Sponsorship compliance and right-to-work checks

Before the offer letter

Test sponsorship eligibility, salary thresholds and right-to-work evidence by country and role before an offer is made. The check runs the role against the occupation list, the current salary threshold and the employer's licence or registration status, and returns the documents the candidate will need and the realistic decision window.

After the hire, the same record tracks the sponsor's reporting duties: start date confirmation, absences, changes of address or role, salary changes and permit expiry. Right-to-work evidence is stored with its check date so an audit can be answered from the file rather than from email.

Countries covered

• united kingdom: Skilled Worker visa, salary threshold £41,700 or the going rate, sponsor licence required (8 weeks, £611 to £1,682)
• canada: LMIA-based work permit / Global Talent Stream, salary threshold Provincial median wage or higher, lmia from esdc unless exempt (cusma, ict, gts)
• australia: Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482), salary threshold AUD 79,423 Core Skills Income Threshold (from 1 July 2026), standard business sponsorship (approx. 2 to 4 weeks)
• united states: H-1B specialty occupation, salary threshold Prevailing wage for the occupation and area, registered petitioner; h-1b lottery each march
• united arab emirates: Employment visa and work permit (MOHRE), salary threshold No statutory minimum; salary drives family sponsorship, company establishment card and mohre registration
• singapore: Employment Pass, salary threshold SGD 5,600 minimum, higher with age and in finance, compass points framework (40 points needed)

What sponsorship compliance means in practice

Sponsoring a foreign hire is two separate commitments. The first is before the offer: the role has to be on an eligible occupation list, the salary has to clear the published threshold and the employer has to hold the right standing with the authority, whether that is a UK sponsor licence, a Canadian LMIA, an Australian standard business sponsorship, a registered H-1B petitioner, a UAE establishment card or Singapore's COMPASS score. The check on this page runs a role against those rules for six countries and returns the documents the candidate will need and the realistic decision window, so HR can quote a start date that holds.

The second commitment lasts for the life of the permit. Sponsors must confirm the start date, report absences and changes of role, salary or address within set deadlines, keep right-to-work evidence on file and be ready for a compliance visit or audit. The retention periods differ: two years after employment ends in the UK, five years in Australia, six years of look-back for Canadian inspections, Form I-9 for three years after hire or one year after termination in the United States. Missing a report can cost the licence, which puts every sponsored employee at risk.

Vistolane keeps the pre-offer check and the post-hire duties on one record per employee: the eligibility test and its date, the documents checked, the permit and its expiry, each report sent and the evidence an auditor would ask for. Employers see it in their own workspace; the processing partner and the applicant see the same file.