Home Office SMS Outage Ahead of Major Skilled Worker Visa Changes on 22 July 2025

The Home Office has announced a planned outage of the Sponsor Management System (SMS) from 18:00 on Monday 21 July until 09:00 on Tuesday 22 July 2025.

The timing is particularly significant for UK sponsor licence holders, as major changes to the Skilled Worker visa route are due to take effect on 22 July.

Employers planning to sponsor overseas workers should ensure that any time-sensitive sponsorship activity is completed before the system becomes unavailable.

When will the Sponsor Management System be unavailable?

The Home Office has confirmed that the Sponsor Management System (SMS) will be offline for an essential IT upgrade during the following period:

Monday 21 July 2025, 18:00 – Tuesday 22 July 2025, 09:00 (UK time).

During the outage, sponsors will be unable to undertake activities including:

• Assigning Defined or Undefined Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS).
• Applying for Defined CoS.
• Requesting increases to Undefined CoS allocations.
• Submitting sponsor licence changes and other SMS requests.
• Making other applications through the affected sponsor systems.

Why is the timing important?

The outage immediately precedes substantial changes to the Skilled Worker immigration rules, which take effect on 22 July 2025.

These include:

• Higher skill requirements: Most new Skilled Worker sponsorship will be restricted to occupations at RQF Level 6 or above, subject to specified exceptions and transitional arrangements.
• Increased salary requirements: Higher general salary thresholds and updated occupation-specific going rates will apply to relevant applications.
• Changes to eligible occupations: Some roles previously eligible for sponsorship will no longer qualify for new applicants, while others will be subject to additional restrictions.

For employers recruiting into affected occupations, the timing of assigning a CoS could have significant implications.

In some circumstances, assigning a CoS before the new rules take effect may preserve access to transitional provisions. However, the applicable requirements depend on the precise immigration rule changes and the worker's circumstances.

Assigning a CoS before the deadline does not automatically guarantee eligibility under the previous rules.

What should sponsors do?

Employers with pending sponsorship activity should:

• Review upcoming recruitment and identify workers potentially affected by the changes.
• Check the applicable occupation code, salary requirements and transitional provisions.
• Complete any necessary CoS activity before the SMS outage begins.
• Allow sufficient time for internal approvals and possible delays caused by increased system demand.

A CoS can generally be assigned up to three months before the proposed employment start date, although the relevant sponsorship and visa application requirements must still be satisfied.

How Immtell can help

Immtell supports employers with Home Office sponsor licence management, CoS applications and assigning, Undefined CoS allocation increases and Skilled Worker visa applications.

We also advise on the implications of changes to the Immigration Rules and ongoing sponsor compliance obligations.

Contact Immtell if your business needs assistance with Skilled Worker sponsorship or sponsor licence compliance.

Originally published in July 2025. This article relates to a scheduled Home Office system outage and immigration rule changes that took effect on 22 July 2025. It is retained for historical reference and does not describe a forthcoming outage.

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