There is no shortcut, no paid list, and no agency that can hand you sponsorship. What there is: a public register of every licensed employer, and a method for using it properly. This guide is that method.
First, understand what sponsorship is
A UK employer that wants to hire someone from overseas must hold a sponsor licence from the Home Office. Once licensed, they can assign you a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) for a specific job, and you use that to apply for the visa.
That means the sequence is fixed: eligible job offer → licensed employer → CoS → visa application. You cannot apply first and find work later.
Step 1: Check your occupation is eligible
Before spending months applying, confirm your job can be sponsored at all. Since July 2025 the bar is RQF level 6 (degree level) for most roles, and 104 occupations are outright ineligible. Look up your role in the occupations and codes table and read our SOC codes guide.
Step 2: Check the salary is realistic
Your offer must clear both the general threshold (£41,700 for most new applicants) and your occupation's going rate. If the roles you are targeting typically pay £32,000, sponsorship is unlikely regardless of how well the interview goes. See salary thresholds explained.
Step 3: Build a target list from the official register
This is where most people go wrong — applying scattergun to companies that were never licensed. Instead:
- Search the full sponsor list for employers in your field.
- Filter by route (you want “Skilled Worker”) and by town or city.
- Browse sponsors by city if you are targeting a particular area, or the A–Z company directory if you have specific employers in mind.
- Check recently added sponsors — newly licensed companies are often licensed precisely because they are trying to hire from abroad right now.
The register lists licensed employers, not vacancies
A company on the register may have no openings, or may only sponsor senior roles. Use it as a filter for your job search on normal job boards and company career pages — not as a mailing list.
Step 4: Apply where sponsorship is already normal
Employers who sponsor regularly have the process, budget and legal support in place. Signals worth looking for:
- the job advert says “visa sponsorship available” or “we are a licensed sponsor”;
- the company appears on the register with multiple routes;
- they are in a sector that habitually recruits internationally — healthcare, engineering, IT, academia, hospitality management.
Step 5: Raise sponsorship at the right moment
Do not lead with it, and do not hide it. Most UK application forms ask directly whether you need sponsorship — answer honestly. If they do not ask, raise it once there is genuine interest, framed practically: your occupation code, that the salary meets the threshold, and that they would need to assign a CoS. Employers refuse far more often out of uncertainty than out of cost.
Step 6: Know the costs before you negotiate
The employer pays the licence fee, the CoS fee and the immigration skills charge (£1,320 per year for a large sponsor). You typically pay the visa fee, the healthcare surcharge and your dependants' costs. Estimate your side with the cost calculator so you are not surprised.
Red flags: how sponsorship scams work
- Anyone asking you to pay for a CoS or a “sponsorship slot”. This is unlawful. Sponsors cannot pass those costs to you.
- “Guaranteed” sponsorship for a fee. No one can guarantee a Home Office outcome.
- Job offers with no interview. Particularly ones arriving unprompted with an urgent payment request.
- Employers not on the register. Always verify the exact legal entity name on the sponsor list.
- Pressure to accept a role well below the going rate, or to use a SOC code that does not match the actual duties.
If you cannot find a sponsor
Consider whether another route fits better: Global Business Mobility if your current employer has a UK entity, the Scale-up route, Graduate visa if you studied in the UK, or the Temporary Worker routes for charity, creative, religious and seasonal work. Our route pages show which employers are licensed for each.