Who sponsors work visas in the United Kingdom?

126,459 employers appear on the official record of visa sponsorship. Figures come from UK Home Office register of licensed sponsors, as of September 2026.

What this number counts

The Home Office register records which employers hold a sponsor licence and which routes that licence covers. It publishes no volume at all, so there is no count of sponsorships to report for the UK, only the list of employers allowed to make them.

Sponsorship by region

163 regions with at least 25 sponsoring employers, largest first.

Region	Employers
London	1,901
Essex	1,890
Surrey	1,887
West Midlands	1,673
Kent	1,531
England	1,322
Middlesex	1,271
Hampshire	1,171
Berkshire	1,125
Lancashire	1,020
West Yorkshire	982
Hertfordshire	964
Cheshire	697
Oxfordshire	653
Buckinghamshire	626
West Sussex	564
Cambridgeshire	546
Devon	530
Greater London	493
Leicestershire	486
East Sussex	473
Dorset	449
Greater Manchester	444
Nottinghamshire	437
Bedfordshire	425
Suffolk	425
Staffordshire	419
Gloucestershire	412
Norfolk	399
Derbyshire	388
North Yorkshire	370
South Yorkshire	367
Warwickshire	367
Merseyside	363
United Kingdom	354
Somerset	351
Wiltshire	350
Northamptonshire	320
Scotland	309
Lincolnshire	291
Tyne and Wear	262
Worcestershire	262
Cumbria	258
Shropshire	241
Antrim	228
Cornwall	224
ESSEX	214
Herts	183
MIDDLESEX	180
KENT	176
Aberdeenshire	172
WEST MIDLANDS	170
Wales	170
SURREY	169
Bucks	169
LONDON	157
LANCASHIRE	138
Manchester	136
UK	130
Tyrone	127
Bristol	127
ENGLAND	122
Down	109
Midlothian	107
Fife	104
Northumberland	98
East Yorkshire	94
Tyne & Wear	94
Herefordshire	93
WEST YORKSHIRE	92
County Durham	90
Durham	90
Oxon	88
County (optional)	82
Lanarkshire	81
HAMPSHIRE	75
Northern Ireland	73
Cambs	70
BERKSHIRE	66
Birmingham	66
Cardiff	65
Northants	63
Avon	60
Gwent	59
HERTFORDSHIRE	58
Armagh	58
Yorkshire	56
Hants	56
Pembrokeshire	56
West Lothian	55
Cleveland	54
NORTHERN IRELAND	52
Isle of Wight	52
Flintshire	52
Middx	50
Renfrewshire	50
Powys	50
Lancs	49
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE	49
Londonderry	48
Carmarthenshire	47
UNITED KINGDOM	46
Angus	46
LEICESTERSHIRE	46
Perthshire	44
Glasgow	44
Gwynedd	43
County Antrim	43
Derry	42
East Riding of Yorkshire	42
Beds	42
North Lanarkshire	42
County	41
Nottingham	41
london	40
Co Down	40
Monmouthshire	40
Wirral	39
Denbighshire	39
BEDFORDSHIRE	39
East Lothian	38
Cambridge	37
North Somerset	37
DERBYSHIRE	36
Conwy	36
South Glamorgan	35
CHESHIRE	34
Milton Keynes	34
South Lanarkshire	33
Stirlingshire	32
County Down	32
Sussex	31
Ceredigion	31
Ayrshire	31
Swansea	31
WEST SUSSEX	30
EAST SUSSEX	30
OXFORDSHIRE	29
NORFOLK	29
Fermanagh	29
SOUTH YORKSHIRE	29
Co Antrim	28
DEVON	28
North East Lincolnshire	28
Rutland	28
- select -	28
Highland	27
DORSET	27
GREATER MANCHESTER	27
Leicester	27
Notts	27
Berks	27
North Lincolnshire	27
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE	27
West Glamorgan	27
Argyll	26
Staffs	26
Moray	26
SUFFOLK	25
GB	25
Select	25
Aberdeen	25
Shetland	25

The register stores the county as free text, so spellings vary and small entries are noise. Regions are shown here in aggregate rather than given pages of their own.

A place on this register means an employer has sponsored before. That is the one thing a job advert almost never tells you, and it is the difference between applying speculatively and applying somewhere that has already done the paperwork.

Our job board for the United Kingdom only lists roles at employers on this register, and our analysis of all three registers explains why the UK, US and Canadian figures cannot be added together.

Source: UK Home Office register of licensed sponsors, last confirmed current in September 2026.

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