UK Visa Sponsorship Scams — How to Spot Them

UK visa sponsorship scams exposed: fake sponsors, bought Certificates of Sponsorship, and the checks that protect your money and your future.

Introduction

Visa sponsorship scams UK jobseekers face have grown alongside demand for sponsored work — fake sponsors, stolen company identities, and people selling Certificates of Sponsorship that are worthless or illegal. Learning to check the revoked sponsor licence list UK workers should consult, and to verify any licence before you pay anything, will protect you from most of them. This guide lists the exact warning signs, explains why buying a CoS is never legitimate, and shows you the checks that settle whether a sponsor is real.

The Golden Rule: A Certificate of Sponsorship Cannot Be Bought

A CoS is assigned free by a licensed sponsor to a genuine worker for a genuine job. It is not a product.

  • If someone asks you to pay for a CoS, pay for a "licence slot", or pay the employer for the job itself — it is a scam or illegal arrangement
  • A visa granted on a bought / fake CoS can be cancelled, and you can face removal and a long ban from the UK
  • Legitimate costs do exist — your visa application fee and health surcharge paid to the Home Office through the official application your visa application fee (Skilled Worker: £819 for up to 3 years or £1,618 for more than 3 years when applying from outside the UK; £628 / £1,235 if the job is on the Immigration Salary List) and the immigration health surcharge (£1,035 per year) — always paid to the Home Office through the official application, never to an agent or employer. — but those are never paid in cash to an agent for a CoS

No exception, no "shortcut", no trusted intermediary changes this.

The Most Common Sponsorship Scams

1. The fake sponsor Copies a real company's name, logo, and register entry, then issues fake offer letters from a free email account. The real company knows nothing about your "job".

2. The CoS seller Claims to have spare CoS from a licensed company and sells them. Even if a real CoS number is used, a job that does not genuinely exist fails Home Office checks and puts you at risk.

3. The closed-route sale Since 22 July 2025, selling overseas care worker sponsorship (SOC 6135/6136) that no longer exists. Anyone marketing this today is a red flag — see Guide 7.

4. The seasonal placement fee Charging workers for farm placements via the Seasonal Worker route. Legitimate scheme operators do not sell placements through paid agents — see Guide 9.

5. The training / file-opening fee funnel Small fees first — "file charge", "medical", "training" — building to large payments, with the visa never materialising.

Red Flag Checklist — Stop If You See Any of These

  • [ ] Guaranteed job or guaranteed visa promised
  • [ ] Payment requested for a CoS, job offer, or licence slot
  • [ ] Pressure to pay today before the "slot" is lost
  • [ ] Contact only via WhatsApp / social media, no verifiable office or official domain email
  • [ ] Salary, job title, or company name keeps changing in documents
  • [ ] Asked to lie on your application, use fake experience, or work a different job on arrival
  • [ ] Told not to check the register or not to contact the company directly

One red flag is enough to pause. Two or more — walk away.

How to Verify a Sponsor Properly (5 Minutes That Save Everything)

  1. Get the employer's exact legal name and sponsor licence number
  2. Find them on the current Register of Licensed Sponsors — right name, right route (Worker), A-rating
  3. Contact the company through the phone number / email on its official website (found independently, not from the agent's letter) and confirm the job and the person hiring you exist
  4. Check the company has not been revoked — use the revoked list linked below
  5. Never pay anything until steps 2–4 are complete and consistent

Use our checker tool linked below for steps 2 and 4.

Revoked Sponsors: Why the List Matters

The Home Office revokes licences when sponsors break the rules — for example, assigning CoS for non-genuine jobs, failing record-keeping, or facilitating abuse of the system.

If a sponsor is revoked:

  • It can no longer sponsor anyone
  • Its sponsored workers are usually given a limited period to find a new sponsor or leave the UK If your sponsor loses its licence, your CoS is cancelled and your visa will normally be limited to 60 days, or the time remaining on your visa if less than 60 days. Unless a new visa application is made in that time, you have to leave your job and leave the UK. If you were complicit in the reasons for the revocation, your visa can be cancelled immediately with no 60 days.
  • Anyone still "selling" sponsorship in that company's name after revocation is operating a scam

Checking the revoked list is especially important if an offer looks old, an agent reuses company paperwork, or a company has vanished from the current register.

If You Think You Have Been Scammed

  • Stop paying — further payments rarely recover earlier ones
  • Keep all evidence: messages, receipts, offer letters, CoS details, names and numbers
  • Report it: Action Fraud in the UK, your local police / cybercrime unit if overseas, and the job platform where you saw the advert
  • If you have already applied for a visa based on a suspect CoS, get regulated immigration advice (IAA / OISC-registered adviser) urgently — do not travel on a visa you suspect was obtained fraudulently without advice
  • Warn others in your community groups — scammers reuse the same scripts

FAQs

A real licensed company is asking me to reimburse its sponsor costs. Is that allowed? For Skilled Worker, key sponsor costs — the sponsor licence fee and the Certificate of Sponsorship fee, and the Immigration Skills Charge — cannot be passed to the worker, and attempting to recover them can affect the sponsor's licence Since 31 December 2024 a sponsor is prohibited from passing on or recouping from a Skilled Worker: the sponsor licence fee and associated administrative costs, and the Certificate of Sponsorship fee for any CoS assigned on or after 31 December 2024. Passing on the Immigration Skills Charge has been prohibited for longer. A sponsor that breaks this rule will normally have its licence revoked.. If an employer demands these, get advice before paying.

The agent showed me the company on the sponsor register. Does that prove my offer is real? No. Scammers copy real entries. You must still contact the company independently and confirm your job, with that hiring manager, exists.

Can a legitimate consultant charge for help? Regulated immigration advisers can charge for advice, and recruiters are normally paid by employers. What no one can legitimately sell you is the CoS or the job itself. Check an adviser's IAA/OISC registration before paying for advice.

Internal Links

Source: GOV.UK Register of Licensed Sponsors · Register updated 06 November 2026 · Page built 06 November 2026.