UK Sponsor Licence List 2026: Every Licensed Visa Sponsor, Charted

Data: Home Office register of licensed sponsors, 11 July 2026 edition. Recalculated monthly.

The maintained list: what this page is

There is a persistent claim online that no static directory of UK sponsorship companies exists. Strictly, that is true: the Home Office register changes on most working days, so any fixed list is stale within a week. This page takes the opposite approach: it is a monthly recalculation of the entire official register, with every figure, chart and table below regenerated from the 11 July 2026 edition, and the official file linked for anyone who needs to verify a specific employer on the day they check. The register is the definitive answer to whether an employer can sponsor a visa: an organisation must appear on it before it can issue a Certificate of Sponsorship for the Skilled Worker route or any other sponsored work route. The current edition contains 142,364 licence entries across 126,978 unique organisations, since one organisation can hold licences for several routes at once. The list is still commonly searched for by its pre-2020 name, the tier 2 sponsor list; Tier 2 (General) became the Skilled Worker route in December 2020, and the register covered here is its current, official successor.

Sponsors by immigration route

The Skilled Worker route dominates with 122,472 licence entries, more than ten times the next largest route. Global Business Mobility Senior or Specialist Worker follows at 10,401 entries, mostly multinational transfers rather than open recruitment. The specialist tail runs from ministers of religion and creative workers to international sportspeople, while the Scale-up route has just 92 licensed sponsors nationally.

Companies that sponsor work visas: the major employers

The question asked most often is simply which big companies sponsor. The names below are exact registered legal names checked against the current register at the time this page was generated; a name appears here only if it holds a live licence in the current edition, which is why this table can change month to month. Holding a licence confirms the organisation may sponsor eligible roles; it does not mean every vacancy is open to sponsorship.

Beyond household names, 242 register entries contain NHS in the organisation name, spanning trusts, boards and health bodies across all four nations: the health service is collectively the largest sponsoring employer in the country.

Care companies with a sponsor licence

Care is the sector applicants search hardest. 8,174 organisations on the 11 July 2026 register carry care, healthcare, nursing or a close variant in their registered name, a conservative name-based count that understates the true sector total since many care providers trade under names without those words. Anyone assessing a care employer should note the compliance context: the care sector has seen the heaviest licence-revocation activity of any industry in recent years, so verifying an employer against the current register on the day of application matters more here than anywhere else, and the Skilled Worker route rules for care roles, including the ban on new overseas recruitment for some care occupations announced in 2025 policy changes, should be checked against current GOV.UK guidance before relying on a licence alone.

Charity visa sponsorship

The Charity Worker route has 1,530 licence entries on the current register, covering unpaid voluntary roles at registered charities for up to 12 months. Charities can also hold Skilled Worker licences for paid roles, so a charity absent from the Charity Worker route may still sponsor paid positions under its Worker licence: the two are separate entries on the same register.

Where the sponsors are

London accounts for 43,502 licence entries, about 31% of the register, with Birmingham (3,348) and Manchester (3,113) the largest concentrations outside the capital. Town reflects where the licence holder is registered, not where every sponsored role sits: a London-registered national employer sponsors workers across the country.

Ratings: what A and B actually mean

99.9% of licence entries carry an A rating, the standard status confirming a sponsor is meeting its duties. A B rating is a downgrade with an action plan attached, during which the sponsor cannot issue new Certificates of Sponsorship. Only 30 entries on the entire register currently hold a B rating, which says less about universal compliance than about how the system works: sponsors that fail an action plan are removed from the register entirely, and suspensions never appear on the public list at all. An employer missing from the register may never have held a licence, or may have just lost one, and the register itself will not tell you which.

How to check a specific employer

Download the current register from GOV.UK and search the organisation name, remembering that companies usually appear under their registered legal name rather than a trading name; checking Companies House for the exact registered name resolves most false negatives. A match confirms the licence and routes; it does not confirm that a particular job qualifies, since the role must separately meet the skill and salary requirements of the route.

Download the current official register (GOV.UK, CSV, free). The analysis above reflects the edition dated 11 July 2026 and is recalculated monthly.

FAQ

How many companies can sponsor visas in the UK?

126,978 unique organisations hold a sponsor licence as of 11 July 2026, 121,420 of them for the Skilled Worker route. The register changes most working days; this page recalculates monthly and shows its edition date at the top.

Which major companies sponsor work visas in the UK?

Verified against the current register by exact legal name: Google (UK) Limited, Microsoft Limited, Barclays Bank UK PLC, HSBC Holdings plc, Deloitte LLP, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Ernst & Young, KPMG LLP, Rolls-Royce plc, Unilever UK Limited and others listed above, alongside hundreds of NHS bodies and universities. A licence confirms an employer may sponsor eligible roles, not that any given vacancy is open to sponsorship.

Which care companies have a UK sponsorship licence?

8,174 organisations on the current register carry care, healthcare or nursing in their registered name. Because revocations are heaviest in this sector, a care employer should always be verified against the current register on the day of application rather than a cached list.

Do charities sponsor visas in the UK?

Yes: the Charity Worker route has 1,530 licence entries for unpaid voluntary roles up to 12 months, and many charities separately hold Skilled Worker licences for paid positions.

Is the tier 2 sponsor list the same as the Skilled Worker sponsor list?

Yes. Tier 2 (General) was replaced by the Skilled Worker route in December 2020; the register of licensed sponsors for Worker and Temporary Worker routes is the current official document behind both names.

How often is the UK sponsor register updated?

The Home Office publishes an updated file on most working days. This page recalculates every figure and chart monthly from the latest edition, with the edition date shown at the top.

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