Can a sponsored worker be employed by another company in the same group?

A sponsor licence is held by the organisation identified on the licence, together with branches or related entities included within its licensed structure. Separate companies in a group do not acquire sponsorship authority automatically through common ownership.

Part 2 of the sponsor guidance permits a sponsored worker to work for a branch, subsidiary, parent or sister company registered as a branch on the licence. That wording creates a controlled exception. It does not provide a general permission for any group company to employ, manage or pay the worker.

The first audit should therefore map the legal entities rather than the trading names. Companies House numbers, contracts, PAYE references, invoices and the sponsor licence structure should identify which entity is sponsor, employer and operational recipient of the work.

Where the receiving entity is already registered as a branch, the worker can ordinarily move within the licensed organisation without a new Certificate of Sponsorship or change of employment application, provided the other conditions remain satisfied. The sponsor must report a move to a different registered branch from the one recorded on the Certificate of Sponsorship within 10 working days.

Where the related entity is not yet registered, the guidance permits work to begin before approval only if the common ownership or control test is met, the sponsor has and will retain full responsibility for the worker's duties, functions and outcomes, the location change is reported within 10 working days and the branch request is made within 20 working days.

That sequence is not safe where the newly acquired or related company will assume day to day responsibility and the existing sponsor does not currently control the work. In that situation, the guidance requires approval of the branch request before the worker starts working for it.

Appendix D, updated on 3 August 2026, addresses the position expressly. If a sponsored worker is employed by a related organisation where the sponsor guidance permits this, the employing organisation is responsible for conducting the prescribed right to work check to establish its statutory excuse against a civil penalty.

The sponsor has a separate compliance duty. It must obtain and retain a copy of the check undertaken by the employing organisation or carry out its own check. The group should not assume that a document stored centrally necessarily proves both exercises were completed by or for the correct legal entity.

The check must confirm not only that the person has permission to work, but that the permission allows the work in question. Time limited permission also requires a controlled follow up process. The employment record should identify the legal employer and the date on which its check was completed.

A group transfer can alter the employer of record, payroll entity, work address, line manager and cost centre at different times. Sponsor compliance risk arises when those changes are treated as separate administrative tasks and no one tests their cumulative immigration effect.

The employment contract and payroll records should identify who owes and pays the salary. The Certificate of Sponsorship and sponsor reports should remain accurate as to the employer, work location, role and salary. Any intercompany recharge should be documented without obscuring which company actually employs and controls the worker.

The group should retain the corporate documents establishing common ownership or control, the approved branch record, the decision authorising the move, right to work evidence, reporting confirmations and documents showing continuing sponsor oversight.

Part 2 identifies a branch move satisfying the relevant conditions as an exception to the ordinary change of employment requirement. If those conditions are not met, the fact that the new employer is related does not prevent the move from being a different employment or sponsorship arrangement.

A new Certificate of Sponsorship and change of employment application may then be required. The worker must not start the new job merely because an application is planned or the entities have common directors. The application normally needs to be granted before the new employment begins.

A role change within the group also requires separate analysis. Even where the branch position is valid, a different occupation code, salary, duties or sponsored route may trigger its own reporting or application requirement.

A subsidiary joining or leaving a group can alter common ownership, control and the sponsor licence structure. The worker may sit at the same desk and perform the same duties while the legal basis on which the sponsor supervises or employs them has changed.

The branch provisions do not displace the separate sponsor rules governing mergers, demergers, takeovers and TUPE transfers. Transaction advice must determine whether the licence can continue, whether entities need their own licences, whether sponsored workers transfer and which reporting deadlines apply.

Immigration due diligence should therefore examine the licensed structure and sponsored worker population before completion. A post completion request to add a company cannot always repair an arrangement that changed sponsor, employer or control at completion.

The decision record should identify the licence holder, legal employer, payroll entity, operational controller and work location. In a straightforward structure several answers may be the same company. In a shared services or acquisition structure they may not be.

The group should then test registered branch status, common ownership or control, sponsor responsibility, role continuity, right to work checks, reporting and timing. A gap in any one category can change whether the move can begin immediately, must wait for branch approval or requires a new immigration application.

This method produces a record capable of being explained during a compliance visit. It also prevents the immigration analysis from being reduced to the legally incomplete statement that both companies are in the same group.