SKILLED WORKER VISA​
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The Skilled Worker visa, which has replaced the Tier 2 (General) Migrant visa, is open to individuals of all nationalities who have an offer of an eligible skilled job in the UK from a Home Office-approved sponsor. The route can lead to settlement, and dependent partners and children can join the applicants.
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To secure a Skilled Worker visa, you will need to be sponsored to do a specific job, which meets particular skill and salary requirements, by an employer that the Home Office has licensed. You must be issued a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) by your UK employer, who holds a valid Sponsor Licence. Your job must meet the suitability requirements, including the minimum salary requirement.
There is no cap on the number of people entering the UK on the Skilled Worker route.
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REQUIREMENTS FOR SKILLED WORKER VISAS
Certificate of Sponsorship
To apply for and obtain a Skilled Worker visa, you must have a valid Certificate of Sponsorship from your employer. Your sponsor must be listed as A-rated on the Home Office’s register of licensed sponsors unless you were last granted permission as a Skilled Worker and are applying to continue working for the same sponsor as before.
Your Certificate of Sponsorship must have been issued not more than three months before the date of your Skilled Worker application.
Your Certificate of Sponsorship must include certain mandatory information to be valid.
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Job Offer and Genuine Vacancy
You will need to satisfy the Home Office that you are being sponsored to undertake a genuine vacancy and are capable of performing the role specified on your Certificate of
Sponsorship.
The Home Office will also need to be satisfied that you will not undertake any ongoing temporary, permanent or contract work or provide services for a third party who is not your sponsor.
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Appropriate Skill Level
The underlying principle of the Skilled Worker route is that you must possess the minimum skill level to be eligible for sponsorship.
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All eligible jobs are set out by the Home Office in the list of skilled occupations; each job is given an occupation code. You must be sponsored for a job in an eligible occupation code listed in the Appendix.
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Your sponsor must choose the most appropriate occupation code for the job you will do. If the Home Office has reasonable grounds to believe that your sponsor has not determined the most suitable occupation code, your application for a Skilled Worker visa will be refused.
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Salary
All employers seeking to recruit workers under this route must usually pay their skilled workers a salary that equals or exceeds a general salary threshold and the ‘going rate’ for the occupation (as set out in the relevant occupation code mentioned above), whichever is higher.
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The salary assessment is based on guaranteed basic gross pay.
Some sponsored skilled workers applying under the Skilled Worker route may be paid less, where they are awarded additional so-called ‘tradable points’ for other attribute
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If you do not meet the standard salary requirements and do not work in healthcare or education, you might still be eligible.
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Maintenance
You must have at least £1,270 for your maintenance in your bank account for 28 consecutive days before you can apply. You do not need to evidence maintenance funds if you have been in the UK for at least 12 months before your application or if your employer certified your maintenance on your CoS.
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English Language Requirements
You will need to demonstrate English language proficiency on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages in all four components (reading, writing, speaking and listening) to at least level B1 (intermediate).
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Switching to a Skilled Worker visa
Suppose you currently have a visa in another immigration category. In that case, you may switch to a Skilled Worker visa unless you 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 of the Immigration Rules.
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Skilled Worker Settlement
To qualify for Settlement as a Skilled Worker, you will need to satisfy UK Visas and Immigration that:
• You have spent a continuous period of 5 years in the UK;
• The 5-year continuous period consisted of time with permission on any of, or any combination of, the following routes: Skilled Worker, Global talent, Innovator, Tier 2 Minister of Religion, Tier 2 Sportsperson, Representative of an Overseas Business or as a Tier 1 Migrant (other than as a Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur) Migrant);
• You have not been outside for more than 180 days during each year of the 5-year continuous period;
• You have passed the Life in the UK test (unless aged 65 or over);
• Your sponsor is still a Home Office approved sponsor;
• Your sponsor still requires you to work for them for the foreseeable future;
• You are being paid and will be for the foreseeable future, at least the general salary threshold or the going rate requirement, whichever is higher.
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