keep other applications going, and do not resign, end a tenancy or turn down another offer until the licence and certificate are actually in hand.
The bottom line
An employer who wants you but has never sponsored is holding a decision without the facts to make it. Give them four things: the published fee bands, a realistic timeline including the slow path, the named roles, and the ongoing duties. Attach the official pages so their finance and HR teams can check everything. Show what you have already done, so the licence is clearly the last step.
And be honest when no brief will help: a blanket policy, a role that misses the bar, a company that cannot yet prove itself, an urgent start date, or nobody willing to sign. Then put your energy into employers that already hold a licence, or routes that need no employer at all.
