UK Immigration Compliance Updates: Sponsor Guidance Changes

The Home Office has published an updated version of the Workers and Temporary Workers sponsor guidance together with a new Appendix D, which sets out sponsor record-keeping duties. Although the updates are not extensive, they introduce several important compliance clarifications for employers holding a sponsor licence.

1.    New Record-Keeping Requirement for Sponsors

The Home Office updated Appendix D (Record-Keeping Duties) of the sponsor guidance to introduce a new compliance requirement.

Evidence sponsored workers have been informed of their employment rights

Sponsors must now retain evidence that sponsored workers have been informed of their employment rights in the UK.

Examples of acceptable evidence may include:

• Written information provided to employees outlining UK employment rights
• Induction or onboarding materials covering employment protections
• Signed acknowledgements confirming the worker has received this information

This development reflects the Home Office’s wider focus on worker protection and preventing exploitation in sponsored work routes.

Appendix D continues to require sponsors to retain documents for their worker such as:

• evidence of right to work
• evidence of worker’s date of entry to the UK
• evidence of recruitment
• employment contracts
• evidence of salary
• additional documents relating to sponsored workers

Sponsors must ensure these records are retained, kept up to date and made available during any Home Office compliance audit.

Recommended actions

• Update onboarding procedures for sponsored workers
• Provide written information explaining UK employment rights
• Retain evidence confirming the worker has received this information

2.    Eligible Role – Clarification in Sponsor Guidance

The updated sponsor guidance also clarifies the meaning of an “eligible role” for sponsorship purposes.

An eligible role is a vacancy or role which the Home Office is satisfied meets all of the following requirements:

• The role exists at the point the sponsor assigns the Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) to the worker, or the sponsor can reasonably anticipate that the role will exist by the time the CoS is assigned. The role must exist within either:
• the sponsor organisation; or
• another organisation where the guidance permits the sponsor to sponsor a worker to work for a third party.
• The role requires the jobholder to perform the duties and responsibilities set out on the Certificate of Sponsorship, including the number of hours worked each week.
• The role meets all of the requirements of the relevant immigration route, including the appropriate skill level and salary thresholds under the Immigration Rules, and complies with the National Minimum Wage Act and Working Time Regulations.
• The role must be appropriate to the sponsor organisation’s business, taking into account its business model, business plan and scale.

This clarification reinforces the Home Office’s focus on ensuring that sponsored roles are genuine vacancies that appropriately reflect the sponsor’s business activities.

3.    Clarifications Regarding Right to Work Checks

The updated Home Office guidance provides key clarifications relevant to employers, with the key change detailed below. Quote below from the Home Office guidance:

“You must check that any worker you wish to employ or sponsor (including a worker who is not your direct employee) has permission to enter or stay in the UK and can do the work in question before they start working for you.”

Right to work check requirement where the sponsor is not the worker’s direct employer

This clarification may be particularly relevant where sponsored workers are engaged through:

• group company arrangements
• intra-group assignments
• contractual or outsourcing structures
• third-party work locations

In such cases, the sponsor must still ensure that compliant right to work checks are carried out.

More broadly, all UK employers must conduct right to work checks before employment begins in order to establish a statutory excuse against liability for illegal working penalties.

4.    Higher English Language Requirements

Skilled Worker applications

Applicants making their first Skilled Worker application from 8 January 2026 must demonstrate English language ability at CEFR level B2, increased from the previous B1 level.

Employers sponsoring Skilled Workers should therefore ensure candidates can meet the higher English language threshold before assigning a Certificate of Sponsorship.

Settlement applications

Applicants making their Settlement application from 26 March 2027 must demonstrate English language ability at CEFR level B2, increased from the previous B1 level.

5.    What Sponsors Should Do Now

Employers holding a sponsor licence may wish to:

• review right-to-work check processes and record- focusing on third party employees
• update onboarding procedures to include evidence that sponsored workers have been informed of their employment rights and retain evidence
• audit sponsor compliance files to confirm Appendix D records are complete and accessible
• review arrangements involving group entities or third-party work locations to ensure compliant right to work checks are carried out

The Home Office continues to conduct compliance visits, often with little notice, and incomplete records can result in licence downgrading, suspension, or revocation.

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