UK Visa Sponsor Index
As of 2 October 2026, 126,633 UK organisations hold a Home Office licence to sponsor a work visa, spread across 8,085 towns and cities. 121,343 of them are licensed for the Skilled Worker route. These figures are a live count of the official register, which we mirror every day.
- Licensed sponsor organisations
- 126,633
- Towns & cities covered
- 8,085
- Skilled Worker sponsors
- 121,343
- Visa routes covered
- 18
Source: the Home Office Register of Licensed Sponsors, mirrored on 2 October 2026. Counts are distinct organisations, not register rows.
Where the sponsors are
The 20 towns and cities with the most licensed sponsors. Each links to the full list for that location.
| # | Town or city | Licensed sponsors |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | London | 33,396 |
| 2 | London | 2,911 |
| 3 | Birmingham | 2,766 |
| 4 | Manchester | 2,574 |
| 5 | Glasgow | 1,241 |
| 6 | Leicester | 1,186 |
| 7 | Bristol | 1,178 |
| 8 | Edinburgh | 1,069 |
| 9 | Leeds | 964 |
| 10 | Nottingham | 913 |
| 11 | Reading | 829 |
| 12 | Ilford | 794 |
| 13 | Cambridge | 781 |
| 14 | Coventry | 780 |
| 15 | Slough | 772 |
| 16 | Milton Keynes | 744 |
| 17 | Harrow | 690 |
| 18 | Liverpool | 664 |
| 19 | Bradford | 649 |
| 20 | Sheffield | 610 |
Sponsors by visa route
One organisation can be licensed for several routes, so these counts overlap. Skilled Worker is by far the most common.
| Visa route | Licensed sponsors |
|---|---|
| Skilled Worker | 121,343 |
| Global Business Mobility: Senior or Specialist Worker | 10,306 |
| Tier 2 Ministers of Religion | 1,948 |
| Creative Worker | 1,572 |
| Charity Worker | 1,528 |
| International Sportsperson | 1,448 |
| Religious Worker | 1,425 |
| Global Business Mobility: Graduate Trainee | 621 |
| Global Business Mobility: UK Expansion Worker | 429 |
| Government Authorised Exchange | 243 |
| International Agreement | 134 |
| Scale-up | 92 |
| Global Business Mobility: Service Supplier | 55 |
| Global Business Mobility: Secondment Worker | 6 |
| Seasonal Worker | 6 |
| Tier 2 General | 5 |
| Intra Company Transfers (ICT) | 1 |
| Intra-company Routes | 1 |
Sponsors by licence rating
An A rating is a sponsor in good standing; a B rating means the sponsor is on an action plan to return to an A. Almost every licensed sponsor holds an A rating.
- Worker (A rating)124,824
- Temporary Worker (A rating)4,928
- Worker (UK Expansion Worker: Provisional )103
- Worker (B rating)87
- Worker (A (Premium))2
- Temporary Worker (A (Premium))1
- Temporary Worker (A (SME+))1
- Temporary Worker (B rating)1
- Worker (A (SME+))1
How to read these numbers
- Counts are organisations, not rows. An employer with several routes or locations appears in the register many times; we count it once.
- A licence is a capability, not a promise. Being licensed means an employer can sponsor eligible roles; it does not mean every job it advertises comes with sponsorship.
- Updated daily. We mirror the official register every morning, so a licence added, suspended or revoked shows here within a day.
- Month-on-month changes. For which organisations joined and left the register, see the monthly register change report.
Find a sponsor for your job hunt
Browse every licensed sponsor by city, check a specific employer, or scan your CV against UK applicant tracking systems for free.
Sponsorship data: Home Office register + job ad wording. Not immigration advice, verify on gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.