Employment contract for a sponsored worker

A sponsored worker's employment contract has to say what the certificate of sponsorship says: the job, the salary, the hours and the location, because a mismatch is a sponsor compliance problem rather than a drafting error. It also has to carry the employee's obligations to help the sponsor meet its reporting duties, deal with the costs of sponsorship within the rules on what can and cannot be recovered, provide for changes the sponsor must report, and say what happens when the visa or the sponsorship ends. I draft that contract for the employer for a fixed fee of £595, delivered in five working days; the sponsor licence, the certificate and the visa are immigration work, which I do not do, and the contract is drafted to fit what the employer's immigration adviser has set.

Who this is for

Employers in England and Wales holding a sponsor licence and employing skilled workers or other sponsored staff, who want the employment contract to match the sponsorship and to work for the business.

What matters in a sponsored worker's contract

What the contract must match in the sponsorship

The certificate of sponsorship records the job title, the occupation code, the duties, the salary, the hours and the work location, and the sponsor's duties under the Home Office's guidance for sponsors require the employment to be as described; the contract should therefore state those particulars exactly, with the written particulars under section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 doing double duty, and any later change handled through the sponsor's reporting obligations rather than by quiet variation; the immigration adviser confirms the certificate's content and the contract is drafted to it.

Pay, hours and the salary the visa requires

The sponsored salary must be paid at or above the rate the route requires for the occupation, for the hours stated, without deductions or repayments that reduce it below the threshold, and the contract should state the salary and hours accordingly, treat the salary as a floor the employer will maintain while the sponsorship continues, and provide that bonuses and allowances are in addition unless the route allows them to count; a reduction in pay or hours is a change the sponsor must report and may take the employee outside the route, and the contract should not permit it unilaterally.

The sponsor's duties and the employee's obligations to help meet them

The sponsor must keep records, report changes (absence without permission, changes of role, pay or location, resignation, termination) within the time limits the guidance sets, and cooperate with compliance visits, and the contract should require the employee to keep the employer informed of their immigration status and contact details, to produce documents for right to work checks under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006, to report changes that affect the sponsorship, to attend work as the sponsorship requires and to comply with the visa's conditions, with breaches treated as misconduct; the duties are the sponsor's and the contract gives it the information to perform them.

Costs, repayment clauses and what cannot be recovered

The Home Office's guidance prohibits a sponsor from recovering the immigration skills charge payable under the Immigration Skills Charge Regulations 2017 and, since the end of 2024, the costs of the sponsor licence application and the certificate of sponsorship, from the worker, and a sponsor that does so risks its licence; visa application fees, the immigration health surcharge and relocation costs paid by the employer may be loaned and recovered under a repayment clause on a sliding scale with written consent under section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, provided the recovery never takes pay below the sponsored salary; the contract should distinguish the two categories and the immigration adviser should confirm the current position.

Changes of role, pay and location

A change of job, occupation code, salary or work location may require a new certificate of sponsorship or a report to the Home Office, and the contract should provide that the employer's usual flexibility clauses (reassignment, relocation, changes to duties) operate subject to the sponsorship, that changes will be made only after the immigration adviser has confirmed the route permits them, and that hybrid and remote working arrangements are recorded as the sponsorship requires; a promotion that would be routine for another employee is a reporting event for a sponsored one.

The end of the visa, the end of the sponsorship and the end of the employment

The contract should make continued permission to work a condition of employment, require the employee to apply for extensions in time and to tell the employer the outcome, and provide for termination where permission ends, with a fair process because dismissal for loss of the right to work is for a statutory restriction or some other substantial reason and must still be handled properly; it should also say that the sponsor will report the end of the employment as the guidance requires, that the employee's visa may be curtailed as a result, and that the employee's notice and other terms apply as for any employee, with the Employment Rights Act 2025 changes to the early months of employment taken into account on the timetable the regulations set.

What it costs

Employment contract, £595. One template you can reuse for a grade of staff. Five working days.

Staff handbook and core policies, £995. Five working days.

Buying online forms the engagement on payment. The scope is what the employment contracts and handbooks page describes, you accept the Terms of Service at checkout, and I email you within four working hours to get started. If you would rather ask something first, email me.

What you get

• A bespoke contract drafted for how you employ people
• Restrictive covenants drafted at a scope a court will uphold
• Confidentiality and intellectual property provisions that put ownership where it belongs
• The statutory particulars, so the document does the job section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 requires it to do
• Flexibility clauses where you genuinely need them, drafted to survive challenge
• Core policies: disciplinary, grievance, sickness absence, equal opportunities, data protection and, increasingly, AI use
• One round of amendments

What is not included

• Acting for employees
• Employment tribunal representation
• Payroll, pensions auto-enrolment and tax
• Immigration and sponsor licence work
• Day to day HR handling, disciplinaries, grievances and redundancy processes

Questions I am often asked

Can we recover the sponsorship costs if the employee leaves early?

Not the immigration skills charge, the licence or the certificate costs, which the guidance prohibits recovering. Visa fees, the health surcharge and relocation costs may be loaned and recovered on a sliding scale with written consent, never below the sponsored salary. The immigration adviser confirms the current rules.

Can we change a sponsored worker's role?

Only after checking whether the change needs a new certificate or a report, which the immigration adviser confirms. The contract makes the usual flexibility clauses subject to the sponsorship.

Do you handle the sponsor licence and the visa?

Immigration is a specialist area I do not practise in. The contract is drafted to fit the sponsorship the employer's immigration adviser has arranged, and the two should be read together.

Related guidance and services

• Employment contracts and handbooks, £595, the service this page describes
• Consultancy and contractor agreements, £595
• Settlement agreements for employers, £795
• Employment contract for an employee working abroad
• Employment contract for a software developer

This page is general guidance for businesses in England and Wales, not advice on your own circumstances. Last reviewed: October 2026. Email geoffrey@caesar.co.uk.