What a UKVI compliance visit actually checks

A Home Office compliance officer can visit a sponsor licence holder announced or unannounced. The visit is not an interrogation about immigration law — it is a check that your records match what you told UKVI when you applied, and that you have kept reporting as your business changed.

The records they ask for

• Right to work checks for every sponsored worker, dated before their first day.
• Up-to-date contact details and address for each worker, and evidence you asked for them.
• Absence records, including unauthorised absence of ten or more working days.
• The job description and salary that match the Certificate of Sponsorship you assigned.
• Recruitment records showing how the role was advertised and who else applied.

The reporting deadlines people miss

Most changes must be reported on the Sponsorship Management System within 10 working days — a worker starting late, leaving, moving site, or a change to their pay. Changes to your own business, such as a new address or a change of Authorising Officer, have their own windows. Missing one is the single most common reason a licence is downgraded.

If you have had a letter about a visit, do not wait for the visit to fix the file. Getting the records in order first is what changes the outcome.

What a mock audit does

A mock audit walks the same path the officer will: pulls a sample of files, checks each one against the sponsor guidance, and gives you a written list of what is missing and in what order to fix it. It is the cheapest part of the whole process and the part most sponsors skip.