How much does it cost to recruit workers from overseas?

There are a number of government fees that must be paid to sponsor a prospective employee under the Skilled Worker route.

If your company is not yet a registered sponsor, you will need to pay a government fee when applying for a sponsor licence. The fee will be lower for small businesses and charities.

With a licence in place, you can then assign a certificate of sponsorship (“COS”) to your prospective employee. You will need to pay a COS assignment fee and the Immigration Skills Charge (“ISC”) at this stage.

The amount of ISC payable will depend on the size of your business and the duration of sponsorship. The ISC must be paid directly by your business to the Home Office and is not a cost that you can pass on to your employee. In certain circumstances, you will not have to pay ISC where your prospective employee is ISC exempt, for example, where the employee is switching from a student visa in the UK.

Once the COS has been assigned, your prospective employee can make their Skilled Worker visa application. When applying for a Skilled Worker visa, payment of the government application fee and Immigration Health Surcharge (“IHS”) will be required. These fees can be paid either by you or your employee, and the amounts will depend on the duration of sponsorship and whether the visa application is being submitted from inside or outside of the UK. In the majority of cases, there is also an optional priority service available for purchase in order to speed up processing of the visa application.

In addition to the various government fees, you may also wish to engage an immigration services provider to assist you with your sponsor licence and subsequent visa applications. These will also be costs that you need to factor into the equation.

How Gherson can assist

Gherson’s Immigration Team are highly experienced in advising on UK visa matters. If you have any questions arising from this blog, please do not hesitate to contact us for advice, send us an e-mail, or, alternatively, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn to stay-up-to-date.

The information in this blog is for general information purposes only and does not purport to be comprehensive or to provide legal advice. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the information and law is current as of the date of publication it should be stressed that, due to the passage of time, this does not necessarily reflect the present legal position. Gherson accepts no responsibility for loss which may arise from accessing or reliance on information contained in this blog. For formal advice on the current law please do not hesitate to contact Gherson. Legal advice is only provided pursuant to a written agreement, identified as such, and signed by the client and by or on behalf of Gherson.

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