Sponsor Licence Revocation

Licenced sponsors are required to fulfil certain duties throughout the period of their licence. If the UKVI believe that a sponsor has breached these duties in a serious way or that they pose a threat to immigration control they may decide to revoke a sponsor’s licence.

Revocation of a sponsor licence


If the UKVI makes the decision to revoke a sponsor’s licence it will be revoked in all tiers and categories for which the sponsor is licenced and as such the sponsor will be removed from the register of sponsors.

The UKVI could revoke a sponsor’s licence for a number of reasons some of which are mandatory whilst others are discretionary. Circumstances in which the UKVI will revoke a sponsor licence include but are not limited to the following:

• the sponsor knowingly provided false information on the application for their sponsor licence;
• the sponsor is B-rated and has not met any of the requirements of their action plan within the specified time period; or
• the sponsor employs a migrant in a job that does not meet the required skill level.

In other circumstances, where a sponsor fails to comply with any of their sponsor duties the Home Office may decide to suspend the sponsor licence whilst they carry out further enquiries. Upon completion of its enquiries the Home Office will either reinstate, downgrade or revoke the sponsor’s licence.

Sponsor Licence Revoked: What are the consequences?
Once the UKVI has revoked a sponsor licence they will also curtail the leave of any sponsored workers who are currently employed by the sponsor. The sponsored worker will usually have their leave curtailed to 60 calendar days unless they have fewer than this remaining, in which case no action will be taken.

If a sponsored worker has their leave curtailed they will have to either make another application for leave in a category for which they qualify, find alternative employment with a licenced sponsor or leave the UK.

As it stands there is no right of appeal against a decision to revoke a sponsor licence and a sponsor will be prohibited from making a further application for a sponsor licence until the end of the appropriate cooling off period. This is usually 12 months from the date the sponsor licence was revoked.

However, upon a new application for a sponsor licence the applicant will need to address the reasons for the previous revocation.