Change description : 2025-11-11 00:01:00: The following changes have been made: clarification that when conducting an online right to work check, sponsors must use the ‘check a job applicant’s right to work’ service; updated to reflect the continuing roll-out of eVisas and phasing out of vignettes; further clarification of how to check a worker’s date of entry where the worker doesn’t have an entry stamp in their passport; minor drafting amendment to reflect the closure of the Sponsor UK service; other minor housekeeping changes. [Guidance and regulation]
This document is for Worker and Temporary Worker sponsors. It is an appendix to the full policy guidance on sponsoring a worker.
It lists the documents you must keep to meet your sponsorship record-keeping duties.
This guidance replaces version 05/25 (published on 29 May 2025). Details of the changes can be found within the document.
29 May 2025
The guidance has been renamed and now covers only the Worker and Temporary Worker routes. Guidance on record-keeping duties for Student sponsors is now contained in the Student sponsor guidance. A full list of changes is in the 'changes to this guidance' section.
9 April 2025
This guidance has been updated to reflect changes to the Immigration Rules coming into effect on 9 April 2025.
24 October 2024
Changes to the guidance to reflect the initial phase of the new sponsorship service for selected Government Authorised Exchange sponsors, and to make some other minor amendments and clarifications.
16 May 2024
Added Scale-up to the list of Temporary Worker routes and updated requirements for Creative Workers.
12 April 2022
Updated to reflect the introduction of the new Global Business Mobility routes, and other changes as detailed within.
30 December 2021
Guidance updated with the following changes: Part 1, paragraph c: minor amendments to reflect the introduction of eVisas (a digital version of their immigration status information) for Skilled Workers; Part 5, paragraph a: amendments to reflect the introduction of eVisas (a digital version of their immigration status information) for Students other than EEA nationals; other minor housekeeping changes. Added HTML accessible version.
11 October 2021
Guidance has been updated to reflect changes to the Immigration Rules coming into effect on 11 October, including the introduction of the International Sportsperson and Creative Worker routes and the rebranding of the T5 (Temporary Worker) routes, and to make other minor changes.
21 May 2021
Updated guidance to reflect record-keeping duties for sponsors in respect of the ATAS requirement coming into force on 21 May 2021.
16 March 2021
Updated to provide further clarity to sponsors on their record-keeping duties in respect of recruitment activity. Full details of updates are in the document under "changes from the last version of this guidance".
18 December 2020
Updated guidance includes clarifications on record-keeping duties for sponsors.
1 December 2020
Updated guidance to reflect changes in Immigration Rules coming into force on 1 Dec.
5 October 2020
Updated guidance.
6 April 2020
Minor clarifications
28 October 2019
Updated appendix D.
6 August 2019
The guidance has been placed into a new template and revised throughout.
18 July 2018
Updated guidance.
11 January 2018
Updated guidance for use on or after 11 January 2018.