UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) has released the latest edition of its ‘Register of Worker and Temporary Worker Licensed Sponsors’, dated 29 September 2026. The 10.4 MB CSV lists more than 83,000 organisations authorised to sponsor staff under Skilled Worker, Global Business Mobility and other temporary work routes. For HR and global mobility teams, the file is the primary compliance tool for verifying whether a prospective host entity can issue Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS). The quarterly update provides early warning of companies whose licences have been suspended or revoked—critical intelligence when structuring intra-company transfers, secondments or client-site projects. A spot-check by KPMG Law found 312 new entries—mainly in health, green tech and fintech—and 94 removals. Notably, three care-home chains lost their A-rating after failing to meet salary and record-keeping duties. With the government’s 2026 Immigration Rules tightening genuineness tests and raising salary thresholds from April 2027, experts predict more licence downgrades ahead. Practical implications include revisiting Statement of Work contracts: if a client loses its sponsor licence mid-engagement, seconded staff may have to switch sponsors or exit the UK. Mobility functions should schedule periodic licence checks and incorporate protective clauses allowing redeployment. Employers planning bulk CoS allocations for 2027 should also monitor their annual allocation limits, as UKVI often reduces quotas following compliance breaches. Finally, the dataset can inform strategic site selection. Regions with dense clusters of licensed sponsors—such as the ‘Ox-Cam Arc’ and West Midlands battery corridor—offer richer talent pools for partner-hires and spousal employment, easing family relocations.
Source: UK Visas & Immigration
