The full cost of UK sponsorship is spread across several different fees payable at different stages to different parties. Many businesses underestimate the total cost because they only factor in the initial licence application fee. This guide gives you a complete picture of every cost involved from application to visa grant.
The Sponsor Licence Application Fee
The Home Office fee for a sponsor licence application is £536 for small or charitable sponsors and £1,476 for medium or large sponsors. This fee is paid directly to UKVI at the point of online application submission. It is non-refundable regardless of the outcome. A business qualifies as small if it meets at least two of the following criteria: annual turnover not exceeding £10.2 million, balance sheet total not exceeding £5.1 million, or 50 or fewer employees.
Priority Processing Fee
If you choose priority processing, which reduces Home Office processing from approximately 8 weeks to approximately 10 working days, an additional fee of £500 is payable to UKVI. This fee is added on top of the standard application fee. Priority processing is optional but is worth considering if you have a time-sensitive hiring need.
Advisory Fees
If you use a specialist adviser to prepare and manage your application, which we strongly recommend for first-time applicants, you will pay a professional fee for that service. Costs vary by provider. Immigration solicitors typically charge between £2,000 and £5,000 for a standard sponsor licence application. Specialist advisory firms like ACG Immigration typically offer more competitive pricing for the same service. Our fee is confirmed upfront, in writing, before any work begins. There are no hidden charges at any stage.
The Immigration Skills Charge
The Immigration Skills Charge (ISC) is payable by the employer each time a Certificate of Sponsorship is assigned for a Skilled Worker visa. The charge is £1,000 per year of the visa for medium and large sponsors and £364 per year for small and charitable sponsors. For a standard 3-year visa this means £3,000 or £1,092 respectively. For a 5-year visa it rises to £5,000 or £1,820. The ISC is paid at the CoS assignment stage via the SMS portal.
The Certificate of Sponsorship Fee
Each Certificate of Sponsorship also carries a small assignment fee of £239, payable by the employer. This is separate from the ISC and covers the administrative cost of the CoS itself.
Visa Application Fees Paid by the Worker
The worker pays their own Skilled Worker visa application fee. For applications made outside the UK the fee is currently £610 for visas up to 3 years and £1,220 for visas over 3 years. Healthcare professionals on the Health and Care visa pay a reduced rate. Workers also pay the Immigration Health Surcharge, currently £1,035 per year of the visa, which gives them access to NHS services. Employers cannot legally reclaim the immigration health surcharge from workers.
Total Cost Example
For a medium or large business applying for a licence and then sponsoring one engineer on a 3-year Skilled Worker visa, the employer-side costs are approximately: licence application fee £1,476, advisory fee (variable), Immigration Skills Charge £3,000, CoS fee £239. Total employer cost before advisory: approximately £4,715 plus professional fees. For a small business: licence £536 plus ISC £1,092 plus CoS £239 equals approximately £1,867 plus professional fees.
Is It Worth It?
For most businesses the answer is clearly yes. The alternative, being unable to hire the person you need, has a far higher cost in lost productivity, delayed projects and competitive disadvantage. The licence itself lasts 4 years and can be used for an unlimited number of sponsored workers across that period. The cost per hire decreases significantly once you have an established licence.
