UK visa sponsorship for employers
Job suitability
You can sponsor a worker if the job they’re going to do:
- complies with the UK minimum wage and working time regulations - the worker’s visa may be refused and you may lose your sponsor licence if it does not
- meets the other criteria needed for their visa
Read more about job suitability, if you’re sponsoring:
- a skilled worker
- a health or care worker
- a worker on any type of ‘Global Business Mobility’ visa (senior or specialist worker, graduate trainee, secondment worker, UK expansion worker or service supplier)
- a scale-up worker
- a worker on a government authorised exchange
- a seasonal worker
- a worker on an International Sportsperson visa
- a worker on an international agreement
- a creative worker
- a charity worker
- a minister of religion or religious worker
Additional requirements for religious workers
You’ll usually have to advertise any job you offer to someone with a Religious Worker visa. You do not need to do this if it’s a non-essential position or involves living within a religious order (such as a monk or nun).
You must keep records of when you do not have to advertise the job. You need to prove that there is not a suitable person to take the role, who does not require sponsorship.
There are rules you must follow about how to advertise jobs for religious workers.
Additional requirements for creative workers
Creative jobs done by someone on a Creative Worker visa include:
- ballet dancers and other dancers
- film and TV performers
- theatre and opera performers
- film and TV workers
- models
For creative jobs, you must comply with the creative workers code of practice (if it exists for that occupation). Read section CRW4 of the guidance for sponsoring a creative worker.
If there is no code of practice for that occupation, both of the following must apply:
- the role is in the creative industries and listed in any of the tables in Appendix Skilled Occupations
- the worker can make a unique contribution to creative life in the UK, for example they’re an internationally famous artist
If you are sponsoring a creative worker under 16
You may need to get a child performance licence if the worker is taking part in:
- films, plays, concerts or other public performances that the audience pays to see, or that take place on licensed premises
- paid modelling assignments
You must make sure that the person running the event applies at least 21 days before the event.
Additional requirements for workers on an International Sportsperson visa
For sporting jobs that will be done by someone on the International Sportsperson visa, you must get an endorsement letter from the relevant governing body.
Sponsoring under-18s
You can only sponsor a foreign worker under 18 on:
- an International Sportsperson visa - they must be 16 or over
- a Creative Worker visa - there’s no minimum age
- a Government Authorised Exchange visa - there’s no minimum age
You cannot sponsor a foreign worker under 18 on any other visa.
Read more about your responsibilities if you sponsor a worker under 18.