Guidance

Coronavirus (COVID-19): Worker and temporary worker sponsors

This is advice for UK sponsors of workers and temporary workers affected by coronavirus (COVID-19).

Employee absence

We will not take enforcement action against sponsors who continue to sponsor employees who are absent due to coronavirus.

You do not need to report employee absences related to coronavirus.

This can include absences due to illness, their need to isolate or inability to travel due to travel restrictions.

You do not need to withdraw sponsorship if an employee is absent from work without pay for more than 4 weeks because of personal reasons due to coronavirus. You may be able to reduce an employee’s pay temporarily in line with government job support schemes.

We will keep this under review.

Employees who have been assigned a Certificate of Sponsorship but not yet applied for a visa

The employee will still be able to apply for a visa.

The start date for the employment stated on the Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) may have changed. We will not automatically refuse such cases.

For example, we may accept a CoS if it has become invalid because the employee was unable to travel as a result of coronavirus. We will consider this on a case-by-case basis.

Employees waiting for a work visa

This includes:

  • Skilled Worker visa
  • Health and Care Worker visa
  • Intra-company visas
  • T2 Minister of Religion visa
  • International Sportsperson visa
  • Temporary Worker visas

You may allow employees to start work before their visa application has been decided if:

  • you’ve assigned them a CoS and either:
    • they are applying under the Health and Care visa and their CoS was assigned before 4 October 2022
    • their CoS was assigned before 19 January 2021
  • the employee submitted their application before their current visa expired
  • the role they are employed in is the same as the one on their CoS

Your reporting responsibilities for an employee start from the date you’ve assigned them a CoS, not from the date that their application is granted. You will not be able to report information to us using the sponsor management system but you must record and maintain all the relevant information set out in the sponsor guidance on your own systems.

Any changes that will impact the eventual consideration of the migrant’s visa application should be updated on the CoS as normal.

If the employee’s application is eventually rejected as invalid or refused you must terminate their employment.

Working from home

You do not have to notify us if you’re sponsoring employees who are working from home due to coronavirus.

Other changes to their working arrangements must still be reported as usual.

Reduced pay

If you’ve reduced or ceased trading, you can temporarily reduce the pay of your sponsored employees in line with government job support schemes. Your sponsored workers are eligible for these schemes in the same way as resident workers.

Any reductions must be part of a company-wide policy to avoid redundancies and in which all workers are treated the same. You cannot reduce your sponsored workers’ rate of pay for the hours they work below the going rate for their occupation, subject to any discounts they qualified for when they were granted permission.

These reductions must be temporary, and the employee’s pay must return to at least previous levels once these arrangements have ended.

Contact UK Visas and Immigration for help

If you have other immigration queries, please contact the general immigration helpline.

Published 3 March 2021
Last updated 23 August 2022 + show all updates
  1. Updated guidance on 'Employees waiting for a work visa' section.

  2. Updated guidance on 'Employees waiting for a work visa' section.

  3. Section on pre-registration nurses and midwives removed as this concession has now ended.

  4. Updated information on contacting the general immigration helpline.

  5. First published.