My name is Diddi. I’m a digital creator, a finance professional, and founder of two companies here in Canada, Resi Network and Creatify. Resi Network is an AI career portal that covers your career solutions in one place. It handles your resume, your cover letter, LinkedIn optimization, and points you toward government job portals with global opportunities. It also has a networking portal connecting you with recruiters who hire globally.
I’m not someone who tells people to move to the UK just because it’s popular, but it’s still a country a lot of people want to migrate to, partly because of shared history with Commonwealth countries and a shared language. This article is for people who are looking for that opportunity anyway, despite how tough the current climate can be.
UK Work Visas: The Basics
The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) in the UK has proposed some new rules, but nothing has changed from a visa perspective yet since none of it is law.
There are roughly 22 work visas in the UK, split into two broad categories: those that require a certificate of sponsorship, like the Scale-up Visa or Skilled Worker Visa, and those that don’t, like the High Potential Individual visa, the Graduate Route, Youth Mobility, and the Global Talent visa. This article isn’t about which category to apply under. It’s about which companies are actually issuing certificates of sponsorship right now.
Companies Worth Applying To
The first three options below are good for people without a lot of experience, since these are newer fields where roles simply didn’t exist a couple of years ago.
GovAI (Centre for the Governance of AI)
AI regulation and governance has become a fast-growing field. Even though AI itself has existed for decades, the pace of development over the last two to three years has pushed governance and oversight into the spotlight, which means many of these roles are brand new and don’t require years of experience.
GovAI states clearly on its opportunities page that it is able to sponsor UK visas. Current openings include a Head of Community and Partnerships role for candidates with more experience, and a Community Manager role for promising applicants who aren’t ready for the full scope of the senior position.
There’s also a summer fellowship research track, a three-month program based in London with a reported stipend of £12,000, which includes sponsorship for three-month temporary work visas. It’s open to candidates from a broad range of backgrounds, academia, industry, government, or civil society, with no strict requirements beyond an interest in helping decision-makers navigate the transition to an AI-driven world.
A research assistant EOI role is also open, suited to anyone comfortable with research, editing, and strong written English, available full-time or part-time. A newer summer fellowship applied track has also opened up, similar in structure to the research track and also aimed at candidates from varied professional backgrounds.
ERA
ERA is described as the world’s largest, longest-running AI safety and governance talent program. Its recent fellowship has closed, but the organization has no formal eligibility restrictions beyond being 18 or older, meaning it’s open to candidates from any background or profession. ERA sponsors visas and doesn’t require a right to work in the UK to apply. You can submit interest through its general expression of interest form on its careers page.
AI Security Institute
The AI Security Institute (AISI) offers a variety of roles. Technical roles are open to almost all nationalities with visa sponsorship, while non-technical roles require Commonwealth citizenship. If you hold Commonwealth citizenship, you can apply to either category; if not, technical roles are your path in. There are currently around seven open roles, including one non-technical program manager position and several technical roles, listed on their careers page.
Options Beyond AI Organizations
Skills Provision
Skills Provision is a UK-based recruiter listed on the DWP’s visa sponsorship job board. As a company, I’ve engaged with them on the employer side and the experience was straightforward. On their job board you can search United Kingdom listings and check each role for visa sponsorship availability, covering positions like CNC operator, commissioning manager, power line technician, MEP planner, dentist, and various engineering roles.
NHS
The NHS remains one of the most common sponsors of foreign nationals in the UK, though hiring volume is well below where it was two to three years ago. If you work in healthcare in any capacity, it’s still worth checking the NHS career portal, exploring roles by category (allied health, dental, digital and data, estates and facilities, medical associate professionals, and so on), and searching within a set radius like 50 miles of London.
DWP Website and Register of Sponsors
The DWP website (on gov.uk) lets you search “visa sponsorship” directly and browse listings, including Skills Provision and NHS roles such as call handler or dispatcher positions.
The UK also maintains a public register of licensed sponsors, employers legally permitted to sponsor foreign workers. Keep in mind that holding a sponsor license doesn’t guarantee active sponsorship; budgets, hiring needs, and government scrutiny all affect whether a given employer is actually sponsoring right now. Based on recent hiring patterns, Google and Amazon stood out as the most active sponsors, followed by companies like Deloitte, PwC, JP Morgan, and Goldman Sachs.
Current Market Snapshot
Looking at Glassdoor listings, the majority of open roles with visa sponsorship in the UK right now are AI-related, and many of them don’t require prior experience since the field itself is so new.
UK sponsorship is generally tougher to secure than in other EU countries, with higher salary thresholds and more scrutiny from the Home Office. It’s often worth looking beyond major cities like London toward places like Manchester or Bristol, which have growing startup ecosystems, lower costs of living, and more openness to hiring foreign workers to fill talent gaps.
If any of these roles or companies fit what you’re looking for, it’s worth applying directly. For broader career support, Resi Network covers resume building, cover letters, LinkedIn optimization, and recruiter networking for global roles.
