UK visa sponsorship for employers

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 section S4 of the ‘general information’ guidance for sponsoring a worker to find out more about complying with the minimum wage and working time regulations.

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-authorized 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, unless it’s a non-essential position or involves living within a religious order (such as a monk or nun).

When you do not need to advertise the job, you need to have records showing that there is not a suitable person who does not require sponsorship to take on the role.

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 or Sporting 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.

Additional requirements for care workers

If you’re recruiting for a job with occupation codes 6135 or 6136 based in England, you need to try and recruit a ‘displaced’ care worker first.

A care worker may become displaced if their:

• previous sponsor lost its licence
• current sponsor does not have enough work for them

How to recruit a displaced care worker

To find out if there’s any displaced care workers to recruit in your region, you can contact your regional partnership.

If there are no displaced care workers available or suitable for the role, you’ll need to ask your regional partnership to contact UKVI to let them know you tried.

Read ‘the care worker recruitment requirement’ in section SK4 of the guidance for sponsoring a skilled worker to find out more about recruiting a displaced care worker.

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.