The Immigration Skills Charge is paid by the sponsor, on top of the licence fee and the Certificate of Sponsorship fee, when sponsoring a worker on certain routes. It went up by 32% at the end of 2025.

The rates

Sponsor type	First 12 months	Each additional 6 months	Previous annual rate
Small or charitable	£480	£240	£364
Medium or large	£1,320	£660	£1,000

Effective 16 December 2025.

It is payable up front for the whole period of sponsorship stated on the CoS, not annually as you go. A five-year sponsorship is paid in one instalment at the start.

Sponsorship period	Small/charitable	Medium/large
1 year	£480	£1,320
3 years	£1,440	£3,960
5 years	£2,400	£6,600

The jump for a large employer on a five-year hire is from £5,000 to £6,600 — £1,600 more per worker.

The transitional rule

The applicable rate is fixed by the date the CoS is assigned, not the date the worker applies for their visa. Sponsors who assigned before 16 December 2025 paid the old rate even where the application came later.

Which routes it applies to

• Skilled Worker
• Global Business Mobility — Senior or Specialist Worker

Not the other Temporary Worker or Global Business Mobility routes.

Who is exempt

The exemption list is longer than most employers realise, and two entries on it are worth real money.

Switching from a Student or Graduate visa in the UK to Skilled Worker. If you are hiring a recent graduate already in the UK on a Graduate visa, no Skills Charge is payable at all. For a five-year sponsorship that is £6,600 saved for a large employer.

Specified PhD-level occupation codes are exempt:

SOC	Occupation
2111	Chemical scientists
2112	Biological scientists
2113	Biochemists and biomedical scientists
2114	Physical scientists
2115	Social and humanities scientists
2119	Natural and social science professionals n.e.c.
2161	Research and development managers
2162	Other researchers, unspecified discipline
2311	Higher education teaching professionals

Also exempt:

• Workers assigned a CoS before 6 April 2017
• Dependants of a sponsored worker
• Sponsorship for less than 6 months on the GBM Senior or Specialist Worker route
• EU nationals temporarily transferred from an EU operation on the GBM Senior or Specialist Worker route, in qualifying cases

The rule that gets licences revoked

You cannot recover the Immigration Skills Charge from the worker. Not by deduction, not by a clawback clause, not by a lower salary agreed on the understanding they are covering it.

This applies equally to the sponsor licence fee and the CoS fee, and it is among the most frequently cited grounds for revocation. A clawback clause in a contract is discoverable at a compliance visit.

Budgeting a hire properly

For a medium or large sponsor hiring one Skilled Worker on a five-year CoS:

Item	Cost
Certificate of Sponsorship	£525
Immigration Skills Charge	£6,600
Per worker	£7,125

Plus the licence fee of £1,682, plus legal fees, plus the salary itself — which since 22 July 2025 must meet a general threshold of £41,700 or the occupation's going rate, whichever is higher.

Small and charitable sponsors face a materially different picture: £525 + £2,400 = £2,925 for the same hire.