Skilled Worker: Eligibility and Salary

Key Takeaways

• For a Certificate of Sponsorship assigned on or after 22 July 2025, your job must normally be skilled to RQF level 6, which is graduate level. You do not need a degree yourself. What matters is which table of Appendix Skilled Occupations lists your job’s occupation code.
• A job below graduate level can only be sponsored through the Immigration Salary List, the Temporary Shortage List, the transitional provision for people granted Skilled Worker permission before 22 July 2025, or the in-country provision for prison service officers.
• The Temporary Shortage List, and every Immigration Salary List entry except care workers and senior care workers, applies only where the Certificate of Sponsorship was issued before 31 December 2026. Care workers and senior care workers stay on the Immigration Salary List for certificates issued before 22 July 2028.
• You must be paid the higher of a general salary threshold and the going rate for your occupation code. For most people that means at least £41,700 a year. Lower thresholds apply for a relevant PhD, a job on the Immigration Salary List, new entrants, Health and Care jobs and jobs on national pay scales, but you can only use one option.
• A job on the Temporary Shortage List gets no salary discount. Unless another option applies, a worker sponsored through that list must still be paid at least £41,700 and the going rate.
• If you were first granted Skilled Worker permission before 4 April 2024 and have held it continuously since, you can use the lower £31,300 threshold and lower going rates for any application made before 4 April 2030, including settlement. If you were first granted before 22 July 2025, jobs at RQF levels 3 to 5 stay open to you.
• Only guaranteed basic pay counts. Allowances, overtime, bonuses and benefits do not, and at settlement you must be paid the full going rate with no discount for a PhD or for being a new entrant.
• WorkPermitCloud checks jobs, occupation codes and salaries before a certificate is assigned, so an application is not built on a figure that cannot succeed. See our Skilled Worker visa service.

Introduction

This page is for anyone applying for, extending or planning to settle on the Skilled Worker route, and for employers who want to check a job before they assign a Certificate of Sponsorship. It covers the two questions that decide most applications: does the job qualify, and is the salary high enough. The application itself, including English, funds and documents, is covered in Skilled Worker: Apply, Switch and Extend.

How the Skilled Worker Points Test Works

A Skilled Worker application needs 70 points. Fifty of them are mandatory. The other 20 come from your salary, and you claim them under one salary option only. The Immigration Rules label these options A to K.

No salary points are awarded unless the sponsorship and skill level points are awarded too. The English requirement, including who can still rely on B1, is covered in full in English Language Requirements.

What Makes the Job Itself Acceptable

Before the Home Office looks at skill level or salary, the job has to pass some basic tests. The sponsor must be listed as A-rated on the register of licensed sponsors, unless you were last granted permission as a Skilled Worker and are staying with that same sponsor. The Home Office must not have reasonable grounds to believe that the job:

• does not exist, is a sham, or was created mainly so that you could apply
• amounts to hiring you out to a third party, or to contract work doing an ongoing routine job for a third party
• does not comply with the National Minimum Wage Regulations or the Working Time Regulations

If any of these applies, no sponsorship points are awarded and the application fails however well paid the job is. Our guide to the UK minimum wage for employers covers the pay floor every job must respect. How the certificate itself is completed is covered in Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS). The full rules are in Appendix Skilled Worker on GOV.UK.

Which Jobs Qualify

Every job is classified under a four-digit occupation code from the Standard Occupational Classification 2020 (SOC 2020). Whether a job can be sponsored depends on which table of Appendix Skilled Occupations lists its code. It does not depend on your own qualifications, and it does not depend on your job title.

Graduate-Level Jobs

For a CoS assigned on or after 22 July 2025, the job must normally be in Table 1, 2 or 3 of Appendix Skilled Occupations. These are jobs skilled to level 6 of the Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) for England and Northern Ireland, or the equivalent level in Scotland or Wales. RQF 6 is bachelor’s degree level. You do not need a degree. The work must be skilled to that level.

Jobs Below Graduate Level

A job in Table 1a, 2aa or 3a is skilled to RQF levels 3 to 5. It can be sponsored only in one of the four ways in the table below. If none applies, the job cannot support a Skilled Worker application, whatever it pays.

Prison service officers carry two dates, and they do different jobs. The 1 January 2027 date is the one that decides whether a new worker can be sponsored as a prison service officer at all. The salary rules use a later date: someone already sponsored in 3314 on a certificate assigned before 1 January 2027 can continue to claim salary points under option F on a further certificate issued before 1 January 2028, again for no more than 3 years. The provision is for applications from inside the UK only.

The Home Office describes both shortage lists as time-limited and conditional. It can bring a removal date forward, and a date can also be extended, so always check the appendix for the date that applies when the certificate is issued. Because each date is tied to when your certificate was issued, a worker whose CoS was issued before the date can still apply after it has passed. What cannot happen is a new certificate issued on or after the date for a job that relies on the list.

The Immigration Salary List

The Immigration Salary List (ISL) replaced the old Shortage Occupation List in April 2024. A job on the ISL does two things. It opens the job to sponsorship even where it is below graduate level, and it lowers the general salary threshold, to £33,400 under option D or £25,000 under option I. It does not lower the going rate. You must still be paid the full going rate for the occupation code. The application fee is also lower for a job on the ISL. Fees are covered in Visa Fees and Sponsorship Costs.

Some entries cover only named jobs within a code, or require a set amount of experience, or apply only in one part of the UK. The certificate must confirm that the job is on the list and that any extra criteria are met. The full list is below, exactly as it appears in Appendix Immigration Salary List. It applies only where the CoS was issued before the date in the last column.

SOC 2020 codes do not always match the older SOC 2010 codes used on lists before April 2024. In SOC 2010, 5315 meant carpenters and joiners. In SOC 2020, 5315 is plumbers and heating and ventilating installers, and carpenters are 5316. Always check a code against the current appendix rather than an older list.

If your job was removed from the ISL on or before the date your CoS was assigned, you can still claim ISL salary points only if your last permission was for a job on the list and you are continuing in the same job with the same sponsor. A new employer means claiming salary points another way. In that case the lower application fee no longer applies.

The Temporary Shortage List

The Temporary Shortage List (TSL) opens certain jobs at RQF levels 3 to 5 to sponsorship, including technician, trade, engineering, construction and business support roles. It appears in paragraph SW 6.1A of Appendix Skilled Worker. A job is on the list only where the application uses a CoS issued before 31 December 2026. If the job had been removed from the list, or that date had passed, before the certificate was assigned, no application can be made.

The TSL gives access, not a discount. Being on the list does not lower the general threshold or the going rate, and there is no lower application fee. Unless another salary option applies to you, such as new entrant status, a relevant PhD, the job also being on the ISL, or options F to J for a Health and Care ASHE salary job or a worker first granted before 4 April 2024, you must be paid at least £41,700 and the going rate. For example, the going rate for IT operations technicians (3131) is £35,200, but a worker sponsored in that role through the TSL must still be paid at least £41,700. For employers: a certificate assigned on the assumption that the list lowers the threshold cannot support an application, and the worker’s fee is lost when it is refused.

A job on the TSL does not allow dependants, unless the worker is covered by a transitional provision.

Care Workers and Senior Care Workers

Care workers and home carers (6135) and senior care workers (6136) have their own rules. You must already be in the UK and applying for permission to stay. Either you have been legally working for the sponsor in one of these roles for at least the three months ending on the date the CoS was issued, and you apply before 22 July 2028, or you already hold Skilled Worker permission in one of these roles (or the older codes 6145 and 6146), in which case there is no three-month rule and no application deadline. A certificate that relies on the ISL entry for these roles must still be issued before 22 July 2028, although a worker first granted before 22 July 2025 can also rely on the transitional provision for skill level. For any job in England the sponsor must be registered with the Care Quality Commission and carrying on a regulated activity, unless you were granted in 6145 or 6146 under the rules in place before 11 March 2024, have been sponsored in care roles continuously since, and are staying with the same sponsor.

On the Health and Care visa, the minimum is £25,000 a year and at least £12.82 for every hour worked. A care worker sponsored on a standard Skilled Worker visa must be paid at least £33,400 and £17.13 an hour. The new entrant discount does not apply. New care workers cannot bring dependants. The full rules are in Care Worker and Health Routes, and our Health and Care visa service covers applications.

Health and Education Jobs on National Pay Scales

Health and education jobs in Table 3, such as nurses, midwives, doctors, allied health professionals, social workers and teachers, use salary option K. You must be paid at least £25,000 and the full rate from the national pay scale for the role, which is set out in Tables 3, 4 and 5 of the appendix. Jobs on NHS Agenda for Change pay scales must be at band 5 or above. Band 3 and band 4 jobs are below graduate level, so they can be sponsored only through one of the routes above: in practice the transitional provision for skill level or, for nursing auxiliaries and assistants (6131), the ISL. Band 1 and band 2 jobs can never be sponsored.

Jobs That Cannot Be Sponsored

Table 6 lists occupation codes that are not eligible at all. Some are below the skill level, some must be sponsored on a different route, and some are closed to anyone subject to immigration control. Cooks (5435), for example, are in Table 6. Codes in Tables 1a, 2aa, 2a and 3a are also ineligible unless one of the routes above applies.

How to Check Whether Your Job Qualifies

Two tools do two different jobs. CASCOT finds the code. The appendix decides eligibility.

• Find the occupation code. If you have an offer, ask the employer which code they will use. If not, enter the job title in CASCOT, the coding tool from the University of Warwick, and check the four-digit code it suggests against the duties of the job.
• Look the code up in Appendix Skilled Occupations. If it is in Table 1, 2 or 3 the job is graduate level. If it is in Table 1a, 2aa or 3a, it needs one of the four routes above. If it is in Table 6, it cannot be sponsored.
• Note the going rate. The same appendix gives the going rate for each code, which you need for the salary test below.

A method sometimes suggested online is to read the typical entry qualifications for an occupation and estimate its RQF level from them. That is not how the Home Office decides. It will sometimes give the right answer, which is what makes it risky. The level is fixed by the table the code sits in, and nothing else.

The sponsor is responsible for choosing the code, and it must be the most appropriate one for the duties. The application will be refused if the Home Office has reasonable grounds to believe the sponsor chose a less appropriate code because the right one is not eligible, has a higher going rate, is not on the ISL when ISL points are claimed, or is not eligible for PhD points when PhD points are claimed. It can look at whether the sponsor has shown a genuine need for the job, whether you have the skills and experience for it, and the sponsor’s record of paying sponsored workers properly. GOV.UK’s Skilled Worker visa: your job page gives a short summary, and our sponsored job eligibility checker is a quick first step if you are looking for a role.

How Much You Must Be Paid

Your salary has to pass two tests at once. It must be at least the general salary threshold for your option, and at least the going rate for your occupation code. Whichever is higher is the figure you must be paid.

Going rates are listed for each code in Appendix Skilled Occupations. In Tables 1 and 1a they are based on median earnings, and in Tables 2, 2aa and 2a on the 25th percentile. They assume a 37.5-hour week. Each table also has an hourly floor: £17.13 an hour for Tables 1 and 1a, and £12.82 an hour for Tables 2, 2aa and 2a. Where the floor is higher than the going rate, or than the 70%, 80% or 90% figure you are relying on, the floor takes its place. The floor is part of the going rate test, not a separate minimum wage.

The Standard Salary Options: A to E

These options apply to most applicants, using the going rates in Table 1 or, for a job below graduate level, Table 1a.

You can only rely on one option. A new entrant with a PhD, for example, cannot combine the two discounts.

If You Have a Relevant PhD

Options B and C are open only where Appendix Skilled Occupations marks the occupation code as eligible for PhD points. You need a UK PhD or other academic doctorate, or an overseas qualification that Ecctis confirms meets the standard of a UK PhD. The sponsor must give a credible explanation on the CoS of how the qualification is relevant to the job, and for option C that it is in a STEM subject. The explanation is needed on every certificate, but you only provide evidence of the qualification the first time you are awarded the points.

If Your Job Is on the Immigration Salary List

Option D lowers the general threshold to £33,400 but keeps the full going rate. For many ISL jobs the going rate is higher than £33,400, so the saving is smaller than it looks. Check the going rate for the code before relying on the list.

New Entrants

"New entrant" describes someone at the start of their career. It does not mean a first application or a first visit to the UK. You can use option E, or option J where that applies, if you meet at least one of these conditions:

The discount lasts 4 years at most. You cannot be granted new entrant salary points if doing so would take your combined permission as a Skilled Worker, a Graduate and a Tier 2 migrant above 4 years in total, whether or not the time was continuous. Time as a Student does not count towards the 4 years. Because the cap applies to the permission granted, the sponsor should check with you how much time you have already used before assigning the certificate. When the 4 years are used up, you will need to meet another option, usually option A.

The new entrant discount does not apply at settlement. If you plan to settle, your pay will need to reach the full going rate by the time you apply. The Graduate and Student Switching page covers moving from those routes into Skilled Worker, and our guide to switching from a Graduate visa walks through the application.

Health and Care Jobs: Options F to J

Options F to J use the lower going rates in Tables 2, 2aa and 2a, with a general threshold of £31,300 or less. They are available in only three situations: you are being sponsored for a Health and Care visa in a "Health and Care ASHE salary job", you were first granted Skilled Worker permission before 4 April 2024 (see the transitional rules below), or you are a prison service officer covered by the in-country provision, who can use option F.

The Health and Care ASHE salary jobs are health services and public health managers and directors (1171), health care practice managers (1231), residential, day and domiciliary care managers (1232), biochemists and biomedical scientists (2113), physical scientists (2114), laboratory technicians (3111), dispensing opticians (3211), pharmaceutical technicians (3212), care workers and home carers (6135) and senior care workers (6136). The employer must be an eligible one, such as an NHS body, a provider registered with the Care Quality Commission for a regulated activity, or its equivalent in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, and you must meet the Health and Care visa criteria.

Only 1171, 2113 and 2114 are graduate level. The others still need the ISL, the TSL or the transitional provision for skill level. Care workers and senior care workers can use option I only. If you do not qualify for the Health and Care visa, you are assessed under options A to E like anyone else.

Health and Education Jobs: Option K

Option K is the only option for jobs in Table 3 or Table 3a. You need at least £25,000 and the full national pay scale rate for your role. Doctors’ rates in Table 3 assume a 40-hour week, Agenda for Change rates in Table 4 assume 37.5 hours (37 in Scotland), and teachers’ rates in Table 5 follow the full-time definition used in each pay scale. Each is pro-rated for your actual hours.

Pre-Registration Nurses and Midwives

A nurse or midwife in codes 2231 to 2237 who is working towards registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) can be paid less than £25,000 for up to 8 months. For a first registration you must have passed the NMC’s English language requirement and its computer-based test before you apply, and be due to sit the clinical examination (OSCE) no later than 3 months after your start date. If you were registered before, you can instead be on an NMC-approved return to practice programme. During the 8 months you must be paid at least the Agenda for Change band 3 rate. The sponsor must stop sponsoring you as a nurse or midwife if you are not fully registered within 8 months, and must move you onto option K rates once you are.

Worked Examples

These examples use going rates for a 37.5-hour week from Appendix Skilled Occupations. Always check the current figure for your code.

Transitional Rules for Existing Skilled Workers

If you have held Skilled Worker permission for some time, the rules above may not be the ones that apply to you. Two transitional provisions protect people who were already on the route when the rules changed, and they can make a large difference. A worker first granted before 4 April 2024 who is told they need £41,700 may in fact need £31,300, or the lower Table 2 going rate if that is higher. That can decide whether an extension or settlement application is possible at all.

Which Group Are You In?

Start from the date you were first granted Skilled Worker permission, and whether you have held it continuously since.

If you were a Tier 2 (General) migrant before the Skilled Worker route replaced it, two further provisions may apply to you. They are explained below.

If You Were First Granted Before 4 April 2024

You can be awarded salary points under options F to J if you were granted permission as a Skilled Worker under the rules in place before 4 April 2024 and have had continuous Skilled Worker permission since. This applies to applications made before 4 April 2030, for permission to stay and for entry clearance. It means a general threshold of £31,300 (or less with a PhD, an ISL job or new entrant status) and the lower going rates in Table 2.

• You can change sponsor and keep this protection, as long as the job is in Table 2 or Table 2aa.
• If your job is in Table 2a, which lists occupations reassessed as below RQF 3, you can only continue with the sponsor from your most recent permission.
• At settlement, the same group needs at least £31,300 and the full Table 2 going rate (see Salary at Settlement below).

As an example, the going rate for IT quality and testing professionals (2136) is £41,200 in Table 1 but £34,500 in Table 2. A new worker in that role needs £41,700. A worker first granted before 4 April 2024 and continuously on the route since needs £34,500.

If You Were First Granted Before 22 July 2025

If you were granted permission as a Skilled Worker under the rules in place before 22 July 2025 and have held Skilled Worker permission continuously since, jobs at RQF levels 3 to 5 in Tables 1a, 2aa and 3a remain open to you. You can extend in the same job or change to a new sponsor in any of those codes. You can also bring dependants. The sponsor should state on the CoS that you meet this provision and, where possible, give your most recent CoS number. The Home Office has said this provision will not stay in place indefinitely and will be reviewed.

Former Tier 2 (General) Workers

If you were granted permission as a Tier 2 (General) migrant and have held Skilled Worker permission continuously since, two further provisions apply, but only to applications made before 1 December 2026:

• Allowances. On an application to stay or settle with the same sponsor, guaranteed allowances that will be paid for the whole of your permission, and that would be paid to a settled worker in the same position, such as London weighting, can count towards your salary.
• Research and higher education going rates. If you were sponsored under SOC 2010 codes 2113, 2119 or 2311 and have stayed in that code or its SOC 2020 equivalent, fixed going rates apply instead of Table 2: £27,190 for physical scientists and for natural and social science professionals, and £30,940 for higher education teaching professionals, with lower figures under options G, H and J.

For applications for permission made on or after 1 December 2026, neither provision applies and the normal rules do. Settlement row E, under Salary at Settlement below, refers to the same fixed going rates without repeating the date, so anyone in this group applying to settle on or after 1 December 2026 should have the position checked before relying on them.

What Continuous Permission Means

Both main provisions depend on continuous permission as a Skilled Worker. A short gap that is disregarded under the exceptions for overstayers in Part Suitability of the Immigration Rules does not break it. Switching to a different route does, and so does a gap that is not disregarded. Once lost, the protection does not come back. What losing your job does to this protection, and how to keep it, is covered in Skilled Worker: Job Loss and Second Jobs.

What Counts as Salary

The Home Office only counts guaranteed basic gross pay. That is your pay before income tax, including your own pension and National Insurance contributions, plus any other guaranteed payment treated exactly like basic pay for tax, pension and National Insurance purposes.

The Home Office sets out how it calculates salary in its Sponsor a Skilled Worker guidance. The only exception for allowances is the Tier 2 (General) provision described above, which ends for applications made on or after 1 December 2026. For employers: the salary on the CoS must not include allowances. Including them where no transitional provision applies can lead to revocation of the licence.

Money You Pay Back to the Sponsor

Some payments you make to the sponsor, or to an organisation related to it, are taken off your salary when it is tested. These are deductions from pay, loan repayments and investments connected with business costs, immigration costs or investment in the business. They are averaged over the length of your sponsorship. A benefit you are free to choose whether to take up, such as a salary sacrifice arrangement, is not deducted, but it must not take your pay below the National Minimum Wage.

Hours, Part-Time Work and Short Contracts

• Over 48 hours. Only pay for the first 48 hours a week counts towards the general threshold. The going rate test uses all your contracted hours, even above 48, so working longer hours raises the going rate you must be paid.
• Part time. The general threshold is never pro-rated. Someone working 20 hours a week at £20 an hour earns £20,800 and cannot meet any general threshold. The going rate is pro-rated: multiply it by your weekly hours and divide by 37.5.
• Irregular hours. If your hours vary week to week, weeks over 48 hours can count as long as the average over a regular cycle of no more than 17 weeks is 48 hours or less. Unpaid rest weeks count towards the average.
• Less than a year. If you are sponsored for less than 12 months, your actual gross earnings are converted to an annual figure. Six months at £4,000 a month counts as £48,000 a year.

Pay Period Tests

Where your certificate was assigned on or after 8 April 2026, the salary is checked pay period by pay period as well as over the year:

• You must be paid at least monthly, unless your contract says otherwise.
• Each pay period must pay at least the going rate for every hour you worked in it.
• If you are paid monthly or less often, any 3-month period must pay at least a quarter of the annual salary required.
• If you are paid more often than monthly, any 12-week period must pay at least 12/52 of it.
• If your hours are irregular, the sponsor must confirm the pattern, and any 17-week period must pay at least 17/52 of the annual salary required.
• If a shortfall in a period comes from deductions taken over a shorter time than your sponsorship, the sponsor must confirm this.

The Home Office checks this through compliance visits and HMRC data. How those checks work, and what the sponsor must do when pay changes, is covered in Sponsor Licence: Compliance and Duties.

When Your Salary or Job Changes

Your salary can go down without a new application only in limited cases: you would still score points under the same option as your current permission, a transitional provision you relied on would still be met, the reduction is for a phased return to work supported by an occupational health assessment, or it coincides with a permitted absence such as parental or sick leave. The sponsor must report the change within 10 working days. In any other case, you need a new CoS and a successful application before the lower pay starts, or the sponsor must stop sponsoring you.

A move to a job in a different occupation code, or a new employer, usually needs a change of employment application. That is covered in Skilled Worker: Apply, Switch and Extend, and our guide to changing jobs or employers on a Skilled Worker visa goes through the practical steps.

Salary at Settlement

Five years on the route is not enough on its own to settle. On the date of the decision, the sponsor from your most recent permission must still hold a Skilled Worker licence, and must confirm that it needs you to keep working for it for the foreseeable future and that it pays you, and will keep paying you, at least the settlement salary. An email or letter is enough; the sponsor does not assign a new CoS for this. The Skilled Worker caseworker guidance sets out how settlement salaries are assessed.

Your salary must meet both figures in the row that applies to you. If more than one row fits, the one lower down the table applies: row E takes priority over D, D over C, and so on up to row A, which covers everyone else.

No discounts apply at settlement. The 70%, 80% and 90% columns of the going rate tables do not apply, so a new entrant or a PhD holder must reach the full going rate. The hourly floor applies too, and so do the rules on what counts as salary, including the 48-hour limit.

A care worker or senior care worker employed by an eligible employer, such as a provider registered with the Care Quality Commission, is in a Health and Care ASHE salary job and in a job on the ISL, so row D applies: at least £25,000 and the Table 2aa going rate, which is also £25,000. The test is the job and the employer, not the name of the visa. A care worker whose job is not a Health and Care ASHE salary job falls under row B: £33,400 and the Table 1a going rate.

• Only pay from your sponsored job counts. Earnings from supplementary work do not. If you have a second sponsored job, you can rely on the salary from either sponsor but cannot add them together.
• The Home Office can check 12 months of your PAYE records. You should include a payslip and a bank statement for your most recent month’s pay, dated no more than 31 days before you apply.
• If you are absent on maternity, paternity, parental, adoption or sick leave, or for one of the other permitted reasons, or returned within the month before you apply, your salary is assessed as it will be on your return, as the sponsor states.
• A salary at settlement lower than the one on your last certificate is looked at closely. There can be legitimate reasons, but the caseworker will consider whether conditions were breached.

The qualifying period, continuous residence, English and Life in the UK requirements are covered in Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) and Settlement. Our guide to when you become eligible for ILR as a Skilled Worker explains the timing, and the ILR eligibility calculator gives a quick check. For help with the application, see our ILR 5-year route service.

Bringing Your Family: How the Job Level Matters

A partner or child can join you only if you are sponsored in a job in Table 1, 2 or 3 of Appendix Skilled Occupations, unless an exception applies. That means a job below graduate level, including one on the ISL or the TSL, does not allow dependants. The exceptions are workers granted in a Table 1a, 2aa, 2a or 3a job under the rules in place before 22 July 2025 (other than care workers), care workers first granted in the old codes 6145 or 6146 under the rules in place before 11 March 2024, and prison service officers applying from inside the UK, in each case with continuous Skilled Worker permission in those codes since. An ISL job that is also in Table 1, such as biological scientists (2112), graphic and multimedia designers (2142) or archaeologists (2115), does allow dependants.

Children born in the UK and some cases of sole responsibility are treated differently. The full rules are in Dependants and Family.

Other Skilled Worker Requirements

Eligibility and salary are not the whole application. You must be 18 or over and meet the English requirement. You may need to show £1,270 in funds held for 28 days, unless you have been in the UK with permission for 12 months or your A-rated sponsor certifies maintenance. Some health, education and social care jobs need a criminal record certificate for an application from outside the UK. You cannot switch into the route from inside the UK if you are, or were last, a visitor, short-term student, parent of a child student, seasonal worker, domestic worker in a private household, or on permission outside the rules, and Students must meet extra conditions. Nationals or citizens of Afghanistan cannot apply for entry clearance as a Skilled Worker where the application is made on or after 26 March 2026, although those already in the UK can extend or switch if eligible. These requirements are covered in Skilled Worker: Apply, Switch and Extend, and the application fees and Immigration Health Charge in Visa Fees and Sponsorship Costs.

Detailed Guides on This Topic

• When you become eligible for ILR as a Skilled Worker: how the 5-year window is counted.
• Changing jobs or employers on a Skilled Worker visa: when a change needs a new application.
• Switching from a Graduate visa to a Skilled Worker visa: the most common route into new entrant status.

How Can WorkPermitCloud Help?

WorkPermitCloud is a Legal and HR-tech company specialising in UK business immigration. For workers, we check whether a job and its occupation code qualify, which salary option you can use, and whether a transitional provision still protects you, before you rely on an offer or plan for settlement. For employers, we check the code, the going rate and the salary option before a certificate is assigned, so an application is not refused on a figure that was never going to work. See our Skilled Worker visa service for applications, extensions and changes of employment.

Conclusion

Most Skilled Worker refusals on eligibility come down to one of three things: a job whose code does not qualify, a salary that meets one test but not the other, or a worker who does not realise which group they belong to. Checking the code against the appendix rather than estimating it, comparing the salary with both the threshold and the pro-rated going rate, and working out whether a transitional provision applies will settle most cases before a certificate is assigned. The shortage lists are the part most likely to change, so treat every list route as tied to the date the certificate is issued.

Glossary