Immigration Sponsorship, Hospitality Agencies, and the Growing Divide in the Chef Workforce

The UK hospitality industry has long benefited from the skills and dedication of migrant chefs, and Unichef continues to value their vital contribution to our sector.

However, Unichef is increasingly concerned about the rapid expansion of immigration sponsorship within the hospitality agency industry, and the impact this is having on chefs, wages, and workforce security.

Immigration sponsorship was designed to fill genuine skills shortages through stable, permanent roles. In some cases, it is now being applied to agency-based labour models built on flexibility and short-term placements. This has created situations where sponsored chefs are offered full-time, fixed-hour contracts, while other chefs — including British and nationalised workers — remain on zero-hours or insecure arrangements, despite doing the same work,we belive this to be a form of indirect discrimination.

This risks creating a two-tier workforce. While immigration rules may require guaranteed hours for sponsored workers, that requirement should not be used to justify the routine denial of secure employment to other chefs. Where nationalised or settled workers are excluded from full-time opportunities, serious questions arise about fairness and the potential for indirect discrimination.

Unichef is also concerned about the wider effects on pay and conditions. Ready access to sponsored labour can reduce pressure on employers and agencies to improve wages, invest in training, or offer permanent roles, contributing to wage suppression across the sector.

There are broader social impacts too. Increased reliance on sponsored labour, without coordinated planning, adds pressure to local housing markets and public services, including the NHS. These challenges are not caused by migrant workers, but by policy choices that prioritise short-term labour solutions over long-term workforce sustainability.

Unichef is equally concerned about the position of sponsored workers themselves. Visa-linked employment can create dependency and vulnerability, limiting a worker’s ability to challenge unfair treatment, refuse unsuitable shifts, or move freely within the labour market. A system that relies on fear of visa loss to maintain workforce compliance is not ethical, and it is not compatible with a profession that values skill, safety, and dignity.

What Unichef is calling for is balance and fairness. Immigration sponsorship must not become a mechanism for casualising the wider workforce or sidelining nationalised and settled chefs from secure employment. Agencies that can offer full-time, fixed roles to one group should not routinely deny the same opportunity to others doing identical work. Sponsorship must be used to address genuine shortages, not to entrench inequality or suppress wages.

Unichef believes in a fair, ethical, and sustainable hospitality industry. Immigration sponsorship must be used responsibly, with proper oversight, and must not become a tool for casualising work, suppressing wages, or dividing the workforce.

We will continue to stand up for all chefs — migrant, nationalised, and domestic — and to campaign for a sector built on fair pay, secure work, and professional respect.

Unichef – Supporting Chefs. Championing Fairness. Building the Future.