A Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) is a virtual document assigned by a sponsor to the employee. It provides details of the role the employee is being sponsored for and matches the employer and employee with UKVI. The employee cannot submit their visa application until they have a CoS.
Under the old immigration system there were two types of CoS:
- Restricted CoS –used when making a new hire into the UK from overseas and there was an annual limit on how many restricted CoS could be granted by UKVI; and
- Unrestricted CoS –used whenever you didn’t need a restricted CoS, which was usually in the following circumstances:
- for individuals coming to the UK from overseas where their salary was at least £159,600pa;
- for individuals already in the UK extending their Tier 2 General visa (either to work for their current employer or for a new employer) or who were able to switch from their current immigration category; or
- for inward investment posts.
