UK companies that sponsor work visas, by town

The Home Office publishes every employer licensed to sponsor workers — 127,283 of them across 5,797 towns. A licence proves an employer is permitted to sponsor; it does not mean they will sponsor a given role, or that they are hiring at all. Start from the town you want to work in, then check hiring history and the salary threshold for your route.

Towns with a published list

305 towns, each listed in full. Counts are licensed organisations registered at an address in that town.

Not published yet

These towns hold too many licences to read as a single page. Rather than publish the first few hundred and imply that is the list, they are named here with their real counts until each has a usable A–Z split. The full register covers them today.

  • London — 36,439 licensed sponsors
  • Birmingham — 3,100 licensed sponsors
  • Manchester — 2,891 licensed sponsors
  • Leicester — 1,423 licensed sponsors
  • Glasgow — 1,359 licensed sponsors
  • Bristol — 1,291 licensed sponsors
  • Edinburgh — 1,172 licensed sponsors
  • Leeds — 1,083 licensed sponsors
  • Nottingham — 1,046 licensed sponsors

Where does this list come from?

The Home Office register of licensed sponsors, republished roughly twice a month and licensed for reuse under the Open Government Licence. These pages are rebuilt from the edition of 2026-08-01.

Why is London missing?

London has 36,439 licensed sponsors — too many to read as one page, and we would rather publish nothing than publish a silent sample and call it a list. The largest towns are listed below with their counts and a link to the register until each has a usable A–Z split.

Does being on the list mean they are hiring?

No. The register records permission, not vacancies. Many licensed employers have no open roles, and some have never sponsored anyone. Treat it as a shortlist of doors that are not locked.

How these pages are built

Rebuilt from the Home Office register of licensed sponsors (workers), edition of 2026-08-01. An entry means the Home Office records that organisation as holding a sponsor licence — not that it will sponsor a particular role, and not that it is hiring. Nothing here is immigration advice. Tell us if something is wrong and we will fix it.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Open Government Licence v3.0. Horabbit is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the Home Office or any organisation listed.