Skilled Worker Visas
Skilled Worker visas and sponsor licences: A guide for employers
British citizens and Irish citizens can work in the UK without restriction. The same goes for people with pre-settled status or settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, as well as other people who have indefinite leave to remain. Almost everyone else needs a visa.
In most cases, a foreign national coming to work in the UK needs a Skilled Worker visa sponsored by a UK employer with a sponsor licence.
Employers who are not familiar with the UK immigration system often have questions about Skilled Worker visas and sponsor licences. Here are some answers.
Please note that the questions and answers on this page are for general information only and must not be used as a substitute for legal advice. You should always take legal advice which is tailored to your specific circumstances. Contact a member of the immigration team for more information.
Getting started
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Skilled Worker visa?
The Skilled Worker visa is the main type of sponsored work visa. It replaced the Tier 2 (General) visa category.
There are four main requirements for a Skilled Worker visa:
- The applicant must have a job offer from a licensed sponsor.
- The job must be at the required skill level (see section 5).
- The salary must be at the required level (see section 6).
- The applicant must satisfy an English language requirement (see section 10).
The employer uses its sponsor licence to create a certificate of sponsorship (CoS) for the person they want to employ (see section 9). The person uses the CoS to apply for a Skilled Worker visa.
The visa is valid for up to 5 years at a time and can be extended. Under the current rules, after 5 years in the UK the person can apply for settlement (indefinite leave to remain) if they have not spent too much time outside the UK and they meet various other requirements. The government is proposing changes which could mean some people have to wait 10 years before being able to apply for settlement. There will be a consultation on the changes.
What sorts of jobs qualify for a Skilled Worker visa?
To qualify for a Skilled Worker visa the job has to fall into an occupation code which the Home Office views as being at or above Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) level 6. Roughly speaking this means that the job must require the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree. If the person first obtained a Skilled Worker visa before 22 July 2025 the job can be below level 6.
An occupation code (also known as a standard occupational classification code or SOC code) is a 4-digit code from a classification system developed by the Office for National Statistics.
The Home Office decides which occupation codes qualify for a Skilled Worker visa based on advice from its Migration Advisory Committee. The Home Office publishes a list of the eligible occupation codes for a Skilled Worker visa. Level 6 occupation codes are labelled “Higher Skilled” in the list.
The job can be below level 6 if it is on the Temporary Shortage List or Immigration Salary List. There are roles on the Temporary Shortage List which will be useful for some employers, including financial and accounting technicians, data analysts, business sales executives, advertising and marketing associate professionals. There are some drawbacks though. Family members cannot apply for dependant visas and the visa conditions are under review by the Migration Advisory Committee.
Many middle-skilled and junior office jobs do not qualify for a Skilled Worker visa at all for first time applicants: office/real estate/customer service/events/hotel/restaurant managers, chefs, interior designers, legal secretaries and PAs among others all do not qualify.
The Home Office looks closely at applications for borderline jobs so it is important to think carefully about which occupation code is the appropriate one. The Home Office provides next to no guidance on how to match jobs to occupation codes so sponsors cannot always be sure that they have chosen the right one. There is an Occupation Coding Tool which is useful for identifying possible codes but the search function is based on job titles, which can be misleading.
What do we have to pay the people we sponsor under the Skilled Worker visa category?
You have to pay at least:
- the overall minimum salary (also known as the general salary threshold) or
- the “going rate” for the relevant occupation code
– whichever is highest.
In most cases the overall minimum salary is £41,700 per year.
The going rate for each occupation code is listed here. The annual salaries in that document are based on a 37.5 hour week. If the person you employ is contracted to work longer or shorter hours the going rate is adjusted pro rata. In many cases the going rate for the occupation code is higher than the overall minimum salary.
The Home Office has devised a fiddly formula of tradable points to allow employers to pay less than £41,700 – down to a minimum of £33,400 – if the job is on the Immigration Salary List (formerly known as the shortage occupation list) or the person has a relevant PhD. The full tradable points requirements are set out in paragraph SW 4.4. of Appendix Skilled Worker.
If the person you want to sponsor is a new entrant (under 26 or switching from a student visa for instance) the going rate is reduced by 30% and the overall minimum is £33,400 per year.
The requirements are different if the person you want to sponsor already has a Skilled Worker visa which was granted under the rules in place before 4 April 2024.
Only guaranteed basic gross pay counts towards the required minimum. Allowances do not count – not even guaranteed allowances.
The resident labour market test has been abolished. Does this mean that we can sponsor a foreign national for a Skilled Worker visa even if we could find a suitable British/Irish worker to do the job?
Yes.
Under the previous Tier 2 (General) system employers were effectively required to discriminate against non-EEA nationals when they recruited. This is because in most cases the resident labour market test applied, meaning that the job had to be advertised in a special way. If there were any suitably qualified applicants who were “settled workers” (which roughly speaking meant British and European Economic Area nationals) they had to be offered the job before it could be offered to a non-EEA national, even if the non-EEA national was the best candidate.
Under the current system the resident labour market test does not apply, meaning that you can consider all candidates equally regardless of their immigration status.
It goes further than this. Under the current system you normally have to consider all candidates equally regardless of their immigration status, at least at the start of the recruitment process. This is because, on the face of it, a policy of preferring candidates who already have the right to work in the UK is a form of indirect race discrimination. If there is an objective justification for the policy it is not indirect discrimination, but wanting to avoid the hassle and expense of sponsoring people for Skilled Worker visas will not by itself count as an objective justification. You may need to rethink your recruitment practices to avoid indirect discrimination. Cost considerations can come into your recruitment decision-making on a case-by-case basis but you should certainly not have a blanket policy of favouring candidates who already have the right to work in the UK.
Can we sponsor our friends for Skilled Worker visas?
Yes, potentially, but you need to be careful about this.
The abolition of the resident labour market test means that in theory you can offer a job to a friend or acquaintance – or a family member – who needs a UK visa, even if you could find a British or Irish citizen to do the job.
This does not mean that you can sponsor anyone you like. The job must be genuine and the applicant must have the skills, qualifications and experience needed to do the job.
A Skilled Worker visa will be refused if the Home Office has reasonable grounds to believe that the job has been created mainly to enable the applicant to get a visa.
If you are thinking of sponsoring a friend, acquaintance or family member for a Skilled Worker visa, ask yourself two questions. Would you try to find someone else for the job if the person you plan to sponsor did not want it? Would you employ the person if they already had permission to work in the UK? If the answer to both questions is “no”, think again before going ahead.
How do we get certificates of sponsorship?
A certificate of sponsorship (CoS) is a sort of digital work permit issued by the employer.
Defined CoS
If the person will be applying for a Skilled Worker visa outside the UK they need a defined CoS. You (or your representative) request this type of CoS through the Sponsorship Management System on a case-by-case basis.
It usually takes one to two working days for a defined CoS request to be processed. It takes longer if the Home Office asks for more information.
Undefined CoS
If the person will be making a Skilled Worker application from within the UK they need an undefined CoS. A batch of undefined CoS is allocated to the employer on an annual basis and is used each time a CoS is assigned to an individual.
If the allocation runs out you can request an increase through the Sponsorship Management System. It usually takes several weeks for this type of request to be processed but it can be expedited by using a priority service which costs £350.
What is the English language requirement?
Everyone applying for a Skilled Worker has to meet an English language requirement.
There are three main ways of meeting the requirement:
- The applicant is a national of a majority-English-speaking country as defined in paragraph EL 4.1. of Appendix English Language or
- The applicant has a degree taught in English. If the degree is not from a UK university it has to be validated by a company called Ecctis or
- The applicant has passed a Home Office-approved English language test in speaking, listening, reading and writing at level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. First time Skilled Worker applicants will need to meet level B2 from 8 January 2026.
How much does a Skilled Worker visa cost?
The government fees for a five-year, non-Immigration Salary List Skilled Worker visa sponsored by a standard sponsor (as opposed to a small sponsor) come to over £14,000:
| Certificate of sponsorship fee | £525 |
| Immigration Skills Charge: £1,320 x 5 | £6,600 |
| UKVI application fee (non-Immigration Salary List) | £1,519 |
| Priority visa service fee (optional) | £500 |
| Immigration Health Surcharge: £1,035 x5 | £5,175 |
| TOTAL | £14,319 |
If the company is registered as a small sponsor the Immigration Skills Charge is £480 per year instead of £1,320 per year. A company qualifies as a small sponsor if it is subject to the small companies regime under the Companies Act 2006.
The UKVI application fee, priority visa service fee and Immigration Health Surcharge are charged in local currency and almost always end up being significantly higher than the official figures shown above.
Who can switch into the Skilled Worker visa category without leaving the UK?
In most cases it is possible to switch into the Skilled Worker route without leaving the UK.
The only people who cannot switch into the Skilled Worker route are those who have or were last granted permission as a visitor, short-term student, parent of a child student, seasonal worker, domestic worker in a private household or outside the Immigration Rules.
How does the visa application process work and how long does it take?
The process depends on the applicant’s nationality and where they are applying.
If the applicant is applying from within the UK – or if the applicant is an EU/EEA/Swiss national applying from any location – the process is entirely digital and they do not have to hand over their passport. Instead they use a mobile phone app to read the chip in their passport and then fill in an online form. At the end of the process they get an eVisa (digital immigration status).
If the applicant is applying from outside the UK and is not an EU/EEA/Swiss national, they have to fill in an online form and then attend an appointment at a centre run by one of the Home Office’s commercial partners. At the appointment they present their passport and have their photo and fingerprints taken. The passport should be handed back immediately. On approval the person then creates a UKVI account to obtain an eVisa showing the full duration of their visa.
The process usually takes one to two months from start to finish but it can be much quicker or slower depending on where the person is applying and whether there are priority services available there. Depending on the situation, the individual may have to take an English language test and/or a tuberculosis test, which adds to the timeline.
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