Top visa sponsors in wholesale & retail trade, 2021
NEXT RETAIL LIMITED ranks first for 2021, with 119 Skilled Worker certificates of sponsorship. That year, 1,115 sponsors in wholesale & retail trade on today's register had at least one, with 2,356 certificates in total. The 100 sponsors listed below had 56% of those certificates.
See the top UK visa sponsors for every sector and city.
Method and attribution
Each figure is the number of certificates of sponsorship a sponsor had in one year for one visa route. The Home Office released them under the Freedom of Information Act, and they are the same figures each sponsor's profile shows.
The 2021 to 2024 figures count certificates assigned. Most 2025 figures count certificates used in a visa application, which is a smaller number: in 2021 to 2024, the number assigned was 6 to 12% higher than the number used. So part of any fall from 2024 to 2025 can come from counting used certificates instead of assigned ones.
Skilled Worker is the main work visa. Transfers (ICT) bring staff to the UK from a part of the same company abroad. Temporary (Tier 5) covers routes such as seasonal, creative and charity work. Separate figures for it start in 2025.
The Home Office hides small numbers. In the table, “<5” means between 1 and 4, and a figure with a plus, such as “12+”, is a minimum, so those sponsors' ranks are approximate.
A town ranking uses the town in each sponsor's address on the register, which can differ from where its staff work. A sponsor registered in more than one sector appears in the ranking for each of them.
Each entry on the register of licensed sponsors is ranked on its own. Recruitment agencies and sponsors no longer on the register are left out. A high rank means an employer sponsored more people than most. Whether it can sponsor you depends on the job.
Frequently asked questions
Which wholesale & retail trade employers sponsor the most visas?
In 2021, NEXT RETAIL LIMITED had the most Skilled Worker certificates of sponsorship: 119. Next came UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS SHOP LIMITED (111) and PHILIP MORRIS LIMITED (54). These are Home Office figures for each sponsor on the register.
How many employers in wholesale & retail trade had a Skilled Worker certificate of sponsorship in 2021?
1,115 sponsors on today's register had at least one. Many more hold a licence. A licence lets an employer sponsor, but it does not show that the employer has ever done so.
