Immigration Law · The Administrative Court (King's Bench Division)
Moon Fish Limited, R (on the application of) v The Secretary of State for the Home Department
Checked against the judgment on 4 September 2026 · how we verify
Facts
Moon Fish Limited ("MFL") was incorporated on 6 April 2021 and granted a sponsor licence on 20 June 2023 under the "Tier 2" sponsorship regime, under which it sponsored and employed three foreign workers. On 20 October 2025 UK Visas and Immigration, apparently prompted by analysis of HMRC data, emailed MFL requesting documents relating to those workers' employment, including salary records; MFL supplied all the material requested on 3 November 2025 without further explanation, and UKVI asked no further questions. The documents showed that in May and June 2025 one worker, Mr Riaz, had been paid £3,560.51 less than his headline salary, because he had been on unpaid compassionate leave between 27 April 2025 and 22 June 2025. That leave, and the lesser payment, were lawful; but MFL did not report them, which it accepts was a breach of its reporting duties. Without seeking any explanation, the Secretary of State revoked MFL's sponsor licence with immediate effect on 18 November 2025, finding the mandatory ground of revocation in Annex C1(aa) of the sponsor guidance made out. MFL's pre-action letter of 5 December 2025 explained the circumstances and the innocent error; the Secretary of State's response of 19 December 2025 refused to change the decision. This claim for judicial review was issued in time, and permission was granted on all grounds, with a measure of expedition, by Vikram Sachdeva KC on 15 June 2026.
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