Home Office Updates Sponsor Guidance For Work Routes

In addition to reversing the expanded right to work checking obligation for sponsors, changes to the sponsor guidance emphasise that sponsors must be substantively trading or operating in the UK rather than being set up to facilitate the grant of immigration permission.

The sponsor guidance was updated on 20 May 2026 and contains the clarifications and changes outlined below. 

Reversal of the expanded right to work check duty for sponsors

The guidance contains clarifications and drafting improvements relating to a sponsor's duty to carry out right to work checks. These reverse the expansion of this duty that occurred from 8 April 2026. Read more about this change in our separate article here.