2026 24 OCT
Effective 21 October 2025, the United Kingdom raised priority service fees for in-country sponsor license applications and sponsor management requests. This change is in line with a broader trend of significant immigration fee increases in the UK in the last 12-24 months.
Key Point
Effective from 21 October 2025, the United Kingdom has raised the Priority Service fee for expedited processing of in-country sponsor licence applications from £500 to £750, which is a rise of 50%.
Most Sponsor Licence applications are usually dealt with in less than 8 weeks. However, applicants can pay extra to get a decision within 10 working days.
In this context, from 21 October 2025, corporates and educational institutes seeking faster decisions on their sponsor licence applications will need to pay an increased priority processing fee of £750 instead of the older fee of £500.
Priority service is limited to only a small number of sponsor licence applications every working day, and faster decisions are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
Please note that standard sponsor licence application processing fees remain unchanged.
Effective from 21 October 2025, the UK also increased the fee for expedited processing of an in-country Sponsorship Management request made by a UK Worker sponsor or Temporary worker sponsor from £200 to £350, which is a rise of 75%.
Sponsorship Management request is made by UK Worker sponsors or Temporary worker sponsors to manage their sponsorship responsibilities, which includes creating and assigning ‘Defined’ and ‘Undefined’ CoS (Certificates of Sponsorships) to prospective employees.
Sponsors can wait for the standard processing time or pay a higher fee for expedited processing.
In this context, from 21 October 2025, corporates seeking faster decisions on their Sponsor Management requests will need to pay an increased priority processing fee of £350 instead of the older fee of £200.
Please note that the standard processing fee remains unchanged.
The immigration fee increase is part of the UK’s broader effort to reduce net inward immigration and maintain competitiveness in attracting international skilled workers while balancing administrative costs at the same time.
With continued changes in UK visa policies, both proposed and introduced in the last 12-24 months, corporates and educational institutions in the UK may need to reassess their immigration, workforce, and sponsorship strategies to manage increased costs and processing timelines.
To discuss the latest increase in priority services fee for sponsors and how should you plan your strategy in coming months as a corporate or educational institution, please call us at +44 (0)20 3411 1261.
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