If you are planning to sponsor somebody to work in the UK, obtaining the Sponsor Licence is only the first part of the process.
The next stage is usually the Certificate of Sponsorship, commonly shortened to CoS.
Despite the name, a Certificate of Sponsorship is not actually a paper certificate that you print, sign and hand proudly to your new employee. It is an electronic record created through the Home Office sponsorship system, with a unique reference number that the worker uses when making their visa application.
That sounds straightforward enough.
In many cases, it is.
However, there are several things an employer needs to get right before assigning one. You need the correct type of CoS, the correct occupation information, the correct salary and working hours, suitable start and end dates, accurate worker details and, where applicable, payment of the Immigration Skills Charge.
Most importantly, the Certificate of Sponsorship needs to accurately describe the real job the employee is going to perform.
Getting a Sponsor Licence does not give an employer a blank cheque to sponsor whoever it wants into whatever role it chooses.
The CoS is where the proposed employment starts becoming very real from an immigration perspective.
This guide explains what a Certificate of Sponsorship is, how employers obtain and assign one, the difference between Defined and Undefined CoS, what information needs to be included and the mistakes businesses should avoid.
What is a Certificate of Sponsorship?
A Certificate of Sponsorship is an electronic sponsorship record assigned by a licensed employer to an individual worker.
Every CoS has its own unique reference number. The worker normally uses that number when applying for permission to enter or remain in the UK under the relevant sponsored work route.
The word certificate can therefore be slightly misleading.
There is no ornate document arriving from the Home Office in the post.
Instead, the employer creates or assigns the sponsorship record through the Sponsor Management System, usually referred to as SMS.
Once assigned, the employer can provide the relevant CoS details to the worker so that they can proceed with their immigration application.
For Skilled Worker applications, the Certificate of Sponsorship connects three important things:
- the licensed sponsor;
- the job being offered; and
- the individual worker.
That means accuracy matters.
If the CoS says the employee is being paid one salary while the employment contract says something completely different, somebody is eventually going to ask why.
Do you need a Sponsor Licence before issuing a CoS?
Yes.
An organisation generally needs to hold a valid Sponsor Licence for the relevant route before it can sponsor a worker and assign a Certificate of Sponsorship.
The Certificate of Sponsorship is not an alternative to obtaining a Sponsor Licence.
Think of it this way:
The Sponsor Licence gives the organisation permission to participate in the sponsorship system.
The Certificate of Sponsorship links a particular worker to a particular sponsored job.
The worker then uses that sponsorship when making their own visa application.
The Home Office guidance requires sponsors to assign a valid CoS so the worker can make their application for permission to enter or stay in the UK.
If your organisation does not yet hold a Sponsor Licence, the first step is therefore usually to establish whether the business qualifies and apply for the appropriate licence.
Does a Certificate of Sponsorship guarantee the visa?
No.
A Certificate of Sponsorship is an essential part of many sponsored work applications, but it does not guarantee that the worker’s visa will be granted.
The employer has responsibilities when sponsoring the role, but the worker still has to satisfy the requirements of their immigration route.
For a Skilled Worker application, for example, this can include requirements concerning the sponsor, occupation, salary, English language and other relevant immigration criteria.
The Certificate of Sponsorship itself must also be valid.
Current Skilled Worker caseworker guidance confirms that a CoS must meet the validity requirements set out in the Immigration Rules.
So an employer should never treat assigning a CoS as:
“The visa is sorted.”
It isn’t.
What it means is that an important part of the sponsorship process has been completed and the worker can proceed to the next stage, assuming the rest of the requirements are met.
Defined and Undefined Certificates of Sponsorship
For Skilled Worker sponsorship, employers need to understand the distinction between Defined and Undefined Certificates of Sponsorship.
This is one of the most important parts of the CoS system, and getting it wrong can create serious compliance problems.
The current Home Office sponsor guidance expressly requires Skilled Worker sponsors to understand the difference and use the correct type.
What is a Defined Certificate of Sponsorship?
A Defined CoS is generally required where the Skilled Worker will make their visa application from outside the UK.
The employer does not normally take a Defined CoS from its annual Undefined CoS allocation.
Instead, the licensed sponsor applies through the Sponsor Management System for a Defined CoS for the particular proposed role.
The application needs information about the job being offered.
Once the Defined CoS has been approved and made available to the sponsor, it can be assigned to the intended worker.
This distinction is important because the Home Office wants visibility over overseas Skilled Worker recruitment before the CoS is assigned.
What is an Undefined Certificate of Sponsorship?
An Undefined CoS is used in circumstances where a Defined CoS is not required, including for Skilled Workers making qualifying applications from within the UK and for workers on various other sponsored routes.
Licensed sponsors can hold an allocation of Undefined Certificates of Sponsorship and use those certificates as required, subject to the rules applying to the relevant route and worker.
This is where the organisation’s CoS allocation becomes important.
A business might have a Sponsor Licence but discover that it does not currently have enough Undefined CoS available for the workers it intends to sponsor.
That does not necessarily mean the recruitment cannot proceed. The sponsor may be able to request an additional allocation through the Sponsor Management System.
But timing becomes important.
Why does the difference matter?
Because assigning the wrong type of CoS is not a harmless administrative error.
Current Home Office compliance guidance specifically identifies assigning an Undefined Skilled Worker CoS to somebody who requires a Defined CoS as a sponsorship compliance breach.
So this is not a section of the guidance to skim while drinking your morning coffee.
Before assigning the certificate, establish where the worker will apply from and which type is actually required.
We will deal with the distinction in much greater detail in our separate guide to Defined and Undefined Certificates of Sponsorship.
How does an employer get a Certificate of Sponsorship?
The process depends partly on whether the employer needs a Defined or Undefined CoS.
Getting a Defined CoS
Where a Skilled Worker needs a Defined CoS, the licensed sponsor applies for one through the Sponsor Management System.
The request relates to the particular role the organisation wishes to sponsor.
Once the request is approved, the certificate becomes available for assignment.
The employer then assigns it to the appropriate worker and pays the applicable CoS fee and any Immigration Skills Charge that is due.
Getting an Undefined CoS
Undefined CoS work differently because licensed sponsors can hold an allocation.
Depending on the sponsor’s circumstances, an allocation may already be available.
If there is no available certificate, or the business requires more than it currently holds, an additional allocation can potentially be requested.
There is also a Home Office priority service for certain sponsor change-of-circumstances requests, including eligible requests for additional Undefined CoS. Current priority guidance specifically states that Defined CoS requests cannot be made through that particular priority service.
The important practical point is that employers should check their CoS position before the worker’s immigration deadline becomes urgent.
Discovering on Monday that you need an additional allocation for somebody whose visa expires on Friday is not ideal planning.
How do you assign a Certificate of Sponsorship?
Certificates are assigned through the Sponsor Management System.
The SMS is the Home Office’s online system for administering day-to-day sponsorship activities, including assigning Certificates of Sponsorship and reporting relevant changes.
The Level 1 User, or another appropriately authorised SMS user where permitted, normally carries out the relevant sponsorship activity.
When assigning the CoS, the sponsor enters information about the worker and proposed employment.
This information forms part of the sponsorship record relied upon in the worker’s subsequent immigration application.
It should therefore be prepared with the same care as any other important immigration document.
A surprising number of CoS problems start with somebody thinking:
“I’ll just fill this bit in quickly.”
That is usually the precise moment to stop filling it in quickly.
What information goes on a Certificate of Sponsorship?
The exact fields depend on the route and the circumstances, but the CoS contains important information about the worker and proposed employment.
For a Skilled Worker, this can include matters such as:
- worker’s personal details;
- job title;
- occupation code;
- job description or relevant employment information;
- salary;
- working hours;
- employment start and end dates;
- work location;
- sponsor details;
- whether maintenance is being certified where applicable;
- PAYE-related information where required; and
- other route-specific information.
These fields should not be completed independently of the employment arrangements.
The CoS should match the genuine job being offered.
The employment contract, job description, organisational structure and payroll arrangements should all tell the same basic story.
That does not mean every document has to use identical wording.
Real businesses do not generally speak in Immigration Rules.
But there should not be unexplained contradictions.
Choosing the correct occupation code
The occupation code is one of the most important entries on a Skilled Worker Certificate of Sponsorship.
The employer should identify the code that genuinely reflects the job the worker will perform.
This requires looking at the actual duties, not simply matching the job title with something that sounds similar.
Two companies may use the same title for very different jobs.
Likewise, two people doing substantially the same job may have different internal titles.
The occupation code affects matters including whether the job is eligible for sponsorship and the salary requirements that may apply.
It therefore deserves proper consideration before the CoS is assigned.
We would normally look at the proposed duties, seniority, responsibilities, working arrangements and the wider organisation before settling on the appropriate code.
Trying to squeeze a job into a more convenient occupation code because the salary works better is not sensible sponsorship practice.
The code should follow the job.
The job should not be rewritten to chase the code.
Getting the salary right
Salary is another area where apparently small mistakes can create much larger problems.
The amount entered on the CoS needs to satisfy the relevant requirements for the immigration route and the particular worker.
For Skilled Workers, salary eligibility is not always determined by one universal figure. The applicable threshold can depend on the occupation, going rate, worker’s circumstances and whether any relevant concessions or transitional provisions apply.
The rules have also changed significantly over recent years.
This is why copying the salary used for an employee sponsored two years ago is not necessarily safe.
Likewise, simply paying somebody above the general minimum does not automatically mean the salary requirement has been met.
Before assigning a Skilled Worker CoS, we want to know:
- the correct occupation code;
- contractual salary;
- weekly hours;
- applicable going rate;
- whether the worker qualifies for any permitted salary provision; and
- whether all other relevant requirements are met.
The calculation should be done before the certificate is assigned.
A Certificate of Sponsorship is not the best place to discover that the proposed salary is £1,500 short.
Working hours and the Certificate of Sponsorship
Working hours matter because salary requirements can interact with the number of hours the employee is contracted to work.
The employer should therefore enter accurate information.
This is another reason why the CoS should be prepared alongside the employment contract rather than independently.
If the contract says 40 hours, payroll is based on 40 hours and the CoS mysteriously says 37.5, that inconsistency should be corrected rather than ignored.
Small administrative mistakes do happen.
The important thing is to check the record carefully before assignment rather than assuming it can always be tidied up afterwards.
Choosing the employment dates
The Certificate of Sponsorship includes the proposed employment period.
These dates require some thought.
The worker generally needs to use the assigned certificate when making their visa application within the permitted timeframe.
GOV.UK currently states that a worker must use the CoS to apply for their visa within three months of the certificate being assigned and must not make the visa application more than three months before the job start date shown on the certificate.
The proposed start date should therefore be realistic.
It should take account of matters such as:
- the worker’s current immigration position;
- expected visa processing;
- notice period;
- travel where relevant; and
- the company’s actual recruitment plans.
There is little point inserting an optimistic start date that everybody knows cannot happen.
Likewise, employers should not assign a CoS months earlier than necessary simply because the Sponsor Management System allows them to access it.
Immigration timing should form part of the overall recruitment plan.
How long is a Certificate of Sponsorship valid?
An assigned Certificate of Sponsorship needs to be used within the relevant period.
As noted above, GOV.UK currently states that the worker must use the CoS to apply for the visa within three months of assignment.
This makes timing particularly important where:
- the worker is waiting to complete another immigration process;
- their current permission still has substantial time remaining;
- the proposed start date is some distance away; or
- another part of the sponsorship process is still unresolved.
Assigning a certificate too early can create unnecessary pressure later.
The sensible approach is to coordinate the CoS with the visa application.
How much does a Certificate of Sponsorship cost?
There is a Home Office fee each time a Certificate of Sponsorship is assigned.
The amount depends on the sponsorship route and current Home Office fee structure.
The government’s April 2026 immigration fee table contains the current charges for Certificates of Sponsorship and other sponsorship services.
Because fees change, we prefer not to build an article like this around a figure that may become outdated while the rest of the guide remains useful.
For the current exact amount, employers should check the current Home Office fees or our dedicated Sponsor Licence fees and costs guide.
More importantly, the CoS fee may not be the only employer cost at this stage.
For some workers, the Immigration Skills Charge is considerably more significant.
What is the Immigration Skills Charge?
The Immigration Skills Charge, usually shortened to ISC, is an additional employer charge that can apply when a Certificate of Sponsorship is assigned to certain sponsored workers.
It commonly applies when sponsoring people under the Skilled Worker and Senior or Specialist Worker routes, although there are exemptions and circumstances where the charge is not payable.
The charge is linked to the duration of sponsorship and the size or status of the sponsoring organisation.
That means an employer should calculate the sponsorship cost before making a recruitment commitment.
The cost of sponsoring somebody is not simply:
CoS fee + visa application fee.
There can be several different government charges affecting the employer and employee.
The Sponsor Guidance confirms that sponsors will normally need to pay the Immigration Skills Charge when assigning a CoS to a Skilled Worker or Senior or Specialist Worker where the charge applies.
We cover the full cost structure separately in our Sponsor Licence Fees and Costs Guide.
Who should pay for the Certificate of Sponsorship?
The Certificate of Sponsorship fee is fundamentally a sponsor-side cost associated with assigning sponsorship.
Employers need to be careful about passing sponsorship-related costs to workers where the sponsorship rules prohibit this.
This is an area where the Home Office has tightened sponsorship requirements in recent years, so businesses should not automatically assume that every immigration-related expense can simply be deducted from the worker’s salary or reclaimed through the employment contract.
Before asking a sponsored employee to reimburse an employer cost, check whether that particular charge can lawfully and compliantly be passed on.
Trying to save a relatively small sponsorship fee is not worth creating a much larger Sponsor Licence problem.
What is a CoS allocation?
An allocation is essentially the number of Undefined Certificates of Sponsorship available to a licensed sponsor for relevant sponsorship activity.
This matters mainly because a business cannot simply assign an unlimited number of Undefined CoS merely because it holds a Sponsor Licence.
If the organisation does not have an available allocation, it may need to request additional CoS.
When requesting additional sponsorship capacity, the Home Office may want to understand why the certificates are required.
That can involve information concerning the roles, recruitment plans and workers the organisation intends to sponsor.
A request should therefore be based on a genuine business need.
“I thought we’d ask for ten while we’re here” is not really a business case.
Can you request more Certificates of Sponsorship?
Yes, a licensed sponsor can potentially request additional Undefined CoS where it requires more than its current allocation.
The request is made through the Sponsor Management System.
The sponsor should be prepared to explain why additional certificates are required and provide relevant information where requested.
For some eligible requests, the Home Office operates a priority service that can accelerate consideration. Current guidance confirms that additional Undefined CoS requests can potentially fall within that priority service, whereas Defined CoS requests are handled through their own process.
Again, this is where forward planning helps.
If a company knows it will be recruiting several sponsored workers over the next quarter, checking its CoS allocation in advance is sensible.
What happens if information on the CoS changes?
Sometimes circumstances change after a CoS has been assigned.
A start date may move.
A mistake may be discovered.
The worker’s circumstances may change.
Or the employment itself may need to be amended.
The correct response depends on what has changed, when it changed and whether the alteration affects the underlying sponsorship or visa requirements.
Some matters can be dealt with through sponsor reporting mechanisms.
Others may require a different approach.
Employers should not simply edit employment arrangements and assume the immigration record will somehow catch up.
Where a material change occurs after assignment, check what action is required before implementing it.
Can a Certificate of Sponsorship be withdrawn?
There are circumstances in which a CoS may no longer be used or may need to be withdrawn.
For example, the employer may decide not to proceed with the recruitment or the proposed employment may fall away.
The immigration consequences depend on the stage reached.
There is an obvious difference between withdrawing sponsorship before a worker has applied for their visa and ending sponsorship after the worker has already been granted permission and started employment.
Employers should therefore manage the CoS through the Sponsor Management System and make any required reports in accordance with their sponsor duties.
What if the worker does not take up the job?
Sometimes recruitment does not go to plan.
A worker may decide not to come to the UK, accept another job or simply never start.
The employer should not leave the sponsorship record sitting untouched because the person has disappeared from the recruitment process.
Licensed sponsors have reporting duties and need to keep the Home Office informed of relevant changes concerning sponsored workers.
The Sponsor Licence is not a “set it and forget it” system.
Assigning the CoS creates responsibilities.
Can you reuse a Certificate of Sponsorship?
No. A Certificate of Sponsorship is assigned to an individual worker for particular sponsored employment.
It is not a voucher that can be passed to the next candidate if the first recruitment falls through.
If another worker needs sponsorship, the employer will generally need the appropriate CoS for that person.
This is worth remembering when managing allocations.
A company should not view a pool of Undefined CoS as interchangeable pieces of recruitment paperwork that can simply be shuffled around after assignment.
What happens if the Certificate of Sponsorship contains a mistake?
This depends on the nature of the mistake and when it is discovered.
Some minor errors may be capable of being addressed through the appropriate sponsorship mechanisms.
More significant problems may affect whether the worker can rely on the CoS at all.
The safest approach is unsurprising:
check the certificate properly before assigning it.
When we prepare sponsorship cases, we normally compare the proposed CoS information against the employment documentation and worker’s circumstances before assignment.
A second check can pick up surprisingly simple mistakes:
wrong salary;
wrong working hours;
incorrect work address;
wrong dates;
incorrect occupation code;
or inaccurate immigration information.
A five-minute review before assignment can save considerably more than five minutes afterwards.
Can an employee obtain their own Certificate of Sponsorship?
No.
The employee does not apply independently to the Home Office for their own Certificate of Sponsorship.
The CoS must come from an appropriately licensed sponsor.
This distinction is particularly important because many workers search online for phrases such as:
“How do I get a Certificate of Sponsorship?”
The practical answer is that they need an eligible job with an employer who is licensed and willing to sponsor them.
The employer then assigns the CoS as part of the sponsorship process.
Workers should therefore be cautious of anybody purporting to simply “sell” them a Certificate of Sponsorship without genuine sponsored employment behind it.
A legitimate CoS represents a genuine employment relationship.
Is a Certificate of Sponsorship the same as a visa?
No.
A CoS is sponsorship from the employer.
A visa, or permission to stay where applying from inside the UK, is the worker’s immigration permission granted by the Home Office.
They are connected but separate.
A useful way to think about the process is:
- Employer obtains Sponsor Licence
- Employer sponsors genuine job
- Certificate of Sponsorship is assigned
- Worker makes immigration application
- Home Office decides the worker’s application
The CoS sits in the middle.
It is important, but it is not the final immigration decision.
Can the Home Office check the information on a CoS?
Absolutely.
The Home Office can assess sponsorship information and investigate whether sponsors are complying with their duties.
Its sponsor compliance guidance covers both pre-licence and post-licence assessment and inspection activity.
Employers should therefore assign Certificates of Sponsorship on the assumption that they may one day need to explain the information recorded.
That is a healthy approach to sponsorship generally.
If the business can answer:
“Why did you sponsor this person for this job, on this salary, using this occupation code?”
with a clear and genuine explanation, that is considerably better than trying to reconstruct the reasoning eighteen months later.
The CoS should reflect a genuine vacancy
The Certificate of Sponsorship is not simply an immigration form.
It records employment.
The underlying job therefore needs to be genuine.
For Skilled Worker sponsorship, the role must satisfy the applicable requirements of the route, including the relevant occupation and salary provisions.
This is particularly important where a business has identified somebody it wants to retain after another visa expires.
For example, an employer may have an excellent Graduate visa employee and genuinely want to keep them.
That is perfectly understandable.
But the question is not simply:
“How do we keep this person?”
It is:
“Is there a genuine role within the business that qualifies for Skilled Worker sponsorship, and does this person’s proposed employment satisfy the rules?”
The immigration solution needs to fit the employment.
The employment should not be artificially redesigned simply to fit an immigration solution.
Do you need professional help to assign a CoS?
An experienced licensed sponsor with a knowledgeable HR or immigration team may be perfectly capable of assigning straightforward Certificates of Sponsorship internally.
For businesses sponsoring their first worker, however, professional assistance can be particularly worthwhile.
By the time you reach the CoS stage, several decisions have to line up properly:
- the worker’s immigration position;
- correct type of CoS;
- occupation code;
- eligibility of the role;
- salary;
- working hours;
- employment dates;
- CoS allocation;
- Immigration Skills Charge; and
- information entered into the SMS.
The technical act of clicking assign is not difficult.
The value lies in making sure what you are assigning is correct.
That is similar to the Sponsor Licence itself.
You are not really paying a professional to type information into a government website.
You are paying for somebody to work out what the correct information should be before it goes onto the government website.
That distinction matters.
What we check before assigning a Certificate of Sponsorship
Where we are assisting with sponsorship, we prefer to look at the worker and employment arrangements as one complete case.
We would normally establish the worker’s current or proposed immigration position and whether a Defined or Undefined CoS is required.
We then look at the proposed employment.
That includes the actual duties of the role, occupation code, salary, hours, proposed dates and other relevant sponsorship requirements.
Where necessary, we also consider the employer’s CoS allocation and whether an additional request is required.
Only once those elements fit together should the certificate be assigned.
This may sound more involved than simply logging into SMS and filling in the fields.
It is.
That is also the point.
Common Certificate of Sponsorship mistakes
Some CoS mistakes are technical.
Others come from failing to consider the sponsorship properly before assignment.
The most common areas we would want an employer to check include:
- using the wrong type of CoS;
- selecting an unsuitable occupation code;
- entering an incorrect salary;
- using inaccurate working hours;
- inconsistent job information;
- unrealistic employment dates;
- assigning the CoS too early;
- failing to check whether the worker qualifies;
- overlooking the Immigration Skills Charge;
- using an outdated understanding of the Skilled Worker rules; and
- assuming the CoS guarantees the visa.
None of those require spectacular incompetence.
Most happen because the sponsorship process has been rushed.
That is why a properly prepared CoS should be treated as part of the immigration case, not an administrative task delegated to whoever happens to have the SMS password.
Certificate of Sponsorship and the wider sponsorship process
The Certificate of Sponsorship sits at the centre of the employer sponsorship journey.
Before it comes the Sponsor Licence.
After it comes the worker’s immigration application.
Around it sit the employer’s continuing compliance responsibilities.
A business therefore needs to think beyond simply:
“How do I issue a CoS?”
The better questions are:
- Are we licensed for the correct route?
- Is this role eligible?
- Which CoS do we need?
- Does the worker qualify?
- Is the salary correct?
- Have we completed the sponsorship record accurately?
- What duties do we have after the worker starts?
When those questions have been answered properly, assigning the certificate itself becomes the easy part.
Need help with a Certificate of Sponsorship?
If your business already has a Sponsor Licence and needs to sponsor a worker, we can help you prepare the sponsorship properly before the Certificate of Sponsorship is assigned.
Where appropriate, we can review the worker’s circumstances, proposed role, occupation code, salary and sponsorship requirements, establish whether a Defined or Undefined CoS is needed and help with the relevant sponsorship process.
If additional CoS allocation is required, that can also be considered as part of the wider case.
The objective is not simply to obtain a reference number from the Sponsor Management System.
It is to make sure that the sponsorship behind that number has been properly assessed. Because a CoS takes only a relatively short time to assign. Untangling one that was assigned incorrectly can take rather longer.
FAQs
1. What is a Certificate of Sponsorship?
A Certificate of Sponsorship, or CoS, is an electronic record assigned by a licensed sponsor to a worker for a particular job. It contains details about the employer, worker and proposed employment. The worker receives a unique CoS reference number and uses this as part of their application for the relevant sponsored work visa.
2. How do I get a Certificate of Sponsorship in the UK?
For an employer, a CoS is obtained and assigned through the Sponsor Management System after the organisation has the appropriate Sponsor Licence. For a worker, you cannot normally obtain a CoS independently. You need genuine eligible employment with a licensed employer that is willing and able to sponsor you for the proposed role.
3. What is the difference between a Defined and Undefined CoS?
A Defined CoS is generally used for a Skilled Worker applying for entry clearance from outside the UK. An Undefined CoS is used for Skilled Workers applying from within the UK where permitted and for certain other sponsored routes. Employers should establish which type is required before assignment, as using the wrong type can create compliance problems.
4. How long is a Certificate of Sponsorship valid?
Once a Certificate of Sponsorship has been assigned, the worker generally needs to use it for their visa application within three months. The timing also needs to work with the proposed employment start date. Employers should therefore avoid assigning a CoS unnecessarily early and coordinate the sponsorship with the worker’s intended immigration application.
5. How much does a Certificate of Sponsorship cost?
The Home Office charges a fee when a Certificate of Sponsorship is assigned, with the amount depending on the relevant sponsorship route and current fee structure. Employers should also check whether the Immigration Skills Charge applies. The total employer cost of sponsoring a worker can therefore be considerably higher than the Certificate of Sponsorship fee alone.
6. Can a Certificate of Sponsorship be rejected?
A CoS does not guarantee that the worker’s visa application will succeed. The Home Office can consider whether the sponsorship and job meet the relevant requirements and whether the worker qualifies under the immigration route. Problems with the occupation code, salary, job, sponsorship information or the worker’s eligibility can potentially affect the subsequent application.
7. Can an employee pay for their own Certificate of Sponsorship?
Employers need to be careful about transferring sponsorship costs to workers. Home Office rules restrict sponsors from passing certain sponsorship-related costs to sponsored employees. Businesses should therefore check the current rules before seeking reimbursement or making salary deductions. Recovering a relatively small fee is not worth creating a potentially serious Sponsor Licence compliance issue.
8. Can I change information after a CoS has been assigned?
Some changes or errors may be capable of being addressed through the appropriate sponsorship procedures, depending on what has changed and when it is discovered. More significant changes can affect the underlying sponsorship. Employers should therefore check the CoS carefully before assignment and obtain advice where a material error or employment change is discovered afterwards.
9. Can a Certificate of Sponsorship be used for another employee?
No. Once assigned, a Certificate of Sponsorship relates to the particular worker and employment recorded on it. It cannot simply be transferred to another candidate if the original recruitment falls through. The employer will generally need appropriate sponsorship for the replacement worker and should manage the original CoS in accordance with its sponsor duties.
10. Do I need professional help to assign a Certificate of Sponsorship?
It is possible for licensed sponsors to assign Certificates of Sponsorship themselves. However, first-time sponsors can benefit from professional assistance because the important decisions concern the role, occupation code, salary, CoS type, working hours and worker’s eligibility. The value is not simply completing the SMS fields, but checking the underlying sponsorship before assignment.