Immigration lawyers in Leicester for sponsor licences
A Leicester business may instruct an immigration lawyer for its sponsor licence without any in-person meeting, as applications and supporting documents go to the Home Office online and by email. Write to us through the form on this page, and a single immigration solicitors firm that handles sponsor licence work will get back to you.
- Leicester's licensed sponsors1,424organisations, equal to 1.1% of the UK's 127,744
- Under the Skilled Worker route1,379of Leicester's 1,424 total
- Transfers that are Senior or Specialist25sponsors that move staff over from a branch abroad
- Sponsor licence fee£611 or £1,682small or charity / medium or large, paid to the Home Office
These figures come from the register of licensed sponsors, a Home Office publication dated 22 October 2026.
Immigration solicitors in Leicester for sponsor licences
When Leicester employers look for an immigration solicitor, they usually want help with one of these:
- getting a licence on a first application
- weighing up their options after a refusal
- staying on top of their sponsor duties
- replying to a suspension letter, or handling a revocation
- sponsoring one particular worker under a licence they already hold
Each one needs its own papers and comes with its own deadlines. One regulated immigration solicitor firm receives your question and then works with you directly. Our general guide on immigration solicitors explains what that involves.
| Skilled Worker | 1,379 |
|---|---|
| Minister of Religion (old Tier 2) | 27 |
| Senior or Specialist Worker | 25 |
| Religious Worker | 21 |
| Creative Worker | 20 |
| Charity Worker | 13 |
| International Sportsperson | 11 |
| Government Authorised Exchange | 2 |
Does the immigration lawyer you use have to be in Leicester?
No, not for the licence. The application form is online, and your supporting documents must be emailed to the Home Office within 5 working days after you submit (Appendix A, sections 1.3 and 1.5). Questions from a caseworker are emailed to your key contact, the person named on the licence as the Home Office's main contact. That means a firm anywhere in the UK can handle your Leicester application by email and video.
Visits are the exception. Your premises, or the place where your sponsored staff work, is where a Home Office compliance visit happens, and it may come unannounced (sponsor guidance Part 3).
Leicester employers with a sponsor licence
The Home Office register of 22 October 2026 lists 1,424 organisations with Leicester as their town (GOV.UK register). Of the UK's 127,744 licensed sponsors, that's about 1.1%, placing Leicester between Manchester (2,880) and Glasgow (1,377) in the register's 5,763 towns. Of the Leicester sponsors, 1,379 hold a Skilled Worker licence. Use our register search to find an employer by name.
Staying compliant under a Leicester licence
After your licence is granted, the Home Office's online sponsor account (the sponsorship management system, or SMS) is where most changes to your organisation must be reported, and you have 20 working days to do so (Part 3, section C2). A suspension letter also gives you 20 working days to respond in writing (Part 3, section C9). Employers typically call in a solicitor during that tight window. The day-to-day obligations are set out in our guide to sponsor duties.
What lawyers charge, and the papers to gather first
Prices are set by each solicitor. Of the firms with published prices, two ask £3,000 to £4,500 plus VAT to handle a sponsor licence application. The firm that replies will quote you its own price, whichever it is. It helps to gather these before you make contact (Appendix A):
- your latest annual accounts, or a Companies House link to where they are online for free
- a recent statement from the bank for your business
- HMRC proof of PAYE registration, with your employer reference shown
- a list of staff and their job titles, if your workforce is 50 people or fewer
- the names of your level 1 user, key contact and authorising officer, the three roles that manage the licence (GOV.UK)
Questions Leicester employers ask about immigration lawyers
How do I check a Leicester immigration lawyer is regulated?
Leicester sits within England, so the Solicitors Regulation Authority regulates its solicitors, each of whom appears on the SRA register. A Find a Solicitor directory is also run by the Law Society of England and Wales. For an adviser who isn't a solicitor, use the Immigration Advice Authority's adviser finder, which shows what level of work each adviser may take on. GOV.UK warns that money paid to an unregulated adviser cannot be recovered (GOV.UK).
What if our Leicester licence application was refused?
If you applied without success in the past 6 months, a licence will usually be refused (GOV.UK). A review is open to you only if the caseworker made a mistake or failed to consider your documents. Merely disagreeing isn't enough (GOV.UK). Which of these applies is something a solicitor can tell you after reading the refusal letter. Our guide to refused licences has more.
Ask an immigration solicitor about your Leicester business
Tell the firm what you are trying to do and it will answer by email.