Immigration lawyers in Manchester for sponsor licences

Manchester employers looking for a lawyer usually want help with one of these:

• getting a licence granted the first time
• working out what to do after a refusal
• checking that their sponsor duties are being met
• answering a suspension letter, or dealing with a revocation
• sponsoring a particular worker on a licence they already hold

Each has its own paperwork and time limits. We send your question to a single regulated immigration solicitor firm, which then deals with you itself. Our general guide to immigration solicitors sets out what that involves.

Not for the licence. The application form is online, and the supporting documents must reach the Home Office by email within 5 working days of submitting it (Appendix A, sections 1.3 and 1.5). When caseworkers have a question, they email your key contact, the person named as the Home Office's main point of contact for the licence. They do not write to your lawyer unless the lawyer is that key contact. A firm based anywhere in the UK can therefore handle a Manchester application by email and video.

Visits are the exception. A Home Office compliance visit takes place at your premises, or wherever your sponsored staff do their work, and it can be unannounced (sponsor guidance Part 3).

2,880 organisations on the Home Office register of 22 October 2026 give Manchester as their town (GOV.UK register). That is about 2.3% of the 127,744 sponsors in the UK, and the third most common town name after London and Birmingham. Nearby places such as Salford and Stockport have their own entries, so their sponsors are not in the Manchester figure.

Skilled Worker covers most of them, with 2,761 Manchester sponsors licensed for it. The next routes are Senior or Specialist Worker (118), Minister of Religion (67), Charity Worker (45), Religious Worker (39), Creative Worker (35) and International Sportsperson (24). Manchester has more Senior or Specialist sponsors than Birmingham, which has 98, though Birmingham has more sponsors in total. Search for a named employer on our register search.

Once licensed, you must report most changes to your organisation within 20 working days, through the sponsorship management system (SMS), the Home Office's online account for sponsors (Part 3, section C2). A suspension letter also gives you 20 working days to reply in writing, with a fresh 20 days if further reasons are added (Part 3, section C9). That short window is the usual point at which employers bring in a solicitor. Our sponsor duties guide lists the day-to-day obligations.

A sponsored job in Manchester must meet the same national salary floor as one anywhere else in the UK; there is no regional discount and no London uplift. For most Skilled Worker roles the floor is £41,700 a year, or the occupation's going rate if that is higher (GOV.UK). Check a role on our salary checker or find its occupation code.

Solicitors set their own prices. Among firms that publish them, two charge between £3,000 and £4,500 plus VAT for a sponsor licence application. The firm that replies to you will quote separately. Before you get in touch, it helps to have these to hand (Appendix A):

• your latest annual accounts, or the Companies House link if they are online for free
• a recent business bank statement
• HMRC proof of PAYE registration showing your employer reference
• a list of staff with job titles, if you employ 50 people or fewer
• who will act as authorising officer, key contact and level 1 user, the three licence management roles (GOV.UK)