Knock, knock: It’s your Home Office Sponsor Compliance Visit

04.06.2025

As we reported last week, the Home Office has significantly increased enforcement actions against employers failing to meet their sponsor licence obligations. Between April 2024 and March 2025, over 1,700 licences were suspended, and 1,560 sponsor licences were formally revoked during the same period. Are you prepared for a knock at your door?

The process for maintaining a sponsor licence can seem complex, especially for employers new to sponsorship. However, all sponsors are obligated to comply with Home Office immigration requirements. Failure to do so can result in penalties, suspensions or licence revocation.

To assess whether your organisation can meet its sponsor duties, the Home Office may wish to visit your premises during the application process, or at any point throughout the lifespan of your sponsor licence.

This article provides clear, practical guidance on what to expect if Home Office officials visit your business premises to scrutinise your internal compliance systems and processes for managing migrant workers.

Why does the Home Office need to visit my business?

The purpose of a compliance visit is to check your organisation has the appropriate HR and recruitment systems in place to effectively monitor a migrant workforce and to confirm you are fulfilling your legal obligations as an employer. In many cases, audit visits are triggered by intelligence received by the Home Office that warrants a compliance check.

If you have recently submitted a new (or subsequent) sponsor licence application, a decision may be deferred until a Home Office official is able to visit your business to determine whether:

The information you provided in your application is accurate and complete
Your business is genuinely trading or operating lawfully in the UK
You have a genuine need for a sponsor licence
You can offer employment to migrants at the appropriate skill and salary level
You are committed to and compliant with all sponsorship duties

Preparation phase

Employers often receive advanced notification of such visits, allowing them to prepare accordingly. To ensure readiness, you should:

Ensure staff linked to the licence (i.e. Authorising Officer, Key Contact) are available to meet with the Home Office officials. If they request to speak directly with sponsored employees, ensure those employees are available and aware of the purpose of the meeting. These discussions typically focus on confirming that the employee is performing duties associated with their sponsored role.
Demonstrate that you have the appropriate HR systems and practices in place to meet your sponsorship duties and monitor your workers’ immigration status.
Confirm on-going compliance with your legal responsibilities to prevent illegal working.
Maintain accurate, up to date records on your sponsored workers and organisational operations. These records can be electronic or paper-based and must be available upon request.

While many visits are pre-arranged, the Home Office may also conduct unannounced checks at any physical location where your sponsored employees work or could work.

Smith Stone Walters advises employers who have recently applied for a sponsor licence to anticipate a visit from Home Office officials. For existing sponsors, any significant change in business circumstances—such as:

A change of business address
Ownership changes, mergers, or acquisitions
Changes involving migrant workers due to TUPE arrangements

may also trigger a compliance visit.

A typical compliance audit lasts approximately two to three hours. During the visit, Home Office Compliance Officers will focus on five key areas:

Monitoring immigration status and preventing illegal employment: Demonstrate robust systems to minimise the risk of employing individuals without the right to work in the UK.
Record keeping: Maintain detailed personnel files for each employee, including documents related to migrant recruitment, payroll, and absences.
Maintaining migrant contact details: Keep comprehensive and current records of each sponsored migrant’s UK contact details, ensuring they are readily available upon request.
Migrant tracking and monitoring: Show procedures for effectively monitoring sponsored migrants, including reporting prolonged absences or significant employment changes to the Home Office.
General sponsor duties: Demonstrate regular review of your company’s profile on the Sponsorship Management System and timely updates to the Home Office regarding any changes.

Additionally, compliance officers may wish to interview sponsored employees or staff involved in recruitment and licence management. Preparing key personnel and sponsored employees ahead of these interviews can help ensure a smooth process and reduce nerves.

For pre-licence assessments, the Home Office uses the information gathered during the visit to make a decision on your licence application. If successful, you will receive an ‘A-rating,’ indicating the Home Office’s confidence that you can meet your sponsorship duties.

If a compliance visit occurs after your licence has been approved, the Home Office will inform you of the audit outcome and the rating awarded. Should serious breaches be identified, your licence could be suspended or revoked, depending on the severity of the issues.

In cases where your licence is downgraded to a B-rating following a compliance check, you will be required to follow an action plan to improve your performance. Further guidance can be found in the Home Office’s sponsor guidance.

Conduct a Mock Audit

To optimise your chances of passing a compliance visit, Smith Stone Walters recommends regular mock audits to ensure readiness. Even if your organisation has held a sponsor licence for some time, inspections can happen unexpectedly, so ongoing internal reviews are best practice.

Our team of immigration experts can assist by conducting independent mock audits to identify areas for improvement in managing your sponsor licence. For more information about this service or to discuss your specific needs, please contact us.