Immigration lawyers in Croydon for sponsor licences
Since licence applications and supporting documents go to the Home Office online and by email, a Croydon business can instruct an immigration lawyer for its sponsor licence without meeting anyone in person. Send us a message through the form here, and one immigration solicitor firm that handles sponsor licences will answer.
- Croydon licensed sponsors536organisations, which is 0.4% of the UK's 127,744
- Under the Skilled Worker route512of Croydon's 536
- Senior or Specialist staff transfers14sponsors moving staff over from an overseas branch
- Sponsor licence fee£611 or £1,682small or charity / medium or large, paid to the Home Office
The Home Office register of licensed sponsors, edition of 22 October 2026, is where these figures come from.
Sponsor licence help from Croydon immigration solicitors
Croydon employers looking for an immigration solicitor usually want help with one of these:
- getting a licence on a first application
- looking at what their options are after a refusal
- meeting their sponsor duties on an ongoing basis
- replying to a suspension letter, or handling a revocation
- sponsoring one particular worker under a licence already held
Each one comes with its own paperwork and its own deadlines. One regulated immigration solicitor firm receives your question, and it then works with you directly. Our general immigration solicitors guide explains what that involves.
| Skilled Worker | 512 |
|---|---|
| Charity Worker | 14 |
| Senior or Specialist Worker | 14 |
| Religious Worker | 14 |
| Minister of Religion (old Tier 2) | 13 |
| Creative Worker | 5 |
| International Sportsperson | 2 |
Must your immigration lawyer be based in Croydon?
Not for the licence. The application form is completed online. After that, the supporting documents must be emailed to the Home Office no later than 5 working days after you submit (Appendix A, sections 1.3 and 1.5). Emails go to your key contact if a caseworker has any question; the licence names that person as the Home Office's main contact. Over email and video, a firm based anywhere in the UK can handle your Croydon application for you.
Visits are the exception. Compliance visits by the Home Office take place where your sponsored staff work, or at your premises, and they may come unannounced (sponsor guidance Part 3).
Croydon employers that hold a sponsor licence
The Home Office register dated 22 October 2026 lists 536 organisations with Croydon as their town (GOV.UK register). The UK total of licensed sponsors is 127,744, and Croydon's share is about 0.4%. Of the 5,763 towns on the register, it sits between Belfast (537) and Northampton (517). Of the Croydon sponsors, 512 hold a Skilled Worker licence. To search for a named employer, use our register search.
The register keeps towns separate even though Croydon sits within Greater London: any employer listed under London counts towards the London total of 36,656, not towards the Croydon figure.
Keeping a Croydon licence compliant
The SMS, the sponsorship management system, is the Home Office's account for sponsors online. Once you are licensed, most changes to your organisation must be reported there within 20 working days (Part 3, section C2). A suspension letter also gives you 20 working days to answer in writing (Part 3, section C9). Employers tend to bring in a solicitor during that short window. Day-to-day obligations are set out in our sponsor duties guide.
Lawyer fees and the papers to gather first
Every solicitor sets their own prices. A sponsor licence application costs £3,000 to £4,500 plus VAT at two of the firms that publish what they charge. The firm that answers you will give its own quote. It helps to gather these before you get in touch (Appendix A):
- annual accounts from your latest year, or a Companies House link showing them free online
- one recent bank statement covering your business
- HMRC proof of PAYE registration, with your employer reference shown
- a staff list that gives the job title of each person, where your staff numbers 50 or fewer
- the three management roles a licence needs: authorising officer, level 1 user and key contact, and who fills each one (GOV.UK)
Employers in Croydon: their questions about immigration lawyers
How do I check whether a Croydon immigration lawyer is regulated?
Croydon sits in England, so the Solicitors Regulation Authority regulates any solicitor there, and you can find them on the SRA register. There is also a Find a Solicitor directory run by the Law Society of England and Wales. Search the Immigration Advice Authority adviser finder when the adviser isn't a solicitor. It shows what level of work each adviser may do. If an adviser is not regulated, you cannot get your money back, GOV.UK warns (GOV.UK).
What if our Croydon licence application was refused?
Applying unsuccessfully in the last 6 months usually means no licence (GOV.UK). You can only get a review where your documents weren't considered, or the caseworker made a mistake. Simply disagreeing doesn't qualify (GOV.UK). Which of these applies is something a solicitor can tell you after reading the refusal letter. Our refused licence guide has more.
Ask an immigration solicitor about your Croydon business
Tell the firm what you are trying to do and it will answer by email.