Immigration Skills Charge (ISC) is the mandatory fee sponsor employers are required to pay when hiring an employee from outside the UK on certain work visa categories. The Immigration Skills Charge (ISC) requirement came into force on 6 April 2017.
The new Regulations and Immigration Skills Charge increase due to come into force on 16th December 2025 are made under section 70A of the Immigration Act 2014 (c. 22) and amend the Immigration Skills Charge Regulations 2017 (S.I. 2017/499) (“the 2017 Regulations”).
Regulation 2(3) of the new Regulations increases the amounts of charges payable by sponsors by 32%. So, small sponsor or charitable organization £480 per year of Certificate of Sponsorship COS and other sponsors £1,320 per year of Certificate of Sponsorship COS.
What is the Immigration Skills Charge (ISC) and when it is paid
The Immigration Skills Charge (ISC) has to be paid by a licensed sponsor/employer through their sponsor management system (SMS) account when they assign a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS).
The ISC amount due is dependent on the sponsor organisation size, charitable status and length of sponsorship (in 6 month increments). A minimum of 12 months is payable, this amount is non-refundable unless paid in error or the sponsored worker fails to take up post. The charge applies only to the main applicant in the Skilled Worker and GBM routes. It is not payable for their family members (dependants).
It is important to note that the charge cannot be passed by sponsor employer to the sponsored worker. If this happen and the Home Office finds out the sponsor licence may be revoked. The licence revocation will have significant negative implications for the sponsor organization.
Exemptions to Immigration Skills Charge – any changes there
The 2017 Regulations provide that a sponsor, subject to certain exemptions, must pay a charge each time it assigns a Certificate of Sponsorship COS to a skilled worker. Regulation 2(2) of these Regulations updates the exemptions to the requirement to pay the charge in order to align with the latest standard occupational classification codes, which are used by the Office for National Statistics to provide common classification of occupational information in the United Kingdom.
In regulation 4 (exemptions from the charge), for paragraph (a) substitute—
“(a)in respect of an occupation coming within any of the following codes in version 12 of the Standard Occupational Classification 2020 Index(4)—
(i)2111 (chemical scientists);
(ii)2112 (biological scientists);
(iii)2113 (biochemists and biomedical scientists);
(iv)2114 (physical scientists);
(v)2115 (social and humanities scientists);
(vi)2119 (natural and social science professionals not elsewhere classified);
(vii)2161 (research and development managers);
(viii)2162 (other researchers, unspecified discipline);
(ix)2311 (higher education teaching professionals);
(x)2463 (clergy);
(xi)3431 (sports players);
(xii)3432 (sports coaches, instructors and officials);”