Appendix D explained: the documents you must keep
Appendix D — "Keeping records for sponsorship" — is the least glamorous document in the sponsor guidance and the one most licence outcomes turn on. When a compliance officer visits, Appendix D is effectively their checklist: they name a worker, then ask for the file. What follows is the file.
Why inspectors start here
Reporting failures need a triggering event; record-keeping failures are always there to find. A sponsor who cannot produce a required document has a finding on the first request of the first hour — no bad faith needed. That is why the guidance's quiet phrase matters: records must be produced on demand [^1].
The per-worker file
For every sponsored worker, current Appendix D expects, among other items [^1]:
- Right-to-work evidence — the compliant check, with the date it was performed;
- the employment contract, signed, matching what the CoS says;
- contact details — address, phone, email — with a history of changes, not just the current entry;
- an absence record — a live register, not a promise to reconstruct one;
- salary evidence — payslips or payroll records demonstrating the sponsored rate is actually being paid;
- a job description that matches the CoS occupation and duties;
- qualifications and registrations the role required;
- recruitment evidence — how the role was advertised and filled: adverts placed, shortlists, interview notes. "We found them through an agency" still needs paper.
The organisation file
Alongside worker files, sponsors must hold organisation-level records: documented HR processes (how you monitor attendance, absence and immigration status), evidence of your trading presence and premises, and an up-to-date hierarchy chart [^1].
How long to keep everything
The general Appendix D rule: keep each document for whichever is longer — one year after the person's sponsorship ends, or until a compliance officer has examined and approved it. Right-to-work evidence follows its own statutory rule: the duration of employment plus two years [^2]. Practical translation: your retention policy must outlive the employment relationship, and deleting a leaver's file at the leaving date is itself a breach.
Digital or paper — what "produce on demand" means in practice
Either format is acceptable; retrievability is the test. In a visit you will be asked for a named worker's specific document while the officer waits. A folder structure someone once understood, a departed manager's inbox, or "it's in the HR system somewhere" all fail that test the same way. The working standard: any document, any worker, in under a minute, with the dates visible.
That is the entire design brief behind SponsorFort's evidence vault — a slot per Appendix D item, per worker, with a completeness score. See where your file stands in two minutes.
[^1]: Appendix D: keeping documents — guidance for sponsors — gov.uk.
[^2]: Right to work checks: an employer's guide — gov.uk (retention of the statutory excuse evidence).
This is guidance based on published Home Office sponsor guidance, not legal advice. For advice on your specific situation, consult a solicitor or an adviser regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority.