Blog Post

The definitive list of UK companies that sponsor visas is published by the Home Office, free, downloadable, and with around 100,000 entries. No blog can reproduce it and none should try. What is worth knowing is how to use it, and it is not the way most people do.

There is also a second question that matters more in 2026 than the first, and almost nobody asks it.

Use the register as a prospect list, not a check

Most people use the register of licensed sponsors defensively: they find a job, then look the company up to see whether the offer is real. That is a good use and it is the smaller one.

Used the other way round it is the best prospect list in British recruitment. Download it, filter to your sector and region, and apply to those companies directly whether or not they are advertising. You are approaching employers who have already obtained a licence, already done the paperwork once, and already decided in principle that sponsoring is worth it.

That is a completely different conversation from persuading an employer to start. We keep a working copy at registered UK visa sponsors if you would rather not wrangle a government spreadsheet, and the same approach works in the Netherlands, which publishes its own register.

The defensive use still matters. If a company is not on the register, they cannot sponsor you, whatever they have told you and whatever paperwork they have shown you. That check takes under a minute and it eliminates every fake offer at once.

The question that matters more: can the job be sponsored?

A licensed sponsor can only sponsor an eligible role, and since 22 July 2025 the Skilled Worker route has required RQF 6, degree level. That single change removed around 180 occupations.

The exception is the interim Temporary Shortage List, which keeps roughly 50 occupation codes at RQF 3 to 5 eligible, covering construction trades, engineering, IT technicians, automotive work, logistics, agriculture and some finance and business support roles. It is scheduled to expire on 31 December 2026 unless extended.

So ask the employer for the occupation code in writing, and check it yourself in Appendix Skilled Occupations. Two sectors are worth ruling out before you spend time on them: hospitality is outside the list entirely, and care worker roles closed to new overseas applicants on 22 July 2025, with in-country switching running to 22 July 2028.

The salary trap

The headline figures are GBP 41,700 on the general route and GBP 33,400 on the Temporary Shortage List. Neither is necessarily your number, because the rule is the higher of the threshold and the going rate for your specific occupation code.

Look up the going rate for the code before you negotiate, not after. It is the single most useful check available on this route.

Two changes that catch applicants

English rose to B2 in January

For applications made on or after 8 January 2026, the requirement is CEFR B2 in reading, writing, speaking and listening, up from B1. If you already held the visa before that date, B1 still applies when you extend, so do not buy a test you do not need. Separately, the English requirement for settlement rises from B1 to B2 on 26 March 2027.

The surcharge is the real cost

The immigration health surcharge is GBP 1,035 per person per year, payable up front for the whole visa. A family of four on a five-year visa pays GBP 20,700 before any application fee. It is the largest single cost in UK immigration and the one people discover last.

One exemption, and it is large. The Health and Care Worker visa is exempt entirely, dependants included, and has a lower salary floor. For clinical staff that single distinction is worth more than every other saving on this page.

What to do

1. Download the register and filter it to your sector and region. That is your application list.
2. Ask for the occupation code before anything else, and check it against Appendix Skilled Occupations.
3. Look up the going rate for that code and assume the higher of it and the threshold applies.
4. Prepare to B2, and check the exemptions: a degree taught in English is the most commonly overlooked one.
5. Price the surcharge for everyone coming. It is larger than the visa fee by a wide margin.
6. Never pay for a certificate of sponsorship. The employer carries that cost, always.

Related: the Skilled Worker route in full, what replaced the shortage occupation list and companies hiring nurses in the UK. Browse UK shortage jobs with visa sponsorship on our board.

Last checked September 2026. The register is updated continuously and the Temporary Shortage List is interim to 31 December 2026. Always check the live register and the current going rate for your occupation code.