On the record.
Comment, background and bylined articles from Vishal Gautam, an IAA-regulated immigration adviser in Birmingham who writes about how the rules land on small employers, graduates and families.
“They rarely end in outrage. They end in arithmetic.”
From “The drawbridge effect”, EIN, 3 August 2026, on small employers pricing up sponsorship
Beats
What he’ll talk about, and what he won’t
Sponsor licences
Revocations, compliance visits and the 2026 changes to the Sponsor Management System.
Hiring and costs
Salary thresholds, the Immigration Skills Charge and what one sponsored hire really costs a small firm.
Graduates
The Graduate visa, the 18-month change and moving from study into sponsored work.
Care
Care workers left without a sponsor when their employer loses its licence, and who can hire them.
Family
The £29,000 partner income requirement and how couples meet it.
Settlement
Indefinite leave to remain, the earned settlement proposals and the route to citizenship.
Off the beat: Vishal is authorised at Level 1, so he won’t comment on individual cases, appeals or judicial review. For those, a solicitor or a higher-level adviser is the right source.
Already on the record
Lines from Vishal’s published articles. Quote them with the source.
Small sponsors are the canary. They have the least slack, so they are the first to show the effects of any rule that assumes a level of resource they don’t have.
A sponsor revoked for systematic exploitation and a sponsor revoked because its only user went on maternity leave are, as far as the published data goes, the same.
The state knows the size of every sponsor it licenses, because it bills them accordingly.
A hire that never happens leaves no record.
Most employers I meet have no idea this route exists. The ones who do tend to forget the second half of it.
None of this is complicated once somebody owns it.
Want a fresh line on a story? Ask. Vishal can comment on any of the dates below.
The news diary
Dated changes Vishal can comment on. Checked 30 October 2026; every item links to its source.
- Announced
Sponsor fees no longer a taxable benefit
An employer’s payment of the Immigration Skills Charge or a certificate of sponsorship fee will not count as a taxable benefit in kind. Applies to payments made on or after 28 October 2026; the law follows in Finance Bill 2026-27. Source: HM Treasury, Budget 2026
- Confirmed
Last day to apply for a two-year Graduate visa
Graduates who apply on or before this date get two years. Source: GOV.UK, Graduate visa
- Confirmed
Graduate visa drops to 18 months
Applications from this date get 18 months. PhD graduates still get three years. Source: GOV.UK, Graduate visa
- Confirmed
Level 2 sponsor system users end
Sponsors must upgrade or remove their Level 2 users. UKVI deactivates any still active after this date. Source: Home Office sponsor guidance, Part 1
- Confirmed
B2 English for settlement
Settlement applications on many routes made on or after this date need English at B2, up from B1. Source: Immigration Rules change HC 1691
- Announced
Skilled Worker salary rules rewritten
Occupation thresholds move from the median to the 25th percentile, new entrant discounts become one figure and the PhD discount goes. The new figures have not been published. Source: HM Treasury, Budget 2026
- Announced
Up to six months for the highest-skilled workers who lose their job
A longer period to find a new sponsor, varying with time spent in the previous job. Source: HM Treasury, Budget 2026
- Awaiting detail
Two-year Graduate visa for high-compliance universities
The Budget says some universities will keep a two-year Graduate visa but not which ones, or when. Source: HM Treasury, Budget 2026
Free to use
Charts and figures for your story. Use them with a link to this page.
Skilled Worker sponsor licences revoked, by quarter
4,403 licences were revoked in the 12 months to June 2026 (highlighted), more than in any earlier 12-month period in this data.
← Swipe for earlier years
Source: Home Office, Sponsorship transparency data, table SC_01, April to June 2026, published 27 August 2026. Chart: V Immigration (vimmigration.co.uk).
Chart: V Immigration (vimmigration.co.uk). Source: Home Office sponsorship transparency data, 27 August 2026.
Skilled Worker sponsor licences revoked in the 12 months to June 2026
Home Office sponsorship transparency data, 27 Aug 2026Minimum salary for most new Skilled Worker jobs, or the going rate if higher
GOV.UK, Skilled Worker visaGraduate visa for applications made on or after 1 January 2027 (two years until then)
GOV.UK, Graduate visa“I came to the UK on a student visa myself and later moved onto a work visa, so I have seen this from the other side of the desk.”Vishal Gautam, Busting the myths: hiring international students, GBCC, 28 Oct 2026
Vishal is a director of V Immigration Ltd, an immigration advice firm in Birmingham regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority. He advises employers on sponsoring overseas staff, and individuals on work, study and family visas.
He came to the UK on a student visa, moved to the Skilled Worker route and settled here. His writing looks at the people a rule change reaches first: small sponsors, care providers, graduates and couples.
Get it right in print
A style sheet for subs and editors
- Name
- Vishal Gautam (Mr)
- Title
- Director, V Immigration Ltd
- Regulated by
- Immigration Advice Authority (IAA), Level 1
- Based in
- Birmingham
- Please don’t call him
- a solicitor, lawyer or barrister
- Link to
- vimmigration.co.uk
Vishal Gautam is a director of V Immigration Ltd, a Birmingham immigration advice firm regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority.
Vishal Gautam is a director of V Immigration Ltd, a Birmingham-based immigration advice firm regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority (adviser no. P063473; firm no. F202638454; Level 1). He came to the UK on a student visa, moved to the Skilled Worker route and settled here. He advises employers on sponsoring overseas staff and individuals on work, study and family visas, and writes on how immigration policy affects small businesses and families.
- V Immigration Ltd, company no. 16260537 (England and Wales)
- Registered office: Lewis Building, 35 Bull Street, Birmingham B4 6AF
- IAA firm no. F202638454 · ICO no. ZB903093
- Offices in Birmingham, London and Manchester. All visits by appointment.
Bylined articles
Written by Vishal, published elsewhere
Busting the myths: hiring international students
Why a graduate already in Birmingham can often start without a sponsor licence, and what to plan for the switch.
Read it → EIN · 23 Oct 2026Small sponsors are the canary
Record revocations, falling applications and new log-in rules, and who they land on first.
Read it → GBCC · 25 Sep 2026Buying a business with sponsored workers?
Why a sponsor licence doesn’t transfer with a business, and the 20 working days a buyer has to sort it out.
Read it → EIN · 3 Aug 2026The drawbridge effect
How the cost of sponsorship locks Britain’s smaller businesses out of overseas hiring.
Read it →On deadline?
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