TL;DR: A Skilled Worker visa holder who changes employer in the UK cannot simply transfer the existing visa. A new Certificate of Sponsorship is required from the new sponsor, followed by a fresh in-country application before starting the new role. The outgoing sponsor must report the departure within 10 working days.
Skilled Worker visa holders who move to a new job in the UK are not permitted to carry on working under their existing permission once they leave the sponsoring employer named on their current visa. According to the gov.uk guidance on changes of circumstance, anyone wishing to change employer while on a Skilled Worker visa must get a new Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) from the new employer and then apply for a new Skilled Worker visa before starting work in the new role. This differs from a simple change of job title or a pay rise with the same employer, which may only need to be reported rather than trigger a fresh application.
When does changing employer require a new application?
Any move to a different sponsoring organisation counts as a change of employer, regardless of whether the new role is in a similar occupation or at a similar salary. The guidance is explicit that affected individuals must not start the new job until the new visa has been granted. This means the sequence runs: the new employer issues a CoS referencing the specific job, the applicant submits an in-country application using that CoS, and only once the application is approved can the person legally begin working for the new sponsor.
This requirement applies even where the applicant remains within the same occupation code or industry. A move between two different licensed sponsors is treated as a new sponsorship arrangement, not a continuation of the old one, because the CoS is tied to a specific sponsor, role and set of conditions rather than to the individual.
What counts as a reportable change rather than a new application
Not every workplace change requires a fresh visa. Changes that typically need to be reported to UK Visas and Immigration (UVI), rather than triggering a new application, include:
- A change of job title that does not amount to a different role
- A salary increase or decrease within the same job
- A change of work location, such as a new office address for the same employer
- Amendments to working hours or reporting line, where the role itself is unchanged
Sponsors are required to record and report these changes through the Sponsorship Management System, rather than issuing a new CoS. Where the change is significant enough to alter the nature of the job, such as a substantial change in duties, responsibilities, or a drop in salary below the relevant threshold for the role, this can amount to a material change of circumstance and may require a new CoS even without a change of employer. Sponsors assessing whether a salary change is compliant may need to check current going rates for the SOC code in question.
What must the previous sponsor report, and within what timeframe?
When a Skilled Worker visa holder leaves their job, whether by resignation, dismissal, or because they are moving to another sponsor, the outgoing sponsor has a duty to report this change. According to the guidance, sponsors must report an employee leaving their job within 10 working days of becoming aware of it. This report is made through the Sponsorship Management System and is one of the core ongoing duties attached to holding a sponsor licence.
The Home Office states that sponsors must report a sponsored worker leaving employment within 10 working days of the date they become aware of it.
Failure to report promptly is a compliance matter for the sponsor rather than the individual, but it can affect the sponsor’s record and future licence standing. This sits alongside other sponsor licence requirements that licensed employers must continue to meet throughout the life of a licence, including keeping accurate records of sponsored workers’ contact details, right to work status and current role.
How does the new employer issue a fresh Certificate of Sponsorship?
The new sponsoring employer must assign a new CoS specific to the role being offered, following the same process used for any new hire under the route. This includes confirming the job meets the eligibility requirements for the Skilled Worker route, checking the occupation falls within the list of eligible occupations and SOC codes, and ensuring the salary on offer meets both the general threshold and the specific going rate for that occupation. Guidance on the Certificate of Sponsorship process sets out the information the new sponsor must include, such as job title, SOC code, salary and start date.
The new sponsor must also be satisfied that the vacancy is genuine, since the genuine vacancy test applies equally to internal moves between sponsors as it does to any other Skilled Worker hire. Once the CoS is assigned, the worker uses it to make an in-country application, which is assessed under the points-based system in the same way as any fresh Skilled Worker application, including the salary and English language requirements.
Does changing employer reset the cooling-off period or affect settlement?
The guidance does not describe a standard cooling-off period applying automatically every time someone changes employer within the Skilled Worker route itself; the term is more commonly associated with switching between different immigration routes or reapplying after a refusal. What does matter for anyone changing employer is the continuity of lawful residence and sponsored employment, since this feeds into the route to settlement. Gaps between the old sponsor ending and the new visa being granted, or any period spent working without valid sponsorship, can affect the continuous residence calculation needed for Indefinite Leave to Remain. For this reason, the guidance stresses that the new application should be made, and granted, before the applicant starts the new role, rather than relying on an assumption that the existing visa continues to cover them during the transition.
Employers taking on a Skilled Worker from another sponsor should also carry out standard right to work checks before the individual begins work, confirming the new visa has actually been granted rather than relying on the CoS alone. Where the move involves dependants already in the UK, sponsors and applicants should also check how a change of main applicant’s employment interacts with dependants rules, since dependant permission is linked to the main applicant’s status.
Common questions
Can a Skilled Worker start a new job before the new visa is granted? No. The guidance states that the new application must be approved before work begins with the new sponsor, since the existing CoS and visa conditions are tied to the previous employer.
Does a pay rise with the same employer require a new Certificate of Sponsorship? Not usually. A salary increase within the same role and with the same sponsor is normally reported through the Sponsorship Management System rather than requiring a new CoS, unless the role itself has materially changed.
Who is responsible for reporting that a sponsored worker has left? The outgoing sponsor is responsible for reporting the departure within 10 working days of becoming aware of it, as part of their ongoing sponsor duties.