Why Technology and IT Businesses Work With Us
Finding a senior engineer in London right now is genuinely hard. The domestic pipeline has never kept up with demand and post-Brexit, the routes that tech companies relied on quietly closed. International recruitment is no longer a plan B. For most growing tech businesses it is the only plan that actually works.
What trips people up is not the desire to sponsor internationally. It is the paperwork, the compliance obligations and the fear of doing it wrong. We have worked with pre-seed startups hiring their first technical hire and SaaS companies managing twenty sponsored workers at once. The process is learnable. We just do it so you do not have to.
Roles Typically Sponsored in Technology and IT
SOC code accuracy matters more than most people realise. Incorrect classification is one of the most common reasons a Certificate of Sponsorship gets refused or flagged at audit.
Software Engineer
Full stack, backend, frontend and mobile. The most frequently sponsored role in UK tech by a wide margin.
Data Scientist and ML Engineer
Statistical modelling, ML pipelines and AI product development across all major frameworks.
DevOps and Platform Engineer
CI/CD, cloud infrastructure and platform roles across AWS, GCP and Azure.
Cybersecurity Analyst
Security operations, penetration testing and threat intelligence specialists.
Product Manager
Technical product management with direct engineering team oversight.
Solutions Architect
Senior technical architecture, systems design and enterprise integration.
QA and Test Engineer
Automated testing, QA strategy and release validation pipelines.
Data and BI Engineer
Data warehousing, pipeline architecture and analytics infrastructure.
Which Immigration Routes Apply
We confirm the correct route and applicable threshold on your free assessment call. Figures below reflect 2026 thresholds.
| Route | Minimum Salary 2026 | What You Need to Know |
|---|---|---|
| Skilled Worker | £38,700 general threshold | The main route for tech hires. SOC code determines the exact salary floor. New entrant rate of £30,960 may apply to recent graduates joining their first role. |
| Global Talent | No salary threshold | For recognised leaders in digital technology, endorsed by DSIT. Does not require employer sponsorship so worth flagging to candidates who may qualify independently. |
| Scale-up Worker | £36,300 | For high-growth businesses meeting UKVI criteria. Requires sponsor for entry but the worker gains independent status after six months. |
| Senior or Specialist Worker | £48,500 or going rate | Intra-company transfers for multinational tech firms. Requires twelve months prior employment within the same corporate group. |
What Technology and IT Sponsors Get Wrong
These are the areas UKVI focuses on most when visiting technology and it businesses. Getting them right before you start is considerably easier than fixing them after a visit.
- 🏠Remote Working and Right to WorkSponsored workers must perform duties in the UK. Fully remote arrangements are not automatically non-compliant but place of work must be accurately documented on the Certificate of Sponsorship. Getting this wrong is one of the most common triggers for UKVI scrutiny.
- 📈Promotions and Role ChangesA significant change to a sponsored worker's role, SOC code or salary may require a new CoS. Tech companies lose track of this through informal promotions and restructures. It needs to be on someone's radar.
- 📋Reporting Duties via the SMS PortalUKVI must be notified within ten days of specific events: non-attendance, unauthorised absence, resignation and significant role changes. Sponsor Management System training is mandatory for key contacts on your licence.
- 🔗Contractor and Outsourcing StructuresPlacing sponsored workers with clients or running them alongside IR35 contractors adds compliance complexity. The genuine vacancy test is applied more heavily in these arrangements. Take advice before structuring your workforce this way.
1,494 sponsor licences were revoked in 2024. Technology companies appear regularly in UKVI enforcement data, usually for remote working documentation failures and unreported role changes. A compliance audit costs a fraction of what revocation does to a business that depends on sponsored headcount.
What Clients Say About Working With Us
"As a fast-growing tech startup we needed this urgently. ACG walked us through every step. The documentation was immaculate. Approved first time without a single query from UKVI."
"We had a refusal from another firm. ACG identified the exact issue, rebuilt the application from scratch and got us approved within 5 days. The difference in their approach was obvious from the first call."
"Clear advice, straightforward pricing and a genuinely fast turnaround. We have used ACG for three separate sponsor licence matters now and would not go anywhere else."