Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of organisations on the register of licensed sponsors have sponsored visas a) in the last 10 years and b) since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on Visa Sponsors that are B rated in the ‘Register of licensed sponsors: workers - GOV.UK’.
Please note - published data shows the number of licensed sponsors over time but does not include the number of visas associated with each organisation.
The Home Office publishes data on the number of visas sponsored by organisations over the past 10 years, as well as data since 4 July 2024, in the ‘Migration transparency data - GOV.UK’.
Data on the number of visas sponsored by licensed organisations is published in table SP_01 of the ‘Sponsorship transparency data: July to September 2025’.
Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data is from 2014 Q1 up to the end of 2025 Q3.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many visa-sponsoring organisations are B-rated; and how many visas those organisations sponsored as of October 2025.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on Visa Sponsors that are B rated in the ‘Register of licensed sponsors: workers - GOV.UK’.
Please note - published data shows the number of licensed sponsors over time but does not include the number of visas associated with each organisation.
The Home Office publishes data on the number of visas sponsored by organisations over the past 10 years, as well as data since 4 July 2024, in the ‘Migration transparency data - GOV.UK’.
Data on the number of visas sponsored by licensed organisations is published in table SP_01 of the ‘Sponsorship transparency data: July to September 2025’.
Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data is from 2014 Q1 up to the end of 2025 Q3.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the press release entitled Record numbers of visa sponsor licences revoked for rule breaking, published on 11 September 2025, how many of those license revocations resulted in visa holders leaving the UK.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office does not publish data linking visa holder returns to licence revocations. However, general returns data is available and has been referenced instead.
The Home Office publishes returns data from the UK in the ‘Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK’.
Returns data from the UK can be found in table RET_D01 of the ‘Returns detailed datasets, year ending September 2025’.
Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data is from 2024 Q1 to 2025 Q3.
The Home Office publishes data on Visa Sponsors that are subject to suspension and revocation action in the ‘Migration transparency data - GOV.UK’.
Data on suspension and revocations for Visa Sponsors are published in table SC_01 of the ‘Sponsorship transparency data: July to September 2025’
Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data is from 2012 Q1 up to 2025 Q3.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many visa sponsors have been a) suspended, b) revoked and c) issued with a warning since 4 July 2024 by i) visa route and ii) month.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office does not publish data linking visa holder returns to licence revocations. However, general returns data is available and has been referenced instead.
The Home Office publishes returns data from the UK in the ‘Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK’.
Returns data from the UK can be found in table RET_D01 of the ‘Returns detailed datasets, year ending September 2025’.
Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data is from 2024 Q1 to 2025 Q3.
The Home Office publishes data on Visa Sponsors that are subject to suspension and revocation action in the ‘Migration transparency data - GOV.UK’.
Data on suspension and revocations for Visa Sponsors are published in table SC_01 of the ‘Sponsorship transparency data: July to September 2025’
Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data is from 2012 Q1 up to 2025 Q3.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many civil penalties have been issued to employers sponsoring workers under work‑related visa routes since 4 July 2024 by a) visa route and b) sector.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Information on illegal working civil penalty statistics has been published since 2016 as part of the Home Office Immigration Transparency Data. This can be found at immigration-enforcement-data-jul-sep-2025 on tab CP02.
To identify specific employers sponsoring workers under work‑related visa routes would require collating and verifying individual data from different records, which could only be achieved at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the average number of dependent visas sponsored by Minister of Religion visa holders.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on dependants sponsored by holders of Minister of Religion visas in the ‘Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK’.
Data on dependants sponsored by holders of Minister of Religion visas is published in table Data_Vis_D02 of the ‘Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes detailed datasets, year ending September 2025’.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cases of (a) suspected and (b) confirmed exploitation involving holders of work‑related visas have been recorded since 4 July 2024 by (i) visa route and (ii) month.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on Visa Sponsors that are B rated in the ‘Register of licensed sponsors: workers - GOV.UK’.
Please note - published data shows the number of licensed sponsors over time but does not include the number of visas associated with each organisation.
The Home Office publishes data on the number of visas sponsored by organisations over the past 10 years, as well as data since 4 July 2024, in the ‘Migration transparency data - GOV.UK’.
Data on the number of visas sponsored by licensed organisations is published in table SP_01 of the ‘Sponsorship transparency data: July to September 2025’.
Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data is from 2014 Q1 up to the end of 2025 Q3.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department monitors divorce filings to check visa compliance for family visa holders.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Family migration must be based on a genuine and subsisting relationships. The current probationary period before a spouse or partner can apply for settlement is a minimum of 5 years and requires more than one grant of permission to enter or stay to test whether a relationship is genuine and continuing to subsist.
If the marriage or partnership breaks down permanently while the migrant partner still has limited permission to stay, or once the migrant partner has obtained settlement, the sponsoring partner can write to the Home Office and provide any information relevant to the migrant partner’s continued immigration status.
The Home Office will consider this information and may cancel the former partner’s permission or revoke any settled status if it can be established this permission was obtained by deception.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many immigrants found to have been working illegally since 2020 have been making National Insurance payments.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold the data you have requested.
The Home Office takes the issue of illegal working seriously and continues to take robust enforcement action against those who breach immigration laws.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the a) number and b) proportion of dependent visa holders who are employed.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
An estimate of the number and proportion of dependant visa holders who are employed is not available, as not all the required information is held.
HMRC and Home Office have introduced a data sharing process to match visa data to administrative tax data. The Home Office published a research report on 12 May 2025 on the earnings, employment, and Income Tax liabilities of visa holders on Sponsored Work (Skilled Worker, Health and Care Worker, and Senior or Specialist Worker (Global Business Mobility)) and Family routes. This report covers the cohort of visa holders (and their dependants) whose visas were granted between April 2019 and March 2023
The publication estimated that at least 45% of adult dependants of those granted Skilled Worker entry clearance visas and 63% of those granted Skilled Worker extensions of stay had PAYE earnings in financial year 2023 to 2024. For Health and Care Worker dependants, this was 67% and 70%, and for Global Business Mobility dependants, 25% and 24%, respectively.