The UK Skilled Worker visa is the main work route into Britain, and in 2026 it looks very different from the route most guides still describe. The general salary floor is now £41,700 a year; new applications need a graduate-level (RQF 6) job the English standard rose to B2. Get one of those wrong and the application fails.

This guide sets out every Skilled Worker visa requirement that applies in 2026, the exact salary thresholds and fees, the step-by-step application, and how to find a job that actually meets the rules. It is written as factual data, not immigration advice.

What this guide covers

What is the UK Skilled Worker visa?

The Skilled Worker visa is the UK's primary long-term work route. It lets a person come to, or stay in, the UK to do an eligible job for an employer that the Home Office has approved to sponsor workers.

It replaced the old Tier 2 (General) visa in December 2020. People still search for "Tier 2 sponsor", but the current legal route is the Skilled Worker visa, governed by Appendix Skilled Worker of the Immigration Rules.

A UK Skilled Worker visa holder can:

The visa does not give access to most public funds, and it does not allow a free change of employer. Switching sponsor means applying to update the visa first.

Here's the thing most guides bury: the Skilled Worker visa is employer-led. No job offer from a licensed sponsor means no visa. That single fact drives every other requirement below.

Who the Skilled Worker visa is for in 2026

The UK visa Skilled Worker route is built for people with a confirmed, graduate-level job offer from a UK employer that holds a sponsor licence. In practice, that covers a wide range of professions: software developers, accountants, engineers, marketing managers, secondary school teachers, and many health roles that sit outside the separate Health and Care route.

An applicant generally fits the route when all of the following are true:

The route is open to applicants from inside and outside the UK. People already in the UK on another visa, such as the Graduate route or a Student visa, can often switch into the Skilled Worker visa without leaving the country.

One important 2026 change: the route narrowed sharply in 2025. Applications fell by roughly 40% year on year after the salary and skill thresholds rose, so the pool of eligible jobs is smaller than it was. That makes finding a genuinely sponsorable role the hardest part of the process, not the paperwork.

The core UK Skilled Worker visa requirements

Every UK Skilled Worker visa application is scored against a points system. An applicant needs 70 points in total. Fifty points are mandatory and non-negotiable; the final 20 come from salary, which is "tradeable" against a few discounts.

Here is how the 70 points break down:

RequirementPointsType
Job offer from an approved sponsor20Mandatory
Job at the required skill level (RQF 6)20Mandatory
English at B2 level10Mandatory
Salary meets the threshold and going rate20Tradeable

The first three rows are fixed. An application that misses any one of them cannot proceed, regardless of salary. The mandatory 50 points break down into three checks.

1. A job offer from a licensed sponsor (20 points)

The employer must hold a valid sponsor licence and appear on the Home Office's published register of licensed sponsors. The licence must be A-rated. A B-rated or recently revoked sponsor cannot lawfully assign a valid Certificate of Sponsorship.

This is the check most candidates skip, and it is the one that wastes the most time. A company advertising "visa sponsorship available" is not the same as a company that actually holds a current licence for the relevant role.

2. A valid Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS)

The Certificate of Sponsorship is an electronic record, not a paper certificate. The sponsor assigns it through the Sponsor Management System, and it confirms the job title, occupation code, salary, and start date. An application must be made within three months of the CoS being assigned.

3. A job at the right skill level (20 points)

The role must sit at RQF Level 6 or higher for new applicants, or appear on a recognised exception list. This is the 2025 change that reshaped the route, and it gets its own section below.

That leaves the final 20 tradeable points, which come from salary. Miss the salary rule and the application cannot reach 70 points, even with everything else in place.

Skilled Worker visa salary requirements in 2026

Salary is where most Skilled Worker visa applications succeed or fail. The rule has two parts, and the role must clear both:

  1. the general salary threshold for the route, and
  2. the going rate for the specific occupation code.

The salary used is the higher of the two figures. A six-figure title means nothing if it falls below the published going rate for its SOC code.

The general Skilled Worker visa salary threshold

For most new applicants in 2026, the general threshold is £41,700 per year, with an hourly floor of around £17.13. The salary must come from guaranteed, regular pay. Overtime, tips, bonuses, and one-off allowances do not count toward the threshold.

We break the threshold down in detail, including how part-time and pro-rata roles are assessed, in our guide to the minimum salary for a Skilled Worker visa.

Lower salary options and discounts

Some applicants can be paid below the general threshold, down to a floor of £33,400 per year (or the relevant going-rate percentage), if they fall into a tradeable category. These include:

Even with a discount, the role must still meet the discounted going rate for its occupation. The going rate is set from national earnings data for each SOC code. You can look up the exact figure for any eligible occupation using our going rates lookup tool.

But here's where applicants get caught out: the discounts narrow the field rather than widen it. A "new entrant" rate still requires a sponsor willing to assign the CoS at that rate, and the role must still be genuinely graduate-level.

A worked example

Consider a marketing manager role under SOC code 3543. The general threshold is £41,700. If the published going rate for that code is, say, £38,000, the applicant must be paid at least £41,700, because the higher of the two figures applies. If instead the going rate were £45,000, the role would need to pay £45,000.

The occupation code on the Certificate of Sponsorship therefore matters as much as the headline salary. For a fuller breakdown of how the rules map to occupation codes, see our explainer on Appendix Skilled Worker.

The English language requirement rises to B2

From 8 January 2026, the English language standard for the Skilled Worker visa rose from B1 to B2 on the CEFR scale, roughly equivalent to A-level standard. This is one of the most consequential 2026 changes because it falls under the mandatory points.

An applicant can meet the B2 requirement in one of these ways:

The higher B2 bar means some applicants who would have passed at B1 in 2025 now need to retake a test. The English requirement applies only to the main applicant, not to dependants.

Skill level: why RQF Level 6 now decides eligibility

The single biggest change to the UK Skilled Worker visa came on 22 July 2025, when the minimum skill level rose from RQF Level 3 (A-level equivalent) to RQF Level 6 (graduate equivalent) for new applicants.

In plain terms, the job itself must be a graduate-level occupation. Hundreds of medium-skilled roles that qualified in 2024, from many care, hospitality, and administrative jobs, no longer qualify for a fresh Skilled Worker visa.

The Temporary Shortage List

A limited set of medium-skilled roles (RQF 3 to 5) remains accessible through the Temporary Shortage List until the end of 2026, subject to hard conditions. Workers on those roles generally cannot bring dependants.

We cover which occupations are on it, and what happens when it expires, in our guide to the Temporary Shortage List.

What about transitional cases?

Applicants extending a visa for which the first Certificate of Sponsorship was issued before 22 July 2025 can usually rely on the older skill and salary rules that applied at that time. The graduate-level requirement bites hardest on people entering the route for the first time in 2026.

How to apply for a UK Skilled Worker visa, step by step

The application itself is straightforward once a sponsor and a valid CoS are in place. The order matters.

  1. Secure a job offer from a licensed sponsor. The employer must hold an A-rated licence covering the occupation.
  2. Receive the Certificate of Sponsorship. The sponsor assigns the CoS through the Sponsor Management System and shares the reference number.
  3. Confirm the role meets the salary and skill rules. Check the going rate for the occupation code and the general threshold, taking the higher figure.
  4. Meet the English requirement. Sit a B2 SELT, or gather evidence of an exemption.
  5. Prove the savings requirement. Show £1,270 held for 28 consecutive days, unless the sponsor certifies maintenance.
  6. Complete the online application. Apply on GOV.UK, pay the visa fee and the Immigration Health Surcharge, and enter the CoS reference.
  7. Verify identity and biometrics. Use the UK Immigration: ID Check app, or attend a visa application centre.
  8. Submit supporting documents and wait for a decision.

Standard processing runs to around three weeks for applications from outside the UK and up to eight weeks for in-country applications. Priority and super-priority services can shorten this for an extra fee where available.

Documents required for a UK Skilled Worker visa

Missing documents are one of the most common reasons a Skilled Worker visa application stalls. The Home Office expects each of the following in the right format.

Documents not in English or Welsh need a certified translation. The single most common mistake is a salary or job title on the application that does not exactly match the Certificate of Sponsorship. The two records must agree.

UK Skilled Worker visa costs and fees in 2026

The total cost of a Skilled Worker visa exceeds the headline application fee. Three charges stack up: the application fee, the Immigration Health Surcharge, and proof of savings.

Application fees

Application typeUp to 3 yearsMore than 3 years
Applying from outside the UK£819£1,618
Applying from inside the UK (extend, switch, or update)£943£1,865
Job on the Immigration Salary List£628£1,235

Immigration Health Surcharge

The Immigration Health Surcharge is usually £1,035 per year of the visa, paid upfront for the full length of the visa. Over a five-year visa, that is £5,175 for the main applicant, and the same again for each dependant.

Proof of personal savings

An applicant must show £1,270 in available funds, held for 28 consecutive days, with the closing balance dated within 31 days of the application. A-rated sponsors can waive this by certifying maintenance on the Certificate of Sponsorship.

Who pays what

The applicant typically pays the visa fee, the Health Surcharge, and provides evidence of savings. The employer pays the sponsor licence fee, the Certificate of Sponsorship fee, and the Immigration Skills Charge, which rose by around 32% in late 2025.

How long the Skilled Worker visa lasts, and the route to settlement

A Skilled Worker visa can be granted for up to five years at a time before it needs to be extended. There is no limit on the number of extensions, provided the applicant still meets the requirements.

After five years of continuous residence on the route, an applicant can apply for indefinite leave to remain (ILR), the UK's settled status. ILR generally requires no single absence from the UK of more than 180 days in any rolling 12-month period across the qualifying years, plus the Life in the UK test and the salary rules at the time of application.

A 2026 watch point: the government has consulted on an "earned settlement" model that would lengthen the standard qualifying period from five to ten years for many routes, with reductions for higher earners and public-service workers. That consultation closed in early 2026 and is not yet law. Anyone counting on the five-year timeline should track the outcome, because it remains a proposal at the time of writing.

Bringing family on a Skilled Worker visa

Most Skilled Worker visa holders can bring a partner and children under 18 as dependants. Each dependant needs their own application, fee, and Immigration Health Surcharge payment.

Dependant partners on this route can usually work, with few restrictions, which is a meaningful advantage over some other visa categories.

Two exceptions matter in 2026:

Changing jobs or employers on a Skilled Worker visa

A Skilled Worker visa ties the holder to a specific sponsor and job. Moving to a new employer, or to a materially different role with the same employer, requires a new Certificate of Sponsorship and an application to update the visa.

The new employer must also be a licensed sponsor, and the new role must meet the salary and skill rules in force at the time of the change. A worker cannot simply start the new job and update the paperwork later.

Small changes, such as a promotion within the same occupation code or a standard pay rise, usually do not require a new application. A change of occupation code almost always does.

Extending a Skilled Worker visa

A Skilled Worker visa does not renew automatically. The holder applies to extend before the current visa expires, and the extension is a fresh assessment against the rules in force at that time.

An extension generally requires that the applicant:

The in-country fees apply: £943 for an extension of up to three years, or £1,865 for more than three years, plus the Immigration Health Surcharge for the new period. Applicants whose first Certificate of Sponsorship predates 22 July 2025 can often rely on the earlier skill and salary rules, which is why checking the original CoS date matters at the time of extension.

Time spent on the route counts toward the five-year qualifying period for settlement, provided residence stays continuous and absences stay within the 180-day annual limit.

Skilled Worker visa vs the Health and Care Worker visa

The Health and Care Worker visa is a separate branch of the Skilled Worker route, built for eligible health and social care professionals. The two share the same points framework but differ in three ways that matter.

A nurse, doctor, or social worker will usually fit the Health and Care route. An engineer, accountant, or software developer is eligible for the general Skilled Worker visa. If a role could sit under either, the occupation code on the Certificate of Sponsorship determines which rules apply.

Browse current Health and Care visa jobs to see which occupations the route covers.

The 2025 and 2026 changes that affect Skilled Worker applicants

The UK Skilled Worker visa has changed more in the last 18 months than in the previous five years. The headline shifts, drawn from the 2025 immigration white paper and subsequent rule changes:

For the policy background, the House of Commons Library briefing on changes after the 2025 immigration white paper is the most reliable neutral source.

Which jobs are eligible for the Skilled Worker visa?

There is no single fixed "Skilled Worker visa jobs list". Eligibility is decided by occupation code, not job title, so two roles with the same title can have different outcomes if they map to different codes.

For new applicants in 2026, an eligible job must meet one of these tests:

Common eligible occupations include software developers, data analysts, civil and mechanical engineers, accountants, architects, secondary school teachers, solicitors, and a wide range of management roles. Each maps to a Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code with its own going rate.

The fastest way to confirm a specific role is to look up its occupation code and the matching going rate in our going rates lookup tool, then compare the figure against the salary on offer.

How to find a job that meets the Skilled Worker visa rules

This is the part the law-firm guides leave out. Knowing the rules is one thing; finding a real job that satisfies all of them is the actual bottleneck in 2026.

A job only supports a Skilled Worker visa when three separate things line up at once:

  1. the employer holds a current, A-rated sponsor licence
  2. the role maps to an eligible, graduate-level occupation code
  3. the salary clears both the general threshold and the going rate

Most job boards check none of these. A listing that says "sponsorship available" tells you nothing about whether the employer's licence is live, whether the SOC code is eligible, or whether the advertised salary clears the going rate for that code.

That is the gap SponsoredJobs exists to close. Every listing is cross-checked against the Home Office register, the eligible occupation list, and the current salary threshold before it goes live, so the three checks above are already done. You can browse current Skilled Worker visa jobs that meet all three rules, or filter the full board of verified sponsored jobs by sector and location.

Employers holding a sponsor licence can reach this audience directly. Listing a graduate-level vacancy puts it in front of candidates already searching for verified Skilled Worker visa roles. See employer pricing to post a role.

Common Skilled Worker visa problems and how to fix them

The salary clears the threshold but not the going rate. Check the going rate for the exact SOC code, not just the £41,700 floor. The higher figure always applies.

The employer "offers sponsorship" but holds no licence. Confirm the company appears on the Home Office register and is A-rated before progressing. An expired or revoked licence cannot support a CoS.

The role is no longer graduate level. Since 22 July 2025, RQF 3 to 5 roles only qualify through the Temporary Shortage List, which is time-limited and excludes dependants.

English evidence falls short of B2. A B1 pass from 2025 no longer meets the standard. A fresh B2 SELT, or a qualifying degree confirmation, resolves it.

Savings held for too short a period. The £1,270 must remain in the account for 28 consecutive days, with the statement dated within 31 days of the application.

What happens if a Skilled Worker visa is refused

The Skilled Worker visa success rate sat at roughly 80% in 2025, down from around 98% in 2022, so refusals are more common than they once were. Most refusals trace back to the salary rule, the skill level, or document mismatches rather than anything exotic.

A refusal decision letter states the specific rule that was not met. There is usually no full right of appeal for a points-based refusal, but two routes exist:

Because most refusals are evidence problems rather than judgement calls, the practical fix is usually to correct the document or the salary and reapply, rather than to challenge the decision. A refusal does not bar a future application on the same route.

Skilled Worker visa UK FAQ

What is the minimum salary for a Skilled Worker visa in 2026?

For most new applicants, the general threshold is £41,700 a year, or the going rate for the occupation, whichever is higher. Some categories, such as new entrants and PhD holders, can be paid down to a £33,400 floor or a reduced percentage of the going rate.

Is the Skilled Worker visa the same as Tier 2?

It is the successor to the Tier 2 (General) visa, which closed to new applicants in December 2020. Employers still need a sponsor licence, but the current route is the Skilled Worker visa under Appendix Skilled Worker.

How long does a UK Skilled Worker visa last?

It can be granted for up to five years before it needs to be extended, and there is no cap on extensions. After five years of continuous residence, an applicant may apply for indefinite leave to remain, subject to the rules in effect at the time.

Can a Skilled Worker visa lead to settlement?

Yes. The standard route to indefinite leave to remain is five years of continuous residence. Proposed "earned settlement" reforms could extend this to ten years for many applicants, but those changes are not yet law.

Can family come on a Skilled Worker visa?

Most holders can bring a partner and children under 18 as dependants, and partners can usually work. Temporary Shortage List roles and some care roles are exceptions where dependants are restricted.

What English level does the Skilled Worker visa need in 2026?

From 8 January 2026, the requirement is B2 on the CEFR scale, up from B1. It can be met with an approved B2 SELT, a degree taught in English, or nationality of a majority English-speaking country.

How much does a Skilled Worker visa cost?

Application fees range from £628 to £1,865 depending on length, location, and whether the job is on the Immigration Salary List. On top sits the Immigration Health Surcharge at around £1,035 per year, plus proof of £1,270 in savings.

Can a Skilled Worker change employer?

Only by getting a new Certificate of Sponsorship from another licensed sponsor and applying to update the visa first. The new role must meet the salary and skill rules in force at the time of the move.

What jobs qualify for a Skilled Worker visa now?

For new applicants, the role must be graduate level (RQF 6) or on a recognised exception list, map to an eligible occupation code, and meet the salary rules. A smaller set of medium-skilled roles remains accessible through the Temporary Shortage List until the end of 2026.

How long does a Skilled Worker visa take to process?

Standard processing is around three weeks for applications from outside the UK and up to eight weeks for in-country applications, with priority services available for an extra fee in some cases.

Can a Graduate or Student visa holder switch to a Skilled Worker visa?

Yes. Holders of many visas, including the Graduate route and the Student visa, can usually switch into the Skilled Worker visa from inside the UK once they hold a Certificate of Sponsorship and meet the salary, skill, and English rules. The in-country application fees apply.

What counts toward the Skilled Worker visa salary?

Only guaranteed, regular gross pay for the sponsored role counts. Overtime, bonuses, commission, tips, and most allowances are excluded from the threshold calculation, even if they form part of total take-home pay.

Can a Skilled Worker take a second job?

Supplementary work is allowed in limited circumstances, generally up to 20 hours a week in the same occupation code or on the Immigration Salary List, alongside the sponsored job. The sponsored role remains the primary basis of the visa.

SponsoredJobs lists UK jobs from employers on the Home Office register of licensed sponsors. Every listing is verified against an active sponsor licence, an eligible SOC code, and the current salary threshold.

Browse verified Skilled Worker visa jobs →

This article is factual information about the UK Skilled Worker visa, not immigration advice. For guidance on an individual case, consult a regulated immigration adviser or the official guidance on GOV.UK.

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