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From 21 October 2025 the Home Office has increased pre-licence and post-licence priority service fees for eligible work route sponsors. The Premium Customer Service for sponsors has also been discontinued.
What has changed for the pre-sponsor licence priority service?
Some sponsor licence applicants can pay a priority service fee to reduce the processing time of their application from eight weeks to ten working days, if the application is deemed straightforward.
The fee for this service has been increased by 50 per cent, from £500 to £750.
What has changed for the post-sponsor licence priority service?
Eligible work and temporary work route sponsor licence holders can pay a priority service fee to ask for certain straightforward change of circumstances requests (including for an additional allocation of Certificates of Sponsorship) to be considered within five working days instead of up to 18 weeks. The service is available on weekdays from 7:00 to 17:00 and is subject to a cap of 100 spaces per day.
The fee for this service has been increased by 75 per cent, from £200 to £350.
What has changed in relation to Premium Customer Service for sponsors?
The Home Office has discontinued its Premium Customer Service, which offered sponsors access to a bespoke account management portal and dedicated account manager. This was priced at £25,000 per year for medium or large organisations, or £8,000 for small or charitable organisations.
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