Immigration

United Kingdom | Sponsor guidance updated with new record-keeping requirement and compliance clarifications

Summary

On 5 March 2026, the Home Office published a Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules which was relatively limited in scope. At the same time, an updated version of the Workers and Temporary Workers sponsor guidance was released together with a revised Appendix D outlining sponsor record-keeping duties.

While the changes are relatively minor, they reinforce the trend towards tighter Home Office sponsor licence enforcement for non-compliance, and introduce several important clarifications for employers. The updates relate to record-keeping, right-to-work checks, and the definition of what is an “eligible role” for sponsorship.

The new guidance emphasises ‘the importance of ‘strict adherence to the rules of the sponsorship scheme to maintain the integrity of the scheme’  The new guidance further states that grounds for revocation do not necessarily require breaches to be deliberate or made knowingly and that action will be taken against sponsors who risk damaging the good government and integrity of the sponsorship scheme and the integrity of the wider UK immigration system.

Sponsor licence holders should take note and consider a refresh of compliance policies and processes if there are any concerns. Contact the Vialto compliance team on immigrationcompliance@vialto.com if you have any questions.

The detail

Key takeaways

• Sponsors must now retain evidence that sponsored workers have been informed of their UK employment rights.
  • Typically via a contract of employment or employee handbook, but some sponsored workers may not naturally have sight of these if their employment remains overseas or if they are self-employed.
• The Home Office has added the definition of an “eligible role” for sponsorship purposes, reinforcing the requirement that sponsored roles must be genuine vacancies aligned with the sponsor’s business activities. Reference to ‘eligible role’ replaces historic reference to ‘genuine vacancy’ and the ‘genuine vacancy requirement’.
• Sponsors should review onboarding procedures, compliance files, and right-to-work check processes to ensure continued compliance.

New Record-Keeping Requirement for Sponsors

The Home Office has updated Appendix D (Record-Keeping Duties) to introduce a new requirement for sponsors.

Sponsors must now retain evidence that sponsored workers have been informed of their employment rights in the United Kingdom.

For example, copies of any written information you have provided to your workers (this could be in their contract of employment) or training or awareness courses you have provided to your workers.

As a reminder, Appendix D requires sponsors to retain a range of documents for sponsored workers for audit purposes, including:

• evidence of the worker’s right to work in the UK
• evidence of the worker’s date of entry to the UK
• recruitment documentation (if applicable)
• employment contracts
• evidence of salary payments
• Contact details, including historic contact details
• Evidence of absences

Many of these are standard HR file records and they may be recorded across a few systems. In case of audit, it is advisable for sponsors to know how to access data at short notice.

Clarification of “Eligible Role” for Sponsorship

The updated sponsor guidance also adds a new definition of “eligible role” for sponsorship purposes.

According to the new glossary, an eligible role is one that meets all of the following conditions:

• The role exists at the time the Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) is assigned, or the sponsor can reasonably anticipate that it will exist at that time.
• The role exists within either:
  • the sponsor organisation; or
  • another organisation where the guidance permits sponsorship of a worker to work for a third party (such as a contract for services)
• The job requires the worker to perform the duties and responsibilities stated on the Certificate of Sponsorship, including the specified working hours.
• The role meets the requirements of the relevant immigration route, including skill level and salary thresholds under the Immigration Rules.
• The role complies with applicable UK employment legislation, including the National Minimum Wage Act and Working Time Regulations.
• The role is appropriate to the sponsor’s business, taking into account its business model, scale, and business plan.

This clarification reinforces the Home Office’s focus on ensuring that sponsored roles represent genuine vacancies consistent with the sponsor’s business activities.  This new definition complements the existing and continuing “Genuine Vacancy” requirement from the guidance:

SK3.6. We will not award points for sponsorship if we have reasonable grounds to believe that the job role you are sponsoring the worker for:

• does not exist
• is a sham; or
• has been created mainly so the worker can apply for entry clearance or permission to stay

SK3.7. If you assign a CoS for a role which is not genuine, we will refuse the worker’s application and we will revoke your licence.

Non-compliance with the genuine role requirement is a mandatory ground for a sponsor licence to be revoked.

Clarifications Regarding Right-to-Work Checks

The Home Office reconfirms that sponsors must “ensure any worker you sponsor or employ has the legal right to work for you and do the work in question by carrying out the appropriate right to work checks.”

In such cases, the sponsor must continue to ensure that compliant right-to-work checks are conducted before the worker begins work.

While civil penalty liability lies with the employer, the sponsor has a duty to check the right to work of its sponsored workers in order to maintain sponsor compliance, including those that it sponsors but who are employed by, and working for, a linked entity.

This requirement has applied to sponsor licence holders for quite some time and should not be confused with the upcoming right to work changes (the details of which are still to be announced) which will apply to all employers.

The big changes to right to work checks are yet to be announced.

Minimum salary compliance and inflated salaries

The Home Office has changed the wording in relation to circumstances where it believes that salaries have been artificially inflated in order to meet the minimum salary requirements.

The old wording said that sponsor licences would be revoked if the Home Office “were satisfied on the balance of probabilities that you have artificially inflated the salary of the worker to enable them to obtain settlement.”

The new wording is “we reasonably suspect you have artificially inflated the salary of a worker to enable them to meet the relevant salary threshold or obtaining entry clearance, permission to enter, permission to stay or settlement.”

The definition has expanded to include Entry Clearance and Extension applications as well as Settlement applications.

We are seeking urgent clarification from the Home Office on what “artificially inflated” means in practice. Employers may often raise salaries (genuinely and legitimately) to meet minimum salary thresholds and we do not currently think that the Home Office would consider this “artificial”. It may be the case that the Home Office’s intention is to capture situations where an employer may temporarily raise or structure a remuneration package to meet a visa requirement, but then change the structure or lower the salary post-approval.

We will provide a further update once clarification has been received.

Action to take

Sponsor licence holders may wish to consider the following actions:

• Review right-to-work check processes, particularly where workers are engaged through third-party arrangements or group companies.
  • The big Right to Work change will come later in the year but it is good make preparations now
• Update onboarding procedures to ensure sponsored workers receive information explaining their UK employment rights.
• Retain documentary evidence confirming the worker has received this information.
• Audit sponsor compliance files to confirm that Appendix D records are complete and readily accessible.

Review arrangements involving group entities or third-party worksites to ensure compliant right-to-work checks are carried out.

Contact us

Contact the Vialto compliance team on immigrationcompliance@vialto.com if you have any questions.

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