What Home Office fees do you need to pay to sponsor IT workers under the Skilled Worker visa?
What Home Office fees do you need to pay to sponsor IT workers under the Skilled Worker visa?
The IT industry is one of the fastest-growing, competitive, and constantly changing sectors in the world that provides many opportunities for professional success.
That said, the high demand for employees and the lack of qualified workers in the field is the reason why tech companies are looking to hire IT professionals from abroad.
The IT industry in the UK offers quick employment, rapid career growth, and high salaries. The mobility of professionals in this sector is really high. Hiring a relevant candidate can often be time-consuming and the whole process can be rather complicated and confusing for the employer. Where to start and how much it will cost the company are the focus points of this blog.
To sponsor workers and employ them legally in the UK, the company should be a licensed sponsor registered by the Home Office. This is a prerequisite for any company with a trading presence in the UK to be able to relocate the workforce to the country.
One of the most frequently asked questions in this regard is about the expenses related to the entire process of sponsoring workers.
If you already are in the Register of Sponsors, you can start looking for the right candidate, whose skills perfectly match the role. Once the person is identified, start the onboarding process, the first step of which is assigning a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) via the Sponsor Management System (SMS).
The fee for the CoS for a Skilled Worker migrant is £199.
Within the same process of assigning a CoS through the SMS account, a licensed sponsor needs to pay the immigration skills charge.
The amount you need to pay will depend on the size of the organisation and how long the worker will work for the company, which can be calculated using the start and end dates on their sponsorship certificate
A minimum of 12 months is payable; this amount is non-refundable unless paid in error or the sponsored worker fails to take up post. The charge applies only to the main applicant in the Skilled Worker and Global Business Mobility (GBM) routes. It is not payable to their family members (dependents).
The fees are as follows:
| Period | Small or charitable sponsors | Medium or large sponsors |
|---|---|---|
| First 12 months | £364 | £1,000 |
| Each additional 6 months | £182 | £500 |
The next step is the skilled worker visa application—the expenses depend on the candidate’s location (inside or outside the UK), the period of employment you are offering, and whether the job is in the shortage occupation list.
For instance, IT business analysts, architects, and systems designers (SOC code 2135) are on the shortage occupation list, as well as those in SOC code 2136: programmers and software development professionals; 2137: web design and development professionals; and 2139: information technology and communications professionals not elsewhere classified (only cyber security specialists).
The visa fee for the positions in these codes will cost a bit less, as shown below:
For applicants inside the UK, the fees are as follows:
| Skilled Worker, where a certificate of sponsorship has been issued for three years or less – main applicant and each dependant | £719 |
| Skilled Worker, where a certificate of sponsorship has been issued for over three years – main applicant and each dependant | £1,423 | Skilled Worker, shortage occupation where a certificate of sponsorship has been issued for three years or less – main applicant and dependants | £479 |
| Skilled Worker, shortage occupation where a certificate of sponsorship has been issued for over three years – main applicant and dependants | £943 |
For applicants outside the UK, the fees are as follows:
| Skilled Worker, where a certificate of sponsorship has been issued for three years or less – main applicant and each dependant | £625 |
| Skilled Worker, where a certificate of sponsorship has been issued for over three years – main applicant and each dependant | £1,235 | Skilled Worker, shortage occupation where a certificate of sponsorship has been issued for three years or less – main applicant and dependants | £479 |
| Skilled Worker, shortage occupation where a certificate of sponsorship has been issued for over three years – main applicant and dependants | £943 |
The immigration health surcharge should also be paid when the visa application is being submitted to the Home Office.
The immigration health surcharge fee is:
- £624 per year for an adult
- £470 per year for a child
To get a faster decision (within 5 working days), you can also pay for the priority service that will cost:
- £500 per person applying from inside the UK
- £250 per person applying from outside the UK
For instance, a small organisation hiring a candidate from outside of the UK for 3 years will pay £3,589 for the main applicant with no dependants for the standard service.
Our complementary candidate assessment can help you figure out how much you’ll need to pay for a particular candidate based on your—and their—circumstances.
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