SPONSOR LICENCE REVOCATION

Had Your Sponsor Licence Revoked? Act Fast — Every Day Counts.

A revoked Sponsor Licence puts your business and your sponsored workers’ visas at immediate risk. We specialise in challenging Home Office decisions and have successfully overturned revocations that most firms consider unwinnable.

Based on official Home Office sponsor guidance, the following are the most common grounds for suspending or revoking a Worker/Temporary Worker sponsor licence.

Mandatory grounds (Home Office will revoke)

1. False or Misleading Information — Knowingly providing false information in a licence application, or in a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) — including about skill level, salary, or job requirements.
2. Loss of UK Trading Presence — The business is sold, becomes insolvent, goes into liquidation, is struck off the Companies House register, or otherwise stops trading in the UK.
3. Loss of Required Registration or Licence — Where a business must be registered with, inspected by, or licensed by a regulatory body to trade legally (e.g. CQC, professional regulators) and stops being so registered or licensed.
4. Underpaying a Sponsored Worker — Paying a sponsored worker less than stated on their CoS, without properly notifying the Home Office or having a permitted reason for the reduction.
5. Illegal Working / Civil Penalties — Failing right-to-work checks, employing illegal workers, or being issued civil penalties that remain unpaid once appeal rights are exhausted.
6. Non-Genuine or Mismatched Roles — Assigning a CoS for a role that doesn’t exist, is exaggerated, or doesn’t match the actual job the worker performs (occupation code or job description).

Discretionary grounds (Home Office may revoke)

7. Reporting Duty Failures — Failing to report changes such as a worker’s absence, resignation, change of role, or changes to the business (ownership, structure, address) within required timeframes.
8. Failed Action Plan (B-Rating) — After being downgraded to a B-rating for a minor breach, failing to meet the requirements of the resulting action plan within the specified period (usually 3 months).
9. Misuse of Certificates of Sponsorship — An SMS user assigning a CoS to themselves or a close relative, or assigning CoS while B-rated to workers not previously sponsored.

Source: Workers and Temporary Workers: guidance for sponsors, Part 3 — sponsor duties and compliance (GOV.UK), Annexes C1–C3.

Per GOV.UK guidance, revocation is one of the most severe actions the Home Office can take against a sponsor — and the effects are immediate.

• No right of appeal — Revocation decisions cannot be appealed — the only route is a legal challenge (e.g. judicial review) or a fresh application after the cooling-off period.
• Minimum 12-month cooling-off — You cannot reapply for a licence for at least 12 months (24 months if revoked more than once) from the date of the decision letter.
• All CoS become invalid — Every Certificate of Sponsorship you’ve assigned is automatically invalidated — pending visa applications based on them will be refused.
• Sponsored workers’ visas curtailed — Workers’ permission is typically cut to 60 days (or less), forcing them to find a new sponsor or leave the UK.
• Removal from the public register — Your organisation is removed from the Register of Licensed Sponsors, visible to clients, partners, and regulators.
• Immediate loss of sponsorship rights — You cannot assign any further CoS in any route while the revocation stands.

Source: Employees: if your visa sponsor loses their licence (GOV.UK) and Part 3 sponsor guidance, sections C9–C10.

Real outcomes from clients we’ve represented — including cases where reinstatement is generally considered against standard Home Office practice.

Dental Practice: Self-Employment Status Mistaken for Underpayment

Certain regulated professions — doctors, dentists, and similar — can lawfully engage staff on a self-employed basis under a Sponsor Licence, provided the sponsor remains the principal employer. Our client had moved his entire team onto self-employed contracts, including roles such as nurses and administrative staff that cannot lawfully sit outside employed status under sponsorship rules.

Because these staff hadn’t yet received P60s or filed self-assessment returns, the Home Office read this as evidence the sponsor was underpaying its workers — a mandatory ground for revocation. We successfully demonstrated that staff had in fact been paid on time and at the correct amount under their self-employed arrangements, overturning the Home Office’s position.

Licence reinstated in 24 days.

Pharmacy: What Not to Do When Applying for a Sponsor Licence

Not every lesson comes from a courtroom win. This pharmacy client engaged legal support for a Sponsor Licence application, but progress stalled repeatedly on the employer’s side — documents were delayed, and their accountant was consistently unresponsive to information requests needed to complete the application.

Instructing a lawyer doesn’t remove the need for a business — and its accountant — to respond quickly and fully. Delays on the client’s side can undo even the strongest legal strategy, and in immigration compliance, missed deadlines have real consequences.

Speed and cooperation matter as much as legal strategy.

Laboratory: Reinstated Despite a Companies House Strike-Off

This client’s licence was revoked after their company was struck off the Companies House register — normally treated by the Home Office as loss of a genuine UK trading presence, a mandatory ground for revocation. However, this didn’t reflect the reality of the business’s continued lawful operation, and specific regulatory provisions covering this type of licensed activity meant the standard Home Office approach did not properly apply to this case.

We argued the revocation was unjustified on this basis. Although reinstatement in circumstances like this runs against typical Home Office practice, we secured it — because the underlying decision was wrong.

Licence reinstated.

1. Rapid Response — We act immediately — revocation timelines are unforgiving, and delays only reduce your options.
2. Sector Expertise — Experience across healthcare, dental, pharmacy, laboratory, and other regulated sponsor sectors.
3. Challenging the Home Office — We know when a revocation decision is wrong — and how to prove it, even in cases others walk away from.
4. Protecting Your Workforce — We work to protect both your licence and your sponsored employees’ immigration status.

There’s no fixed fee for Sponsor Licence revocation and reinstatement work — every case depends on its complexity, from the grounds cited by the Home Office to how much evidence needs to be gathered and how quickly action is needed. Rather than quote a generic price, we offer a free assessment call to review the specifics of your case and give you a clear, tailored cost estimate before you commit to anything.

If your Sponsor Licence has been suspended or revoked, get in touch today for a confidential consultation on your options.

Information on revocation grounds sourced from GOV.UK official sponsor guidance. This page is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice.