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Extending right to work checks - what might be the implications?
Andreas White
The Immigration Skills Charge (ISC) will increase by 32% from £1,000 per year of the visa to £1,320 per year of the visa. For small sponsors the ISC will increase from £364 to £480 per year.
The ISC applies to Skilled Worker and Senior or Specialist Worker (previously known as the ICT category) applications.
The increase will take effect on Tuesday 16 December 2025.
Our recommendations to sponsors
We encourage sponsors to plan ahead about any new hires and extensions coming up in late December 2025 and early 2026.
To avoid the higher fee, the certificate of sponsorship (CoS) must be assigned before 16 December.
Once a CoS has been assigned it has to be used for a visa application within 3 months, and it’s possible to submit a visa application up to 3 months before the intended work start date.
In addition:
- For visa applications to be submitted within the UK you will need to have a CoS available in your Sponsor Management System (SMS), otherwise a request for a CoS will need to be made. With the standard service this can take up to 18 weeks and so the £350 (recently increased from £200) priority service should be used to obtain a CoS within around 5 working days.
- For visa applications to be submitted outside the UK a request for a defined CoS will need to be made. Normally the defined CoS is granted within 1-2 working days but further information and documents may be requested which can mean that it takes weeks. The sooner the request is submitted the better.
Please also note the Home Office often closes the SMS from around 6pm the day before changes such as this, but it could be sooner.
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further information
If you have any questions about the issues raised above or any other immigration matter please contact a member of the immigration team.
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