Can UK Restaurants Still Sponsor Chefs? Hiring Options in 2026

No, not for a new hire. Since 22 July 2025 a UK restaurant cannot sponsor a chef coming to the UK for the first time: chefs (SOC 5434) are on neither shortage list and are not eligible for the Global Business Mobility routes. You can still employ Japanese chefs who already have the right to work: Youth Mobility Scheme holders, graduates, partners of other visa holders, settled residents, and chefs already on a Skilled Worker visa who move to you.

What is closed, in one paragraph

The Home Office rates chefs (SOC 5434) as a "medium skilled" occupation, and cooks (5435) are not eligible at all. Since 22 July 2025 a medium skilled job can only be sponsored if it is on the Immigration Salary List or the Temporary Shortage List, or if the worker is extending and got their first certificate of sponsorship before that date. Chefs are on neither list as of September 2026. Holding a sponsor licence does not change this, and neither does offering a high salary.

Global Business Mobility and short visits: ruled out

Group HR teams usually ask next whether a Japanese parent company can transfer a chef under Global Business Mobility, for example as a Senior or Specialist Worker. It cannot. Appendix Skilled Occupations lists 5434 Chefs only in the tables for workers first granted permission before 22 July 2025, and states that those codes are not eligible for the Global Business Mobility or Scale-up routes. Those routes need a job skilled to RQF level 6 (graduate level). The Senior or Specialist Worker route also needs a salary of at least £52,500 or the going rate, and 12 months with the employer outside the UK if pay is under £73,900.

A chef from the Japanese group can visit as a Standard Visitor to train UK employees of the same corporate group (Appendix Visitor: Permitted Activities, PA 5.1). Cooking for paying customers is not among the permitted activities, so do not roster a visitor on service.

Who you can still employ

Japan's foreign ministry counted 62,270 Japanese nationals living in the UK on 1 October 2025. That is the pool for every row except the YMS, which also lets you recruit people still in Japan. A partner of a Japanese company transferee is a realistic candidate in London; check the conditions on their eVisa like anyone else's.

Hiring a chef who is already a Skilled Worker

A chef granted Skilled Worker permission before 22 July 2025 who has held it continuously can extend or move to a new sponsor. Pay must meet the higher of £41,700 or the £33,400 going rate for 5434, unless their first certificate predates 4 April 2024, when the lower rate of £25,000 applies. A gap in permission ends the protection for good, so if you employ one of these chefs now, put their expiry date in the diary today.

To take one on you need a licence. GOV.UK says a licence application usually takes around eight weeks.

A medium or large sponsor pays £1,682 for the licence and £1,320 a year in skills charge. The chef pays the £819 visa fee (up to three years) and the health surcharge of £1,035 a year, unless you agree to cover them.

Setting the offer

There is no official pay figure for Japanese or sushi chefs in the UK. The closest official data is ONS ASHE for all chefs:

The legal floor is the National Living Wage, £12.71 an hour from April 2026 for workers aged 21 and over. Read the table as a ladder, not a target:

• Line cook who can work a Japanese section: start at the median for your region (London £34,120).
• Sushi counter lead or omakase chef: start at the UK 75th to 80th percentile and add a London premium. ONS does not publish London percentiles, so you set that premium from local ads.
• A chef moving to you as a Skilled Worker: the visa floor (£41,700, or £25,000 for pre April 2024 starters) may be above your ladder. The visa floor wins.

We have not collected a verified sample of London sushi or omakase job ads, so we give no band. Build your own: save 15 to 20 current London ads for sushi, Japanese head chef and omakase roles that state a salary, and take the median and the top quarter. Offer at or above the median of that sample for the role you need.

What one hire costs

A full time chef paid the London median, hired without sponsorship, 2026/27 tax year:

Add your own lines for advertising, any agency fee, a paid trial shift and any relocation help. Eligible employers can offset National Insurance with the Employment Allowance (£10,500 for 2026/27). For an existing Skilled Worker, add the £2,576 above.

Week by week, from your start date

For a Skilled Worker moving to you, start at week −16 to leave room for the licence. For a YMS candidate still in Japan, allow two to three months from offer to first shift; the YMS guide has the full calendar.

Job ad wording to copy

Ask for skills, not nationality, and ask every applicant the same right to work question. More on wording in writing a job ad for chefs.

What to do this week

1. Diarise the expiry of every time limited visa in your kitchen, and start extensions for any transitional Skilled Worker chef early.
2. Decide which senior role must be held by someone with no time limit, and plan to fill or train for it (see training local staff).
3. Set the pay ladder above and build your London ad sample.
4. Post the ad in both languages, stating that you cannot sponsor.

General information checked against official sources on 27 September 2026, not legal or immigration advice. UK immigration rules change often; check GOV.UK or speak to a regulated adviser before acting.