Who sponsors work visas in the United Kingdom?

126,512 employers appear on the official record of visa sponsorship. Figures come from UK Home Office register of licensed sponsors, as of October 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	1,907
Essex	1,891
Surrey	1,881
West Midlands	1,677
Kent	1,528
England	1,314
Middlesex	1,271
Hampshire	1,171
Berkshire	1,129
Lancashire	1,015
West Yorkshire	983
Hertfordshire	968
Cheshire	702
Oxfordshire	654
Buckinghamshire	628
West Sussex	568
Cambridgeshire	548
Devon	527
Greater London	489
Leicestershire	485
East Sussex	472
Dorset	452
Greater Manchester	446
Nottinghamshire	434
Suffolk	422
Bedfordshire	420
Staffordshire	418
Gloucestershire	409
Norfolk	402
Derbyshire	386
South Yorkshire	370
Warwickshire	367
North Yorkshire	367
Merseyside	366
Somerset	352
United Kingdom	352
Wiltshire	351
Northamptonshire	317
Scotland	312
Lincolnshire	293
Worcestershire	263
Cumbria	261
Tyne and Wear	261
Shropshire	241
Antrim	231
Cornwall	226
ESSEX	214
Herts	180
MIDDLESEX	178
KENT	175
Aberdeenshire	173
Wales	170
SURREY	169
Bucks	168
WEST MIDLANDS	168
LONDON	156
Manchester	137
LANCASHIRE	136
Tyrone	130
UK	130
Bristol	127
ENGLAND	122
Down	111
Midlothian	109
Fife	104
Northumberland	97
East Yorkshire	94
Tyne & Wear	93
Herefordshire	92
WEST YORKSHIRE	91
Durham	90
County Durham	89
Oxon	88
County (optional)	82
Lanarkshire	81
HAMPSHIRE	74
Northern Ireland	73
Cambs	71
BERKSHIRE	66
Birmingham	66
Cardiff	65
Northants	64
HERTFORDSHIRE	60
Avon	60
Gwent	59
Armagh	59
Yorkshire	56
West Lothian	56
Hants	56
Pembrokeshire	56
NORTHERN IRELAND	52
Isle of Wight	52
Flintshire	52
Cleveland	51
Renfrewshire	51
Powys	50
Lancs	50
Middx	49
Londonderry	49
Carmarthenshire	48
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE	48
Angus	46
UNITED KINGDOM	46
LEICESTERSHIRE	45
Perthshire	45
Glasgow	44
North Lanarkshire	43
County Antrim	43
Gwynedd	43
Derry	42
East Riding of Yorkshire	42
Nottingham	41
Beds	41
County	41
Monmouthshire	40
Co Down	40
Wirral	39
Denbighshire	39
london	39
Cambridge	38
East Lothian	38
North Somerset	37
BEDFORDSHIRE	37
Conwy	36
South Glamorgan	35
DERBYSHIRE	35
CHESHIRE	34
Milton Keynes	34
South Lanarkshire	33
Stirlingshire	32
Ayrshire	32
Swansea	31
County Down	31
Sussex	31
WEST SUSSEX	30
Ceredigion	30
Fermanagh	30
EAST SUSSEX	30
NORFOLK	29
OXFORDSHIRE	29
SOUTH YORKSHIRE	29
Co Antrim	28
North Lincolnshire	28
DEVON	28
Rutland	28
North East Lincolnshire	28
DORSET	27
Leicester	27
Highland	27
- select -	27
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE	27
GREATER MANCHESTER	27
Select	27
West Glamorgan	27
Notts	27
Argyll	26
Berks	26
Staffs	26
SUFFOLK	26
Shetland	25
Aberdeen	25
Moray	25
GB	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 October 2026.

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