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Guidance

Workers and Temporary Workers: guidance for sponsors: sponsor an International Sportsperson

Guidance on sponsoring an International Sportsperson.

Updates to this page

From:
UK Visas and Immigration
Published:
9 December 2020
Last updated:
8 April 2026
Show all updates

  1. Updated the guidance in line with Immigration Rules changes which came into effect on 8 April 2026. A full list of changes can be found within the guidance.

  2. Guidance updated to give effect to a commitment in the Written Ministerial Statement of 28 November 2024 to prohibit sponsors from passing on sponsorship fees and associated administrative costs to their sponsored workers.

  3. Guidance updated to reflect a change in occupation codes for sports players and sports coaches following the implementation of the SOC 2020 system. A full list of of the changes can be found in the section 'Changes to this guidance'.

  4. The guidance has been updated to reflect changes to the Immigration Rules coming into effect on 17 July 2023, as set out in Statement of Changes HC 149. Changes are detailed on page 6.

  5. Updated guidance to reflect changes to the Immigration Rules coming into effect on 12 April 2023.

  6. Updated guidance for sponsoring an International Sportsperson for use on or after 11 April 2022.

  7. Guidance updated with the following changes: About this guidance: reference to transitional provision for Certificates of Sponsorship assigned on predecessor routes before 11 October 2021 deleted, as any such Certificates will now have expired if not already used; SPT5.A1: paragraph referring to the above transitional provision deleted; SPT5.6: amended to reflect the ending of the fee concession for Certificates of Sponsorship assigned to CESC nationals from 26 February 2022 (as set out in Schedule 3 to the Immigration and Nationality (Replacement of T2 Sportsperson Route and Fees) (Amendment) Regulations 2021); SPT5.6A: new paragraph to reflect ending of the above concession; other minor housekeeping changes.

  8. Updated with guidance for sponsoring an International Sportsperson. This route replaces T2 Sportsperson and the sporting provisions of the T5 (Temporary Worker) Creative or Sporting Worker route.

  9. Added HTML version.

  10. Updated guidance with various changes detailed within, including updated information on entry as a Sportsperson under the visitor provisions.

  11. First published.

Documents

Workers and Temporary Workers: guidance for sponsors: sponsor an International Sportsperson (accessible version)

HTML

Workers and Temporary Workers: guidance for sponsors: sponsor an International Sportsperson

PDF, 623 KB, 25 pages

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Details

This document provides information for employers in the sporting sector on how to sponsor a sportsperson or coach on the International Sportsperson immigration route.

The International Sportsperson route is for elite sportspersons or qualified sports coaches who are internationally established and can make a significant contribution to the development of their sport at its highest level in the UK.

This route has replaced the following routes:

  • T2 Sportsperson
  • the sporting provisions of the T5 (Temporary Worker) Creative or Sporting Worker route

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