Employing International Talent: How We Obtained a Sponsor Licence

When we decided to hire David Miguel as our marketing executive in 2022, we knew it wasn't going to be straightforward. David is Portuguese, based in the UK on a Skilled Worker visa, and employing him meant Civcon had to apply for a sponsor licence — something we'd never done before.

We didn't fully appreciate what that process involved until we were in the middle of it.

The application itself is involved. There are eligibility criteria to meet, documents to compile, and a compliance framework you have to commit to maintaining long after approval. We paid for legal advice, which added to the cost, but given the complexity of UK immigration requirements at the time, it was money well spent. The waiting period was probably the hardest part — weeks pass and you're not sure whether your application is going to be approved or sent back with queries.

It took several months from start to finish. But we got there.

Why it was worth it

David joined us with experience across marketing, web design, and SEO. In the time he's been with us, he's redesigned our website, taken over our social media presence across LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram, and improved how we appear in search results. That work has had a tangible effect on how the business is perceived externally — particularly when we're bidding for contracts where clients will look us up before getting in touch.

Beyond the practical output, there's something straightforward about what employing David represents. We're a Yorkshire civil engineering company. Our workforce doesn't have to look like it was drawn from a ten-mile radius. Bringing in someone from a different background, with different experience and a different perspective, has made us better at what we do.

What we'd say to other businesses considering this

The sponsor licence process has a reputation for being complicated, and that reputation is earned. The administrative burden is real, and the costs aren't trivial. But the framework exists to help businesses access talent they wouldn't otherwise be able to hire — and if the person is the right fit, the process is worth navigating.

We'd do it again.