Skilled Worker visa

The UK Skilled Worker visa allows overseas skilled workers to come to or stay in the UK to do an eligible job with an approved employer. You must have a confirmed job offer from a UK company that holds a sponsorship license.

In order to secure a Skilled Worker Visa, you will need to be sponsored to do a specific job, which meets certain skill and salary requirements, by an employer that has been licensed by the Home Office. There is no cap on the number of people who can enter the UK on the Skilled Worker route.

The route can lead to settlement and applicants can be joined by dependent partners and children. The skilled Worker visa has replaced the Tier 2 (General) work visa category from 1 December 2020.

 Eligibility requirements

To qualify for a Skilled Worker visa, you must:

• work for a UK employer that's been approved by the Home Office
• have a 'certificate of sponsorship' from your employer with information about the role you've been offered in the UK
• do a job that's on the list of eligible occupations
• be paid a minimum salary - how much depends on the type of work you do

What is the Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) Requirement?

In order to obtain a Skilled Worker Visa, you must have a valid Certificate of Sponsorship for the job you are planning to do. Your Certificate of Sponsorship will need to have been issued by an employer that is authorized by the Home Office to sponsor the job in question under the Skilled Worker route.

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 in your last permission.

Your Certificate of Sponsorship must have been issued not more than 3 months before the date of your Skilled Worker application.

What is the English language requirement?

In order to qualify for a Skilled Worker Visa, you will need to demonstrate English language ability on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages in all 4 components (reading, writing, speaking, and listening) to at least level B1 (intermediate).

Prospective employees applying for entry clearance or leave to remain as a Skilled Worker will satisfy the English language requirement if they:

• Are a national of a majority English-speaking country;
• Have passed a Secure English Language Test;
• Have been awarded a degree taught in English;
• Obtained a GCSE/A Level or Scottish Highers in English while at school in the UK; or
• Have already shown they met the requirement, of level B1, in a previous successful application for entry clearance or permission to stay.