Immigration skills charge: how much, who is exempt and refunds

The immigration skills charge is an extra payment. A sponsor may have to pay it when it assigns a certificate of sponsorship to someone applying for a Skilled Worker or Senior or Specialist Worker visa. The amount depends on the size of your organisation and how long the worker stays. For the first 12 months it is £480 or £1,320.

Who has to pay the immigration skills charge?

You might have to pay the charge when you assign a certificate of sponsorship to someone applying for a Skilled Worker or Senior or Specialist Worker visa.

You must pay it if they are applying for a visa from:

• outside the UK, to work in the UK for 6 months or more
• inside the UK, for any length of time

The charge does not apply to any other sponsored work route. (Part 2 of the sponsor guidance, version 10/26, valid from 8 October 2026)

You pay it when you assign the certificate. You must pay it yourself. Your licence may be revoked if you ask the sponsored worker to pay it, or any costs linked to your application.

How much is the immigration skills charge?

The amount depends on the size of your organisation and how long the worker will work for you. UKVI works out the length from the start and end dates on the worker’s certificate.

Period	Small or charitable sponsors	Medium or large sponsors
First 12 months	£480	£1,320
Each additional 6 months	£240	£660

These amounts apply to certificates assigned on or after 16 December 2025. For certificates assigned before that date, the amounts are lower:

Period (certificate assigned before 16 December 2025)	Small or charitable sponsors	Medium or large sponsors
Up to 12 months	£364	£1,000
Each subsequent 6-month period	£182	£500

The amounts are set in the Schedule to the Immigration Skills Charge Regulations 2017. They depend on your organisation’s size and type on the date you assign the certificate. (Part 2)

How long does the worker’s stay have to be?

If the worker will be in the UK for longer than 6 months but less than a year, you must pay for at least 12 months.

You must pay the full charge in one go.

You can sponsor a worker for 5 years at most. So the most you pay is:

• £2,400 (5 x £480) for a small or charitable sponsor
• £6,600 (5 x £1,320) for a medium or large sponsor

Who counts as a small or charitable sponsor?

You are usually a small sponsor if at least 2 of these apply:

• your annual turnover is £15 million or less
• your total assets are worth £7.5 million or less
• you have 50 employees or fewer

You are a charitable sponsor if you are:

• a registered charity in England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland
• an excepted charity
• an exempt charity
• an ecclesiastical corporation (a church body) set up for charitable purposes

In Northern Ireland, if you are not on the charity register, you must give proof of charitable status for tax purposes from HM Revenue and Customs.

You must tell UKVI within 20 working days if your organisation’s size or type changes. (Part 2)

When do you not need to pay the charge?

You do not pay the charge if you are sponsoring someone with one of these occupation codes:

• SOC 2111, chemical scientists
• SOC 2112, biological scientists
• SOC 2113, biochemists and biomedical scientists
• SOC 2114, physical scientists
• SOC 2115, social and humanities scientists
• SOC 2119, natural and social science professionals not elsewhere classified
• SOC 2161, research and development managers
• SOC 2162, other researchers, unspecified discipline
• SOC 2311, higher education teaching professionals

GOV.UK lists these other cases too:

• You might also not have to pay the charge if the worker was assigned a certificate before 6 April 2017.
• You do not pay the charge for any of the worker’s dependants, for example their partner or child.
• You do not pay the charge if you sponsor someone to switch to a work visa from a visa that allows them to study. This applies if they switch to a Skilled Worker or Senior or Specialist Worker visa, and then extend their stay on that visa.

Senior or Specialist Worker: EU workers

For the Global Business Mobility Senior or Specialist Worker route, you do not pay the charge if all of these apply to the worker:

• they were assigned a certificate on or after 1 January 2023
• they are a national of an EU country, or hold a Latvian non-citizen’s passport
• they normally work in the EU for your EU business, but have been moved to the UK temporarily
• the end date of the move, as shown on the certificate, is no more than 36 months after the start date

Part 2 (paragraph S5.9) adds that the worker must have been sent to the UK by a business established in the EU that is part of the same sponsor group. They must also have worked for that sponsor group for at least one year before the certificate was assigned.

The exemption does not apply to nationals of Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein or Switzerland.

What other exemptions does the sponsor guidance list?

Part 2 of the sponsor guidance (paragraph S5.9) lists more cases where you do not pay the charge:

• a worker applying for entry clearance from outside the UK for less than 6 months
• a worker you gave a certificate to before (or who moved to you under TUPE or similar protection), if you assign a new certificate and the new period of permission will not be longer than their current one. If it would be longer, you pay for the extra period, unless another exemption applies
• a worker who has valid permission to study, on the Student, Child Student, Tier 4 (General), Tier 4 (Child) or Short-term Student (English Language) route
• a worker who had valid study permission when you sponsored them before, if you assign a new certificate to keep sponsoring them in the same role

The study exemption does not apply if the worker’s permission had already expired when you assigned the certificate. It also does not apply if they are on a route that is not listed, for example the Graduate route, or as a dependant of a student.

What if the worker changes jobs?

If a worker moves to a new job in your organisation, you need to assign a new certificate if the new job has a different occupation code.

You must pay the charge for the full length of the visa. If the new certificate gives the worker more time on their visa, you pay for the extra time. If the new certificate does not add time, you do not pay an extra charge.

GOV.UK gives this example:

• A worker has a 2-year visa, and you pay the charge for that period.
• The worker gets a new job in your organisation, and you assign a new certificate that adds 6 months to their visa.
• You would pay an extra charge to cover the extra 6 months.

What if the charge is unpaid or wrong?

UKVI will contact you if you do not pay the charge, or if you pay the wrong amount. You will have 10 working days to pay. If you do not, the worker’s visa application will be refused.

UKVI sends a payment link to your key contact. The link is valid for 72 hours. It then sends one more link, also valid for 72 hours. If you do not pay by the end of that time, UKVI refuses the worker’s application. (Part 2)

Can you get an immigration skills charge refund?

You get a full refund if the worker’s visa application is:

• refused or withdrawn
• successful, but the worker does not come to work for you

You get a part refund if the worker:

• gets less time on their visa than you sponsored them for
• starts working for you but then changes to another sponsor
• leaves their job before the end date on their certificate of sponsorship

You also get a part refund if you paid the medium or large sponsor fee but had already told UKVI that you are now a small or charitable sponsor.

In the part refund cases (other than a change of size or status), UKVI keeps the first 12 months and refunds the unused 6-month periods. (Part 2)

You usually get a refund within 90 days of the event that triggers it. For example, this could be when you tell UKVI the worker did not come to work for you, or the date the visa application is refused or withdrawn.

If the application is refused and the worker does not ask for an administrative review, the refund comes within 90 days of the deadline for asking for one.

Part 2 lists cases where no refund is made. They include when the worker changes job but stays with the same sponsor, or when your licence is revoked.

Contact UKVI if your refund is not paid within 90 days.