To sponsor you for a Skilled Worker visa, an employer must hold a Skilled Worker sponsor licence.

A sponsor licence is expensive and requires a number of ongoing responsibilities from the employer. It is best to look at employers who already hold sponsor licences rather than hoping that the employer will apply for a licence in order to sponsor you. There are thousands of sponsors on the list. We strongly recommend that you look for job vacancies that you are interested in and then check if the employer is on the list, rather than starting at the top of the list and working your way down.

In order to sponsor you for a visa, the employer will issue you with a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) which is an electronic record similar to the CAS you used if you applied for a Student visa. Before they can issue you with a CoS, however, they must assess that the job is suitable for sponsorship.

Health & Care Worker: to be eligible for this sub-category, you must be sponsored, employed or engaged by the NHS, an NHS supplier or an approved adult social care provider.

Not all jobs are eligible for Skilled Worker sponsorship. The list of job titles/types that the Home Office have considered can be found in Skilled Worker visa: eligible occupations and codes of the Home Office guidance.

Look at the job title of the vacancy you are interested in and use your browser search function to find the code and classification.

In Column 1 you will see a 4 digit code (this is known as the SOC 2020 code) and a general job category in Column 2. In the example above, the SOC 2020 code is 2432 and the job category is ‘Marketing and commercial managers’. Column 3 is a list of job titles that are considered to fall into that job category and code. These are not the only job titles that can come under that category, they are just some common examples.

Column 4 shows the classification:

• Highly skilled: the role may be eligible depending on the salary (see 'Salary' section below).
• Medium skilled: the role is eligible if it is also included on the Immigration Salary List or the Temporary Shortage List.
• Ineligible: the role is not eligible for Skilled Worker sponsorship. Consider other visa routes such as Global Talent or Graduate visa.

If you can’t immediately find it on the list, however, there is an additional check you can make. Go to the CASCOT tool and type in the job title that you are looking at. It will bring up relevant SOC 2020 codes and job descriptions that you can check against the Home Office list. 

Health & Care Worker visa: If the job you are looking at is in health, social care or education, you can check for the SOC 2020 codes on these two lists. Only jobs listed here would qualify under this sub-category:

1. SW A1.1 of Appendix Skilled Worker
2. Table 3 of Appendix Skilled Occupations

Once you have established that a particular job is 'highly skilled' or 'medium skilled' and know the relevant SOC code, you must look at the salary level. This is the most complicated area of the Skilled Worker visa.

The salary for the job must meet the Home Office minimum threshold OR the going rate for the job, whichever is higher.

Minimum threshold

The Home Office minimum salary threshold is £41,700. However, there are a number of situations where you can be paid less than this and many of these are relevant to students. These are referred to as Options A-E.

Option A: Minimum threshold of £41,700 applies to anyone applying for a Skilled Worker visa who doesn’t qualify for one of the other options.

Option B: PhD graduates with a job offer related to their PhD. 90% of the threshold: £37,500. Use occupation code to check if the role qualifies for the PhD salary discount.

Option C: STEM PhD graduates with a job offer related to their PhD. 80% of the threshold: £33,400. Use occupation code to check if the role qualifies for the PhD salary discount.

Option D: Appendix Immigration Salary list: shortage occupation jobs. 80% of the threshold: £33,400.

Option E: New entrants. 80% of the threshold: £33,400.

Health & Care Worker visa: If the job you are looking at is in health, social care or education, the salary range is different. Refer to the next accordion.

What is a new entrant?

You are considered a ‘new entrant’ if you:

• Have a valid Student visa (or your Student visa expired less than 2 years ago) AND
• Have completed (or are applying no more than 3 months before you are expected to complete) a UK degree or above on that visa OR
• Are currently studying a PhD for which you have completed at least 24 months study in the UK.

You are also considered a new entrant if your:

• Most recent visa was a Graduate visa and it is still valid or expired within the last 2 years.

If any of the above does not apply to you, you can still qualify for the new entrant rate if you:

• Are under 26 OR
• You’ll be working towards a recognised qualification in a UK regulated profession OR
• You’ll be working towards full registration or chartered status in the job you’re being sponsored for.

You are only eligible to be on a Skilled Worker visa at the new entrant lower salary level for 4 years. You need to have moved up to the minimum threshold (or the threshold in Option B or C if you hold a PhD) by the end of 4 years if you want to continue in the UK on Skilled Worker.

Going rate

Remember that the minimum threshold is not everything. The salary must meet the minimum threshold or the going rate for the job whichever is higher.

The going rate is the salary level that the Home Office considers to be the market rate for the particular job title.

The going rate may be much higher than the minimum Home Office threshold. If it is lower or the same, then the minimum Home Office threshold mentioned above is the salary that the job must pay. If it is higher than the Home Office threshold, then the going rate is the salary that the job must pay. If the salary is not at that level, it will not be eligible for Skilled Worker sponsorship.

Medium skilled

'Medium skilled': Look at the standard rate column on the Immigration Salary List or Temporary Shortage List for the going rate. 

Highly skilled

'Highly skilled': Look at Table 1 of Appendix Skilled Occupation for the going rate. The other tables refer to different sets of Skilled Worker rules which will not be relevant to most people.

On Appendix Skilled Occupations, look at Table 1. If you scroll to the very bottom of the table, you will see that there is a scroll bar which allows you to scroll across. You will need to scroll to see the different going rate levels depending on which ‘Option’ you are eligible for. Search the list using the occupation code for the job you are looking at. If you are eligible for the new entrant rate (Option E) because you are a recent graduate, scroll across until you see the Option E going rate for the job code that you are looking at.

Health, social care and education only.

Once you have found the related SOC 2020 code (either in SW A1.1 or Table 3), you must look at the salary level. This is the most complicated area of the Skilled Worker visa.

The salary for the job must meet the Home Office minimum threshold OR the going rate for the job, whichever is higher.

Minimum threshold

The Home Office minimum salary threshold in this sub-category is £31,300. However, there are a number of situations where you can be paid less than this and many of these are relevant to students. These are referred to as Options F-J and Option K.

Option F: Minimum threshold of £31,300 applies to anyone applying for a Skilled Worker visa who doesn’t qualify for one of the other options.

Option G: PhD graduates with a job offer related to their PhD. 90% of the threshold: £28,200.

Option H: STEM PhD graduates with a job offer related to their PhD. 80% of the threshold: £25,000.

Option I: Appendix Immigration Salary list: shortage occupation jobs: £25,000.

Option J: New entrants. 80% of the threshold: £25,000.

Option K: Job listed in Table 3 Appendix Skilled Occupation: £25,000.

What is a new entrant?

You are considered a ‘new entrant’ if you:

• Have a valid Student visa (or your Student visa expired less than 2 years ago) AND
• Have completed (or are applying no more than 3 months before you are expected to complete) a UK degree or above on that visa OR
• Are currently studying a PhD for which you have completed at least 24 months study in the UK.

You are also considered a new entrant if your:

• Most recent visa was a Graduate visa and it is still valid or expired within the last 2 years.

If any of the above does not apply to you, you can still qualify for the new entrant rate if you:

• Are under 26 OR
• You’ll be working towards a recognised qualification in a UK regulated profession OR
• You’ll be working towards full registration or chartered status in the job you’re being sponsored for.

You are only eligible to be on a Skilled Worker visa at the new entrant lower salary level for 4 years. You need to have moved up to the minimum threshold (or the threshold in Option F or G if you hold a PhD) by the end of 4 years if you want to continue in the UK on Skilled Worker.

Going rate

Remember that the minimum threshold is not everything. The salary must meet the minimum threshold or the going rate for the job whichever is higher.

The going rate is the salary level that the Home Office considers to be the market rate for the particular job title.

• SOC 2020 codes listed in SW A1.1 Appendix Skilled Worker: Go to Table 2 on Appendix Skilled Occupations
• SOC 2020 codes listed in Table 3 Appendix Skilled Occupation: Go to Table 3 of the same page

If you scroll to the very bottom of the table, you will see that there is a scroll bar which allows you to scroll across. You will need to scroll to see the different going rate levels depending on which ‘Option’ you are eligible for. Search the list using the occupation code for the job you are looking at. If you are eligible for the new entrant rate (Option J) because you are a recent graduate, scroll across until you see the Option J going rate for the job code that you are looking at.

The going rate may be much higher than the minimum Home Office threshold. If it is lower or the same, then the minimum Home Office threshold mentioned above is the salary that the job must pay. If it is higher than the Home Office threshold, then the going rate is the salary that the job must pay. If the salary is not at that level, it will not be eligible for Skilled Worker sponsorship.

You must have a minimum level of English of CEFR B1 or above to get a Skilled Worker visa. If you have been awarded a UK degree, you will meet this requirement. You can also meet it through a Secure English Language Test (SELT) or because you are a national of a majority English speaking country.

If you are due to start your Skilled Worker job straight after you finish your degree, you might not have been awarded a degree yet. In that case, you cannot meet the English requirement using your degree. Unless you are exempt because you are a national of a majority English speaking country, you will need a recent Secure English Language Test like an IELTS to satisfy this requirement.

If you have received official financial sponsorship from a government for your studies within the last 12 months, you will need written permission from your government sponsor to remain in the UK and apply for a Skilled Worker visa.

If you rely on Option E for salary, you should be aware that an application under this option has a time limit.

You can only rely on the lower Option E New Entrant salary level for 4 years and those 4 years include any time you spent on a Graduate visa. After 4 years, you need to being paid in line with one of the other Options in order to continue to be sponsored for a Skilled Worker visa. 

You can apply for a Skilled Worker visa up to 3 months before the employment start date that’s listed on your CoS.

However, if you are on a Student visa, you can only submit a Skilled Worker application before your course finishes if the CoS start date is after the end date of your course. For example, if your course finishes on 24 September, and your CoS start date is 1 October, you could apply for your Skilled Worker visa in the 3 months before 1 October.

If your course end date is 24 September and your CoS start date is 1 September, you would not be able to apply for a Skilled Worker visa until you finish your course. Therefore these dates would not work out and you may want to negotiate a later start date with your employer.​

Note: If you are needing your degree to meet the English language requirement, you won’t actually be able to meet that until you are awarded 1-3 months after you complete your degree.​

The only exception to above rules is if you are studying a PhD. PhD students can switch to Skilled Worker partway through a PhD as long as they have completed up to 24 months. We would recommend discussing this with us, however, particularly if you will carry on with your PhD at the same time.