Yes. Once you have actually been granted indefinite leave to remain (ILR), you can change employer in the UK without obtaining a new Skilled Worker visa or Certificate of Sponsorship. Your new employer still needs to check your right to work before you start. Confirm the grant, make sure your digital status can be checked, and then agree the move around your notice period and other employment terms. An ILR application that is still pending does not give you these new freedoms.
Confirm that settlement has been granted
Start with the Home Office decision, rather than the date you expected a decision or the expiry date on an old card. Read what permission was granted and check your current eVisa. A submission receipt, biometric appointment or message saying the application is being considered is not an ILR grant.
If there is no grant yet, use our guide to working while an ILR application is pending before accepting a different job. It explains how section 3C can preserve existing work conditions and why a new employer must check whether those conditions allow the proposed role. That is a separate situation from changing jobs after settlement.
If the decision grants ILR but the online result still shows your former sponsored permission, preserve both records and get the discrepancy resolved through UKVI. Do not ask the recruiter to assume that the old result describes your new status, or that your own screenshot completes its check.
ILR Calculator UK provides independent general information, not individual immigration or employment advice. A disputed grant, a Home Office cancellation notice or concerns about information supplied with an application need case-specific advice.
What changes for your next job
The Home Office's guide to ILR rights and status says settled people may work in any UK business, profession or employment, including self-employment. Laws and professional regulations still apply.
For someone moving from Skilled Worker permission to ILR, this changes the hiring conversation. The new company does not need to sponsor you, and the proposed job does not need to qualify for a Skilled Worker visa on your behalf. You can consider a different occupation or self-employment without treating it as a sponsored change-of-employment application. Licensing, registration and ordinary employment requirements remain separate checks.
The practical distinction is between the grant of settlement and the documents used to demonstrate it. A share code does not create the right to change employer; it lets the employer verify your recorded rights. Likewise, the end of a share code's validity is not the end of ILR.
Avoid using a fixed waiting period found in a forum as your decision rule. The official guidance allows employers to employ people who have been granted settlement without sponsorship. Confirm that this is your actual position, then deal with the employer's checks and your contractual arrangements.
Give the new employer a usable right-to-work check
Tell the recruiter that you hold ILR and do not need Skilled Worker sponsorship for the UK job. If an application form asks about present and future sponsorship, read its wording carefully and answer for the role and status you actually hold. Do not choose a nationality you do not have merely because the form handles settled workers badly; ask recruitment to correct the record.
For an eVisa holder, the usual next step is to get a right-to-work share code. Use the work purpose when generating it and provide the code and your date of birth through the employer's agreed channel. You do not need to give the recruiter your UKVI password.
The Home Office employer checking guide sets out the process:
- The employer uses its side of the online service with your code and date of birth.
- It checks that the result permits the work offered and that the photograph matches you, in person or by video call.
- It retains evidence of the completed check. Looking only at the page you can see in your own account is insufficient.
A work share code starts with W and is valid for 90 calendar days. Codes for other purposes cannot be substituted. If the code expires before the check, generate a fresh work code; you are refreshing access to the record, not renewing settlement.
Once an employer's check confirms indefinite leave, the guide says a routine follow-up immigration check is not required. A new employer must still conduct its own initial check. Do not assume a previous company's confirmation transfers with your CV.
Tell the former sponsor what has changed
You can remain with the same employer after ILR. Settlement does not require you to resign. If you do move, give the relevant HR or sponsorship contact accurate evidence that settlement has been granted so that its records reflect the change.
Paragraph S9.24 of the Home Office sponsor guidance expressly allows employers to employ settled workers without sponsoring them. Where the employer previously sponsored the worker, it must use its Sponsor Management System account to notify the Home Office of the settlement grant and that sponsorship has ended.
That report is the employer's administrative duty. It is not an application for your next employer to take over the old sponsorship. Ask HR to distinguish its sponsor-record update from the date your employment actually ends, especially if you are staying with the business in a different role.
If a planned job change or notice of termination arose while your settlement application was still pending, explain the chronology to a regulated adviser. Evidence about continuing employment supplied for the application must have been accurate; permission to change jobs after a genuine grant does not answer a separate question about earlier representations.
Clear these practical issues before fixing a start date
Keep a short transition record rather than sending every immigration document to both employers. It should identify the settlement decision, the work check the new employer needs, any unresolved status-display problem, your proposed last day and the agreed new start date.
Review your employment contract and any separate repayment agreement. Notice, confidentiality, restrictions on competing work and a demand to repay costs are employment questions that an ILR grant does not itself settle. If a clause is disputed, obtain employment advice rather than assuming that either the employer's demand or the grant of settlement decides whether it is enforceable.
If the new employer cannot obtain a usable online result, ask what failed: an expired code, the wrong code purpose, an identity mismatch or a service problem. Record the message and contact UKVI for help with the digital record. The employer guide also explains when the Employer Checking Service can verify a person's right to work if the normal check is unavailable. An expired physical BRP is not acceptable proof for a manual right-to-work check.
Before agreeing a start date, open the official share-code service, check the information it shows, and ask recruitment to confirm that its prescribed check is complete. Keep an unresolved immigration-record issue separate from an ordinary onboarding request such as payroll details or references.
When a job move becomes a wider status question
A move between UK employers is usually a straightforward use of settlement rights. A proposed overseas posting raises a different question: how time abroad could affect the continued validity of ILR. Do not assume that keeping a UK employer, payroll or address settles that issue. Check the absence rules for the particular settlement status before arranging a lengthy move.
Digital verification may also change how recruitment teams handle evidence. The durable distinction is between the permission you hold and the method used to prove it. When a future check produces a different result, establish whether the underlying status changed or the record needs correcting. That choice determines whether the next step belongs with HR, UKVI support or an immigration adviser.
Frequently asked questions
Can I change employer as soon as ILR is granted?
Once ILR has actually been granted, the sponsorship restriction no longer governs your next UK job. The official guidance allows settled workers to be employed without sponsorship; it does not prescribe a post-grant waiting period for changing employer. You still need to meet your employment obligations and let the new employer complete its right-to-work check. If the grant or the digital record is disputed, resolve that issue before relying on an assumed change of status.
Does my new employer need a sponsor licence or a new CoS for me?
It does not need to sponsor you or issue a Certificate of Sponsorship for the UK job if you already hold ILR. Recruitment should process you on the basis of your settlement and complete the prescribed right-to-work check. Explain the status clearly if its form assumes every non-British applicant needs sponsorship. Professional registration, qualifications and other requirements of the particular role still apply independently of immigration sponsorship.
Can I change occupation or become self-employed after ILR?
ILR allows work in any UK business, profession or employment, including self-employment. You do not need to fit the new work into your previous sponsored occupation merely because that was your route to settlement. You must still comply with the laws and professional rules governing the activity. Before starting, separate permission to work from questions such as registration, contractual restrictions and the obligations of running a business.
Will my former employer end my ILR by reporting that sponsorship stopped?
The sponsor guidance requires the former sponsor to report that you have been granted settlement and are no longer being sponsored. That is a record update reflecting your new status, rather than a transfer or cancellation of ILR. Give HR accurate grant information so it reports the right change. If there is a separate Home Office notice, disputed evidence or concern about statements made during the application, seek advice on those facts.
What if my share code still shows my old Skilled Worker conditions?
Keep the ILR decision and the incorrect online result, then seek UKVI help to correct or verify the record. Give the new employer a work-specific code and explain the discrepancy, but do not treat your own screenshot as its completed check. HR should follow the official employer guidance, including the Employer Checking Service where appropriate. A digital inconsistency needs investigation; it does not justify guessing which conditions the employer should accept.
Can I leave my sponsored job while my ILR application is still pending?
Do not apply the post-grant answer to a pending application. Until settlement is granted, your existing permission and any conditions continued by section 3C remain relevant. A Skilled Worker may still face sponsor and role restrictions, and a job change can affect evidence supporting the settlement application. Check your actual conditions, tell an adviser about the proposed timing and make sure any prospective employer verifies the work before you begin.
