Your job in UK

You must meet all of the following requirements to be eligible for a Skilled Worker visa:

• your job is eligible for this visa
• you’ll be working for a UK employer that’s been approved by the Home Office
• you’ll be paid at least the minimum salary for the type of work you’ll be doing

The minimum salary for the type of work you’ll be doing is whichever is the highest out of the following 3 options:

• £25,600 per year
• £10.10 per hour
• the ‘going rate’ for the type of work you’ll be doing

Check if your job is eligible

Before you can find out if your job is eligible, you need to know its 4-digit occupation code.

If you already have a job offer, ask your employer for your occupation code.

Look up your job’s occupation code

If you do not know your code, you can search for your job in the ONS occupation coding tool.

Not every job title is included. If you cannot find your exact job title, try searching for similar jobs.

Make sure the job description matches what you’ll be doing. Some similar jobs have different codes, for example chefs and cooks. Chefs are eligible for a Skilled Worker visa, but cooks are not.

Check if an occupation code is eligible for this visa

When you know your occupation code, view the table of eligible jobs to see if it’s included.

The table is very large. It’s sorted in order of occupation code, with the smallest numbers at the top. You may be able to use your web browser to search for your code on the page.

Salary requirements

You’ll usually need to be paid at least £25,600 per year or £10.10 per hour, whichever is higher. If the ‘going rate’ for your job is higher than both of these, you’ll usually need to be paid at least the going rate.

Example

Your salary is £27,000 per year, but the annual going rate for the job you’ll be doing is £30,000. You do not meet the usual salary requirements for this visa.

Each occupation code has its own annual going rate. Check the going rate for your job in the going rates table.

If you work in healthcare or education

There are different salary rules if you work in some healthcare or education jobs, where the going rate is based on national pay scales.

When you can be paid less

If you do not meet the usual salary requirements, and you do not work in healthcare or education, you might still be eligible if your salary will be at least £20,480 per year and at least £10.10 per hour.

Check when you can be paid less.

Approved UK employers

You must have a job offer from an approved UK employer before you apply for a Skilled Worker visa. Approved employers are also known as sponsors, because they are sponsoring you to come to or stay in the UK.

View the list of approved UK employers.

If your employer is not currently approved, they can apply for a sponsor licence if they’re eligible.

They’ll need to pay a fee – £536 for small businesses and charities or £1,476 for medium and large organisations. It usually takes around 8 weeks to process a licence application.

If you already have a job offer from an approved employer

Your employer – also known as your sponsor – will check that you meet the eligibility requirements. They’ll give you a ‘certificate of sponsorship’ to prove this.

The certificate of sponsorship is an electronic record, not a physical document. It will have a reference number, which you’ll need for your visa application.

You must apply for your visa within 3 months of getting your certificate of sponsorship.

Check which documents you’ll need to apply.