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Employers have been faced with ever- increasing Home Office costs payable when seeking to recruit or transfer a non UK worker to their UK workforce. At the end of 2025, UKVI updated the guidance relating to costs that employers can recover from these sponsored workers – changes which form part of broader updates to Skilled Worker requirements, many of which were effective from 9 April 2025.
These changes are an indication of the heavy burden UKVI wish to place on employers who wish to employ non UK nationals, and require employers to demonstrate their commitment to that employee – UKVI now wish to ensure that the responsibility remains that of the employer alone, and not that of the employee. Severe sanctions remain in place for those employers who seek to transfer these responsibilities and burden their employees with heavy costs.
Prohibition on recouping sponsorship fees
Sponsors are now expressly prohibited from recouping associated administrative costs from their employee sponsored workers. These costs include Home Office fees, sponsor licence premium or priority service fees, Certificate of Sponsorship-related costs, and legal or immigration advice fees where the worker did not have a genuine choice in obtaining those services.
Employers have never been able to pass the Immigration Skills Charge on to employees – they are obliged to meet this cost themselves and this charge remains prohibited from being passed on to sponsored workers under the updated guidance.
Mandatory sponsorship fees payable by employers
Following the guidance, sponsors are now responsible for paying the following fees:
- Sponsor licence application fee
- Application fee to add additional routes to an existing sponsor licence
- Certificate of Sponsorship fee
- Immigration Skills Charge fee, where applicable
- Additional premium services such as paid change of circumstances requests, or priority services fees such as biometric enrolment, associated with the sponsor licence, where applicable
Sponsor licence revocation for unlawful clawback of fees (Skilled Worker route)
UKVI guidance confirms that a sponsor licence is at risk of revocation if a sponsor recovers, or seeks to recover, the following skilled worker fees:
- The sponsor licence fee (including adding that route to an existing licence)
- Associated administrative costs
- Certificate of Sponsorship fees
- Immigration Skills Charge
These changes reinforce the Home Office’s expectation that the financial and compliance responsibilities associated with sponsorship sit squarely with the employer. Sponsors should take the opportunity to review their contractual arrangements and internal processes to ensure they align with the updated guidance. Given the potential consequences of non-compliance, including licence revocation, and the potential termination of leave for non UK employees, we urge employers to treat sponsorship cost allocation as a core compliance issue rather than an administrative formality.
