Demystifying Sponsorship for Early Stage Companies
Demystifying Sponsorship for Early Stage Companies is a practical, founder friendly guide for JumpStart companies hiring international talent in the UK. It breaks down what sponsorship actually is, who needs it, the end to end process, and the real costs - plus the safe practices that keep you compliant as you scale.
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What’s included inside
- Who this guide helps: founders, people leads, and talent teams considering UK visa sponsorship
- A plain~English explanation of UK sponsorship: what it is, how it works, and when it’s required
- Eligibility basics: the typical situations where a candidate will need sponsorship (and what that means for your hiring plans)
The full sponsorship process, stepbystep:
- Check role eligibility
- Apply for a Sponsor Licence
- Assign a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS)
- Candidate visa application
- Ongoing compliance and reporting
Sponsorship costs explained clearly:
- Sponsor Licence fee (small vs medium/large)
- CoS fee per hire
- Immigration Skills Charge (when it applies and how it’s calculated)
- candidate fees (visa application + Immigration Health Surcharge) and what you can optionally support
Why it’s worth it for early~stage companies: expanding your talent pool, speeding up hiring, reducing compliance risk, and improving retention
How Borderless supports JumpStart companies: from sponsor licence applications to CoS checks and ongoing compliance support
A short case study showing how an early~stage team scaled global hiring after a $20M raise
Why Borderless
Trusted expert
A dedicated team of in house immigration experts always on hand.
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Reduce risk
Proactive, real time, end to end compliance to keep your business continuously protected.
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Save time
Streamline and automate repetitive, error prone and time consuming tasks.
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Lower costs
Reduce costs and efforts using an immigration platform.
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Read Case Study
Having Borderless handle the compliance side gave us peace of mind. The transparency of the platform and expert advice from their team made a huge difference
Health & Care
Using Borderless has helped WessexCare streamline our sponsorship process while bringing down our legal costs. The platform provides a quick &easy way to sponsor migrant workers and gives me peace of mind that we're compliant with immigration law.
Health & care
Borderless has transformed how we manage sponsorship and compliance. Instead of juggling spreadsheets and manual reminders, we now have complete visibility across our sponsored workers.
Technology
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Running a restaurant means we can’t afford delays in hiring. Borderless has simplified sponsorship so we no longer worry about missed deadlines or paperwork errors. The system keeps us compliant with Home Office rules and frees up time to focus on our staff and customers.
Restaurants
Read Case Study
Borderless has enabled us to focus on our core business and hire high-quality team members through a streamlined sponsorship process. The user-friendly platform allows us to track everything effortlessly, eliminating paperwork.
Health & Care
The obvious benefits are time savings and better management of finances. Before, if someone resigned we had to use agency to fill the gap because candidates wouldn’t arrive for months.
Health & Care
The whole process is hassle free and very light from my perspective. I love the transparency & control I now have
Health & Care
With Borderless, we streamlined our recruitment and immigration processes, saving time and money while eliminating the need for third party lawyers.
Healthcare
