Community

143,000 UK organisations hold a licence to sponsor a Skilled Worker visa. That is the figure on the Home Office register of licensed sponsors, and it is the list most job seekers download and apply from.

Here is the number that list does not tell you: only 8,658 of those organisations have a recorded Certificate of Sponsorship for 2025. That is 6.85% — roughly one in fifteen.

The other 117,795 showed no sponsorship activity for the whole of last year. Most are not hiding roles. They obtained a licence at some point, for one hire or for a transfer, and have not used it since.

Why this matters?

There are two gates to a sponsored job, and the register only tells you about the first.

Gate one is eligibility: the role sits at RQF Level 6, the salary clears £41,700 or the going rate, you can prove English, and a licensed employer assigns you a CoS. This is public, checkable, and it is what almost every guide covers.

Gate two is willingness: a specific company choosing to sponsor this specific hire. A licence means they can. It has never meant they will. And a company that has not sponsored anyone in over a year is, in practice, a closed door — however good your CV is.

Applying from the register alone means roughly fourteen of every fifteen applications go to an employer with no recent sponsorship activity. Candidates read that silence as rejection. It is usually not a rejection at all. It is a targeting problem.

Two caveats, stated properly

No recorded CoS in 2025 does not mean an employer has never sponsored. Some sponsored in 2024; some will in 2026; some hold licences for intra-company transfers they use irregularly. The 6.85% measures activity in one year, not intent in general.

And activity is not availability. An employer that sponsored ten people last year may have no open roles today. But as a first filter, it changes the shape of a search entirely: it is the difference between a list of 126,453 names and a list worth working through.

What to do differently

1. Start from employers with recent sponsorship history in your sector, not from the full register.

2. Check the specific role against Gate One before applying — occupation code, going rate, basic pay only.

3. Treat silence from a company with no recent activity as information about the company, not about you.

The searchable register: https://www.ukvisajobs.com/license-holders/1

Source: Home Office register of licensed sponsors, 28 August 2026, and 2025 Certificate of Sponsorship records.

Has anyone here found that the companies replying were the ones with recent sponsorship history? Share what you have seen below.