GoRizzume

UK visa sponsorship guides

Checked against gov.uk on · By the GoRizzume team

Plain-English guides to the UK work visas that international students, graduates and sponsored workers ask about most. Each one is written from the gov.uk guidance and the Immigration Rules, links the source page beside every rule, and says when it was checked. Start with the one that fits where you are now.

Start here

The guides

Every guide in the series

  1. 01The Skilled Worker visa, explained in plain EnglishThe main UK work visa: who qualifies, the salary rules, what it costs and who pays, family, changing jobs and settlement.Read the guide
  2. 02The Health and Care Worker visa after the July 2025 changesWho still qualifies after the 2025 care worker changes, NHS and care employers, family rules, licence revocation and scams.Read the guide
  3. 03The Graduate visa: how long it lasts, what you can do, and what comes nextHow long it lasts (2 years or 18 months, depending on when you apply), what you can do on it, and how to switch out.Read the guide
  4. 04Switching from the Graduate visa to a Skilled Worker visaThe switch step by step: timing, what the employer must do and pay, and the salary rules for switchers.Read the guide
  5. 05How UK visa sponsorship worksThe mechanism behind every sponsored visa: licences, ratings, certificates, who pays what, and the sponsor's duties.Read the guide

The register

Who is licensed to sponsor

GoRizzume mirrors the Home Office register of licensed sponsors every day: 126,000+ organisations at the last sync, 31 October 2026. Browse it by city and sector, or check one employer by name. A licence means an employer can sponsor, not that it will for every role.

Free tools

Check your own situation

UK work visa checkerWhich routes let you work, with the published rule behind each answer.Visa sponsor registerEvery licensed UK sponsor, by city and sector, mirrored daily from the Home Office register.Sponsor licence checkCheck one employer against the register before you spend an evening on its application form.Skilled Worker salary calculatorThe general threshold and the going rate for an occupation code, with the higher one binding.Visa sponsorship jobsLive roles at licensed sponsors, taken from the employers' own careers sites.Sponsor register statisticsHow many organisations hold a licence, by city, route and rating.

By passport

What changes depending on where you are from

The Graduate and Skilled Worker rules are the same whatever passport you hold. Whether a route that needs no employer is open to you is not. Our country guides cover that for each country below.

Go deeper

Articles in this series

UK companies that sponsor Skilled Worker visas (2026 guide)How to find employers that can actually sponsor you: the official register, what a licence does and does not mean, and how to apply where you can be hired.Skilled Worker Salary Thresholds in 2026: The Real Figures for 15 Graduate JobsThe gov.uk going rate and new-entrant minimum for 15 graduate jobs by SOC code, who counts as a new entrant, and the pay-period rule in force since 8 April 2026.Sponsor Licence Check: How to Check if a UK Company Sponsors Visas (and What the Register Can't Tell You)How to search the Home Office sponsor register, what the route and A/B rating columns mean, why sponsors vanish from the list, and our count of the 7 October 2026 edition.Will You Require Visa Sponsorship? How to Answer Honestly on UK Applications (2026)On a Student, Graduate or HPI visa the honest answer to "now or in the future" is usually yes. The right answer for each visa, and how to check an employer first.We Analysed All 126,219 UK Visa Sponsors: What the Register Really Tells Graduates in 2026Analysis of all 126,219 licensed UK visa sponsors and 7,080 live graduate job ads: where sponsors are, and why ads almost never mention sponsorship.The Graduate visa drops to 18 months on 1 January 2027: apply by 31 December to keep two yearsApply for the Graduate visa on or before 31 December 2026 and you get two years; apply from 1 January 2027 and you get 18 months. Who is affected, how to beat the cut-off, and what it means for sponsorship.The salary threshold that decides if a graduate scheme can sponsor youWhy a licensed employer still cannot sponsor its own graduate scheme. The two headline numbers, the occupation going rate that overrides them, and the four-year clock most guides never mention.Graduate visa to Skilled Worker: the timelineWhen to start, when sponsorship has to be in place, and how to sequence the switch from the Graduate route to a sponsored Skilled Worker visa without a gap.Which UK graduate schemes sponsor visasWhy there is no fixed list of sponsoring schemes, the sectors more likely to sponsor, and the one reliable check to run on any scheme before you apply.How to find visa-sponsoring graduate schemesA method for finding UK graduate schemes that sponsor international students, cross-referencing scheme lists against the official sponsor register.Which Banks and Trading Firms Sponsor International Students? Spring Weeks and Internships 2027Most banks publish no visa sponsorship position for spring weeks. What Lazard, Bank of America, Barclays and others actually say, who holds a licence, and the deadlines.Which consulting and Big 4 firms sponsor graduate visas in the UK (2027 intake)Firm-by-firm table for 25 consulting and Big 4 graduate programmes: what each firm publishes about visa sponsorship, its Home Office register entry, and Graduate visa timing.Which UK Companies Sponsor Graduate Visas in 2026 (and How to Check Any Employer)More than 126,000 UK organisations can sponsor Skilled Worker visas. Which graduate employers actually do, and how to check any company in under a minute.Visa Sponsorship Jobs UK: Where Graduates Can Actually Find Sponsored Roles in 2026Where to find visa sponsorship jobs in the UK as a graduate: the sites that work, the ground-truth register, and the dead platforms old lists still recommend.
This is information, not immigration advice. It explains published Home Office rules and cannot see your own history. Always confirm on gov.uk, check with your employer, and take advice from an adviser regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority before making a decision that matters.