Sponsor licence suspended or revoked

A suspension is a pause while the Home Office decides whether to revoke your licence. While it lasts:

• you cannot assign any certificate of sponsorship (CoS), the electronic record each worker needs for a visa, on any route
• your entry is taken off the public register of sponsors
• workers you already sponsor keep their permission unless the licence is then revoked
• visa applications that rely on a CoS you assigned before the suspension are put on hold, and so are settlement applications you support
• you must keep meeting every sponsor duty

A worker abroad who already holds entry clearance can still travel and start work, as long as the licence has not been revoked by the time they travel.

Your written reply, sent within the deadline, is your one chance to challenge the reasons and put forward anything in your favour. There is no oral hearing, so the letter and its evidence carry the whole case. Extra time is given only in exceptional circumstances, and if the Home Office finds new reasons it writes again with a fresh 20 working days. If you send nothing, it decides without hearing from you (sponsor guidance).

The Home Office aims to decide within 20 working days of your reply. It can:

• reinstate the licence with an A-rating
• reinstate it with a B-rating and an action plan
• stop you assigning new certificates, or using ones assigned but not yet used
• revoke the licence

Because the deadline is short and the written reply decides the outcome, this is usually work for an immigration solicitor.

The sponsor guidance sorts revocation reasons into three lists, from most to least serious. Mandatory reasons in the first list can lead to revocation at once and without warning. For the second list, the Home Office revokes unless there are exceptional circumstances. For the third, one issue alone does not usually end the licence, but each further one adds weight.

A breach does not have to be deliberate to count. The compliance visit page explains how the Home Office checks for these breaches.

The Home Office writes to each sponsored worker to tell them, without giving the reasons. A worker who played no part in the problem normally has their permission shortened to 60 calendar days, unless they already have that long or less left. In that time they can find a new sponsor or apply on another route they qualify for. A worker who knowingly took part normally loses all remaining permission (sponsor guidance).

Any certificate you assigned that has not been used becomes invalid. A worker who holds entry clearance but has not yet travelled has it cancelled.

There is no appeal, so the way back is a new application after the cooling-off period. That period runs from the date the Home Office notified you of the revocation, and it can be longer where civil penalties or criminal convictions were involved. It also applies if you surrendered the licence while compliance action was under way. An application made inside the period is refused. The wait after a refused application is different, and is explained on the licence refused page.

A new application is treated like any other: the full fee, the full documents, and proof you have fixed every reason for the revocation. Where dishonesty was involved, the Home Office wants compelling evidence that you are now suitable. People named as key personnel on the revoked licence can also count against another organisation's application (GOV.UK). The decision itself can only be challenged in the courts, by judicial review, which is a matter for a solicitor.