How to check if a UK company is a licensed visa sponsor

The UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) department publishes a public register of every employer currently licensed to sponsor overseas workers. This register is updated weekly and lists every company, charity, and organisation that has been granted permission to issue Certificates of Sponsorship. You can search it by employer name on the official UK government website.

The register tells you three things: whether a licence exists, which visa routes it covers (most include the Skilled Worker route), and what rating the employer currently holds. It does not tell you whether the company is actively hiring or whether a specific vacancy qualifies for sponsorship — only that the employer is legally authorised to sponsor.

A-rated sponsors are in full compliance with their sponsorship duties and can issue Certificates of Sponsorship without restriction. This is the standard you should be looking for. The vast majority of licensed employers hold an A rating, and it means the Home Office is satisfied with how they manage their sponsorship obligations.

B-rated sponsors have been placed on a compliance action plan. The Home Office has identified issues with how they manage sponsorship and they face closer oversight and additional restrictions. A B-rated employer is a higher-risk target for international candidates — it does not disqualify them entirely, but it is a signal worth factoring into your decision before investing significant application time.

The raw government register confirms a licence exists, but gives you little else. VisaAtlas gives you a richer view: search by company name and instantly see their sponsor rating, Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) history, city, industry, and whether they show recent hiring signals.

The CoS history is particularly useful. Two A-rated companies can look identical on the government register, but one may have issued hundreds of Certificates over recent years while the other has issued none. The first is a far stronger target for an international applicant — and VisaAtlas surfaces that signal clearly. You can also filter by industry, city, and sponsor rating to build a shortlist of active sponsors rather than searching one company at a time.

If a company does not appear on the register, they do not hold a sponsor licence. First, check you have searched their registered legal name — many companies trade under a different name from their legal entity. Try variations, abbreviated names, and parent company names.

If you have confirmed they are not licensed, you have two options: ask the employer directly whether they would consider applying for a licence — some will for the right candidate, though the process takes around two to three months — or redirect your efforts toward the 126,419+ employers who are already authorised. With that many licensed sponsors, there is always a better-placed alternative to research.

No legitimate UK employer will ask you to pay for sponsorship costs. Under Home Office rules, the employer bears the Immigration Skills Charge and administrative fees — workers should not be paying these. Any offer that involves an upfront payment for visa processing or sponsorship fees is a serious warning sign.

Other red flags include: job descriptions that are unusually vague and seem designed to attract anyone regardless of skills; employers who promise sponsorship but cannot be found on the UKVI register; requests for your passport or bank statements before any formal offer has been made; and offers that arrive without a clear hiring process or interview.

If an employer is promising sponsorship but does not appear on the official register and cannot explain why, walk away. You can verify any employer's licence status in under two minutes using VisaAtlas or the official UKVI checker before engaging further.