The Home Office glossary for Workers and Temporary Workers sponsors was updated on 20 May 2026 to add a definition of 'operating or trading', which applies to licence holders and applicants on the Worker and Temporary Worker routes.
Key facts
- Who: Employers and other organisations that hold, or are applying for, a sponsor licence on the Worker or Temporary Worker routes
- From: 20 May 2026
- Source: Workers and Temporary Workers: guidance for sponsors: glossary
Replaces version 03/26 of the glossary, published on 6 March 2026.
UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) has published version 05/26 of the glossary to the guidance for sponsors. The version is valid from 20 May 2026. The change note says the guidance "has been updated to introduce a new definition of 'operating or trading'".
The glossary states that operating or trading is not defined in law. Unless another part of the guidance says otherwise, the phrase has a plain meaning.
"Trading" broadly refers to operations of a commercial kind, by which the trader provides customers with goods or services for reward.
"Operating" includes the activities of two groups:
- charities and other not-for-profit organisations, where they are providing a service to clients, customers or service users
- businesses engaged in pre-trade activities with a view to commencing commercial trading in the foreseeable future
The entry refers readers to section L8 of Part 1: Apply for a licence for further information, including examples of when UKVI is unlikely to consider an organisation to be operating or trading. It also points to the definition of "actively trading" for the UK Expansion Worker route, at paragraphs GBM3.7 to GBM3.8 of Sponsor a Global Business Mobility worker.
The glossary uses the phrase elsewhere. Its entry for "digital compliance check" describes a compliance check carried out by verifying an organisation's operating or trading presence digitally and conducting interviews by remote video conference. Those interviews can be with anyone covered by the glossary's definition of "you", or with any of the organisation's sponsored workers.
Unless the contrary intention appears, the definitions in the glossary apply wherever the terms are used in any part of the sponsor guidance.
What this means for applicants
Sponsors and applicants for a sponsor licence can read their organisation's activities against the definition in the glossary, and against section L8 of Part 1, which gives examples of when UKVI is unlikely to consider an organisation to be operating or trading. The glossary says "operating" includes charities and other not-for-profit organisations that provide a service to clients, customers or service users, and businesses engaged in pre-trade activities with a view to commencing commercial trading in the foreseeable future. The source does not state what happens to an organisation that does not meet the definition; section L8 is the place to check.
Related guide
Sponsorship requirements: Skilled Worker
Sources
- Workers and Temporary Workers: guidance for sponsors: glossary, UK Visas and Immigration, version 05/26, 20 May 2026