How to Onboard a Sponsored Worker from Day 1

The Certificate of Sponsorship is just the beginning. What happens next matters just as much.

Assigning a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) gets your new worker through the visa process. But once they arrive and start work, the real compliance obligations begin — and this is where many sponsors make costly mistakes.

From completing the right to work check before day one, to setting up their Appendix D record, understanding employment rights obligations, and reporting changes to the SMS, every step of onboarding carries legal weight.

This webinar walks you through the entire sponsored worker onboarding process — from CoS assignment to a fully compliant first week — so you can get it right every time.

Key learnings include:

• How to correctly assign a Defined vs Undefined CoS — and the critical differences between the two
• What must happen before day one: right to work checks, share code verification, and Appendix D document collection
• New obligations from early 2026: informing workers of their employment rights (March) and structuring contracts under the new pay period salary rule (April)
• How to build an Appendix D-compliant HR file from scratch — what to include, how long to keep it, and how to stay audit-ready
• Reporting obligations and what to do when onboarding doesn't go to plan: delayed starts, changed dates, or no-shows

Who should attend: Designed for HR teams, people managers, operations leads, and anyone involved in the onboarding process for international hires under a Skilled Worker sponsor licence.