The UK Self-Sponsorship is the most formidable way on the Skilled Worker route for business owners and entrepreneurs looking to establish themselves in the UK. The self-sponsorship approach leverages the UK’s point-based Skilled Worker visa system, allowing foreign entrepreneurs to create a company in the UK, apply for and obtain a sponsor license, and effectively sponsor themselves for a UK work visa.
Though the Home Office recently announced major changes to the immigration rules for the UK Skilled Worker route, Self-sponsorship is still possible in 2005.
Self-sponsorship is not a distinct UK visa category. It is a strategy that international entrepreneurs and business owners normally follow to come to work for their own company in the UK. It is a strategic application of the existing UK Skilled Worker visa framework. It enables business owners to secure a Skilled Worker status in the UK to work for their own company but not any other company in the UK.
Self-sponsorship visa to the UK implies that you use your own company to sponsor yourself and enjoy full control, flexibility, and freedom to develop a career or a business in the UK as per your terms and conditions.
In the simplest terms, self-sponsorship works as follows:
The first step is to incorporate a new company in the UK if you do not already have one. You will need to select a business structure and register your company with Companies House in the UK. You can register the company in the UK from abroad as well. Registering a company in the UK involves giving your company a company name, physical address registration, appointing company directors, providing a list of shareholders, and selecting the correct SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) code.
Your company in the UK, in order to employ migrants from outside the UK (including yourself) on the Skilled Worker route, is required to be registered on the Home Office Sponsor Licence register. For this, your company must apply for a sponsor licence from the Home Office. Your company will need an Authorising officer which cannot be you, so you may need to have a partner or an employee who will act as the authorising officer. If your company shows that it meets the eligibility criteria, the Home Office will issue a sponsor licence to your company.
Once your company in the UK obtains a sponsor licence it can assign a certificate of sponsorship to you, which is a mandatory electronic record required to employ workers on UK work routes. A CoS contains your job title, job details, salary being offered, start and end date of the work, etc. You will require a CoS reference number when applying for a Skilled Worker Visa.
Once your company has assigned you a CoS, you can apply to come to or stay in the UK as a Skilled Worker. You must:
have a genuine job offer
be employed in an eligible occupation
meet the minimum skill threshold
meet the minimum salary threshold
meet the proficiency in the English Language requirement
UK Self-sponsorship creates a dual role as sponsor as well as sponsored worker. As a sponsor, you will need to show that you comply with significant sponsor duties:
Carry out right-to-work checks and maintain accurate records of your employment
Report certain events to the Home Office, such as changes to your job role, workplace, or salary
Cooperate with Home Office compliance visits and/or digital audits
Ensure your business remains active and trading
Whether you are already a licensed sponsor or looking to be one, you need to know the recent changes to the Skilled Worker route effective from 22 July 2025.
The company must offer a job at the skill level of RQF Level 6 and above (except those listed on ISL (Immigration Salary List) or TSL (Temporary Shortage List))
The general minimum salary threshold has increased to £41,700.
Application for entry clearance for care workers (SOC 6135 and 6136) under the Health and Care Worker visa closed on 22 July 2025. However, in-country switching is permitted until 22 July 2028, provided the worker has been legally employed on the sponsor’s UK payroll for at least three months before the CoS is issued to them, and ensuring UK employment laws are fully complied with.
Those applying on or after 22 July 2025 in “medium-skilled” roles below RQF Level 6 (below Graduate Level), i.e., roles on the ISL or TSL, new dependants (partner and children) are generally not allowed to apply unless transitional protections apply.
The Home Office, in order to grant sponsor licence approvals, is currently demanding increased evidence of trading activity.
These developments make it more important to ensure that you plan your incorporation of a company in the UK carefully and ensure that there is adherence to each change in effect.
Whether you are applying for entry clearance to the UK from overseas or to switch to a Skilled Worker visa from a different UK visa to stay in the UK, or extending your existing Skilled Worker Visa, you will need to apply online on the government's official website gov.uk.
As part of your application, you will need to prove your identity and nationality.
You may also have to submit your biometric information (your fingerprints and facial photograph). Depending on where you are from and what type of passport you have, you can scan your passport by using the ‘UK Immigration: ID Check’ app, or else you may need to attend an appointment at either an overseas VAC (Visa Application Centre) or at a UKVCAS (UK Visa and Citizenship Application Services) service point within the UK.
Pay the required visa application fee and the IHS (Immigration Health Surcharge), and then wait for a decision from the Home Office.
Full liberty of your visa path and career path.
Freedom to develop and expand your business.
Route to ILR (Indefinite Leave to Remain) upon completion of 5 years.
Flexibility to hire other competent workers in the future.
While self-sponsorship provides a significant level of control and flexibility to business owners, the eligibility and evidence requirements are strict, which may deter you from pursuing this option.
As an alternative, you may consider applying for the Innovator Founder visa, which is the main visa option for foreign entrepreneurs and business owners.
UK Self-sponsorship allows you to start your journey in the UK, become your own employer, run your own business, and finally settle in the UK without being a burden to the UK economy.
Visa and Migration is a UK immigration specialist with a proven record in helping skilled workers, entrepreneurs, business owners, and investors secure an appropriate visa to live, work, and grow their business in the UK. We also provide our services to businesses in the UK to apply for a sponsor licence from the Home Office.
To discuss your visa options (including the UK Self-sponsorship method) to run your own company or work for yourself in the UK, you can call us at +44 (0)20 3411 1261.
...
