Immigration lawyers in Edinburgh for sponsor licences
A Edinburgh business never has to meet an immigration lawyer face to face to instruct one on its sponsor licence, because the Home Office accepts applications online, with documents sent by email. Write to us through the form on this page, and one firm of immigration solicitors handling sponsor licence cases will reply.
- Edinburgh: licensed sponsors1,180organisations, or 0.9% of the UK's 127,744
- On the Skilled Worker route1,112of the 1,180 in Edinburgh
- Moving staff via the Senior or Specialist route58sponsors moving staff here from a branch abroad
- Sponsor licence fee£611 or £1,682small or charity / medium or large, paid to the Home Office
Source: the Home Office's register of licensed sponsors, edition dated 22 October 2026.
Sponsor licence help from Edinburgh immigration solicitors
Employers in Edinburgh looking for an immigration solicitor usually want help with one of these:
- getting a licence on a first-time application
- weighing up options after being refused
- staying on top of sponsor duties
- replying to a suspension letter, or handling a revocation
- sponsoring one particular worker under a licence they already hold
Each of these has its own paperwork and deadlines. One regulated immigration solicitor firm receives your question and then works with you directly. What that involves is covered in our general immigration solicitor guide.
| Skilled Worker | 1,112 |
|---|---|
| Senior or Specialist Worker | 58 |
| Charity Worker | 36 |
| Minister of Religion (old Tier 2) | 36 |
| Creative Worker | 20 |
| Religious Worker | 19 |
| International Sportsperson | 17 |
| Government Authorised Exchange | 7 |
| Graduate Trainee | 4 |
| Scale-up | 2 |
Do you need your immigration lawyer to be in Edinburgh?
No, not for the licence. The form is filled in online, and from the moment you submit it, the Home Office must receive your supporting documents by email within 5 working days (sections 1.3 and 1.5 of Appendix A). Your key contact, named on the licence as the Home Office's main contact, receives any caseworker questions by email. A firm anywhere in the UK can therefore handle a Edinburgh application for you by email and video.
Visits are the exception. A compliance visit from the Home Office happens at your premises, or at any site where sponsored staff do their work, and it may arrive unannounced (sponsor guidance Part 3).
Employers in Edinburgh that hold a sponsor licence
The Home Office register dated 22 October 2026 lists 1,180 organisations with their town given as Edinburgh (GOV.UK register). Roughly 0.9% of the UK's 127,744 licensed sponsors are in Edinburgh, which sits between Bristol (1,293) and Leeds (1,083) among the register's 5,763 towns. A Skilled Worker licence is held by 1,112 of the Edinburgh sponsors. Look up any employer by name on our register search.
Compliance duties after you get a Edinburgh licence
Once you hold a licence, most changes to your organisation must be reported within 20 working days. You report them through SMS, the sponsorship management system, the Home Office's account for sponsors, used online (Part 3, section C2). A suspension letter also gives you 20 working days to reply in writing (Part 3, section C9). It's usually within that tight deadline that employers turn to a solicitor. Our sponsor duties guide goes through the obligations you face day to day.
Lawyer fees and the papers to gather first
Prices are set by each solicitor. Of the firms publishing their prices, two charge between £3,000 and £4,500 plus VAT for a sponsor licence application. The firm that answers you will quote its own price. It helps to have these ready before getting in touch (Appendix A):
- your most recent set of annual accounts, or a link to Companies House, which hosts them free online
- a recent business bank statement
- proof from HMRC that you're registered for PAYE, with your employer reference on it
- a list of your staff showing each job title, if the business employs 50 people at most
- who will be the authorising officer, the key contact, and the level 1 user, which are the three licence management roles (GOV.UK)
Immigration lawyer questions from employers in Edinburgh
How do I check that an immigration lawyer in Edinburgh is regulated?
Edinburgh sits in Scotland, and the Law Society of Scotland, not the SRA, lists solicitors there. For a non-solicitor adviser, check the adviser finder run by the Immigration Advice Authority; it shows what level of work each adviser may do. If your adviser is not regulated, GOV.UK warns, there's no refund for you (GOV.UK).
What do we do if our Edinburgh licence application was refused?
If you applied without success in the last 6 months, you won't usually get a licence (GOV.UK). You can only get a review where the caseworker made a mistake or failed to consider your documents, not merely because you disagree (GOV.UK). Looking at the refusal letter, a solicitor can tell you which of these applies. Our guide to refused licences has more.
Ask an immigration solicitor about your Edinburgh business
Tell the firm what you are trying to do and it will answer by email.