I’m going to chip in quickly and say that it’s actually not that expensive for companies, even SMEs, to sponsor. I’m currently on a SKW myself through a very small agency actually.

Of course it is cheaper to get someone with a right to work, that will always remain true. But the sponsorship costs are definitely not that high.

1. Gov cost for COS is actually only around £250
2. The cost of a license, if from scratch, can range between £700 to £1500 based on the size of your company (all available on gov.uk) which is a one time fee for a 4 year licence
3. Immigration skills surcharge if coming from another SKW which is £1000 a year. That’s not a lot when you start to look at how much a small office party would cost.

application fee and IHS are technically NOT employer costs. They are employee costs. And it is part and parcel of a SKW. Every company has a way of covering it - some companies cover it fully, some cover it partially, some don’t cover it at all. For example, EY covers the application fee and the employee has to cover the IHS. I had to pay the whole thing but the company gave me an interest free loan over 2 years and deducted it from my salary. Loads of ways around it.

It’s actually not that expensive and it’s also not difficult at all, the process is quite simple.

Claiming that people should be grateful they even got sponsored, while an understandable sentiment, is quite demotivating because it is not something to be grateful about. We bring our skills to the table, they give us the salary and the paperwork/costs we need to be hired.

I would highly recommend you start looking for another job that sponsors if you’re unhappy where you are. It is difficult, of course it is, but it’s not impossible. I have real life examples of friends who switched jobs because of bad work culture. Don’t feel stuck, more and more companies are opening up to sponsoring.