UK visa sponsorship for employers

You can sponsor a worker if the job they’re going to do has a suitable rate of pay and skill level, or meets the other criteria needed for their visa.

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 make sure that either:

• you comply with the creative workers code of practice (if it exists for that occupation)
• the job is on the shortage occupations list

If the job is not on the shortage occupation list, and there is no code of practice, you need to check that the job cannot be done by a worker who does not need sponsoring.

Additional requirements for sporting workers

For sporting jobs that will be done by someone on either the Creative or Sporting Worker visa or Sportsperson visa, you must get an endorsement letter from the relevant governing body.

Sponsoring under-18s

You cannot sponsor a foreign worker under 18 on:

• a Skilled Worker visa
• an Intra-company visa
• an International Agreement Worker visa, if they’ll be working as a private servant in a diplomatic household or in the household of an employee of an international organisation
• a Seasonal Worker visa

You cannot sponsor a child under 16 for a Minister of Religion or Sportsperson visa.