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The Skilled Worker Visa, formerly known as the Tier 2 Work Visa, is a route through which eligible workers from overseas can come and work in the UK. This route is part of the UK’s points-based immigration system, meaning applicants must score a certain number of points in order to apply.
If you need help applying for a Work Visa, our immigration lawyers are here to help. Speak to our client care team today on 0207 993 6762 to hear about our application support service.
The Skilled Worker Visa is a relatively new route in the immigration rules that replaced the Tier 2 (General) Work Visa as of 1 January 2021.
As a result of the UK’s decision to leave the European Union, the immigration rules were amended. But since the Work Visa remains one of the most popular routes for workers, the UK Government had to relax the rules to avoid a skill shortage or shortage of labour. The UK’s points-based system is designed to encourage highly skilled migrants, and so is considered fairer than the Tier 2 (General) Work Visa.
The Skilled Worker Visa has a much more flexible eligibility criteria than its predecessor. For example, Tier 2 migrants had to earn a salary of at least £30,000 to be eligible for the visa. Now, however, Skilled Work Visa permits are granted to applicants who can score points based on their salary, education, skill level and more. Applicants no longer need to earn as high as £30,000 to be eligible.
Another advantage of the new Work Visa is that it can last up to five years. After five years of working in the UK continuously, applicants can then seek permanent residency, otherwise known as Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR).
The Skilled Worker Visa is the route taken by working professionals to emigrate to the UK. They can do an eligible job with an approved employer in the UK. It has replaced the previously available Tier 2 General Work Visa.
A Working professional who fulfils the following requirements is eligible to apply:
Anyone outside the UK who:
Applicants have to prove working knowledge of English as a spoken and written language.
Applicants must have a minimum salary of £25,600 per year or £10.10 per hour. Anything below this is unacceptable for eligibility.
If your occupation’s going rate is above these, then you have to be paid that rate by your employer.
Check the going rate for your occupation here:
Note: If your sponsorship letter was issued before 1 December 2020, ask for a new copy as the Visa has changed from Tier 2 (General) Work Visa to Skilled Worker Visa UK.
Some cases require providing special documents (eg, Tuberculosis report, criminal records, etc) depending on the country and job selected. For a complete understanding of your particular case schedule a callback with one of our expert advisors here.
The standard application fees for the Skilled Worker Visa costs from £610 to £1,408 depending on the circumstances of application.
Along with application you have to pay a healthcare surcharge of £624 per year.
No. A job sponsorship is mandatory for the Skilled Worker Visa UK.
If you are NOT an eligible worker using this visa, schedule a free call back here to discuss other ways you might be able to enter the UK.
Visit this link for a complete list of Worker and Temporary worker Sponsors in the UK:
Use this list to verify the sponsor issuing your certificate.
If you are using this list to make a decision on where to work, be sure to talk to a good agency about which sponsor to choose and possibly verify if their credentials and work culture harmonize with your expectations.
You can easily find the jobs listed here:
Yes. In certain cases the applicant can apply for jobs below the minimum salary threshold. It can be as low as £20,480 per year but not lower. The possible conditions are:
Note: For other PhD graduates (eg, Psychology) the minimum salary is £23,040 per year.
A Shortage Occupation in the UK is any occupation which has a high shortage of workers. An updated list can be found here:
Search for your Occupation code using the title of your job in this tool:
Not every job title might be available and if you don't find your title try search using a similar title instead.
For instance, Chefs are eligible for the Visa, but cooks are not. Look for similar professional titles to see if the job descriptions match.
You can stay in the UK for 5 years using this Visa. Further extension after 5 years is possible as long as you meet the eligibility requirements.
After 5 years of living in the UK you can be eligible to apply to settle permanently in the UK using the Indefinite Leave to Remain route.
Application timeline varies on whether you’re applying from outside the UK or within the UK.
Applied from Outside the UK: 3 weeks
Applied from Within the UK: 8 Weeks
If you need to fast track the process, you might be able to pay for a faster decision.
For your dependents under Skilled Worker Visa UK you will need to provide proof of relation.
For Partner you will need to prove:
If your child is 16 or over:
They must:
If your child lives with you, you’ll need to provide evidence of their address such as:
You need to show that your dependents have a certain amount of money to survive in the UK.
You - or your partner or child - will need to keep money in the bank to show this ability:
For skilled worker visa uk points calculation, visit our blog article on points calculation here.
Ans. – The Tier 2 sponsor licence list is all about a list of published record of organizations that are licensed for sponsoring non-EEA migrant workers under Tier 2 & 5. The list is updated on a regular basis.
There are four categories under the route of Tier 2 sponsor licence:
Ans. –The processing time for Tier 2 sponsor licence is almost ten weeks. You will likely receive a pre-license audit from an officer dealing with Home Office Compliance. The entire team will pay a visit to your premises to make sure that you have right procedures required for maintaining all duties of sponsorship.
Ans. – There are three various types of industries in the UK that hire international students. They are:
Accounting, Consulting and Professional Services – EY, KPMG, BDO, Capco, Oliver Wyman
Banking and Finance – Barclays, HSBC, RBS, Aviva, First Derivatives
Engineering and Technology – Airbus, Atos, Babcock, UK Power Networks, Centrica
It is very much essential to keep up-to-date regarding the names of companies that will permit along with the ones that will not.
Ans. –The applicants of Tier 2 must have a valid job offer. The company must pay the applicant accordingly. The salary package must vary on the basis of designation along with the level of experience. It is better to confirm about the same in detail prior moving ahead. It is better to conduct in-depth research.
Ans. –The Tier 2 sponsor visa in UK is issued to the spouse, family or child of the respective member holding a valid Tier 2 visa. The visa is for those people that are accompanying or about the join their family in the United Kingdom, who have already applied for the Tier 2 visa.
To be eligible for a Skilled Worker Visa, you need to accumulate at least 70 points.
However, it is also important to note that some points are mandatory, and others more flexible.
You must score 50 mandatory points as follows:
The remaining 20 points are ‘tradable’ and can be swapped for one another. This works as follows:
In addition to scoring points, you also have to meet a number of requirements in order to be eligible for the work permit.
Generally speaking, you must:
As with any visa route, you must prove to UKVI that you have met all of the stipulated visa requirements. You will need to submit your evidence in a portfolio within your application.
The documents you will need to submit include:
The cost for a Work Visa depends on where in the world you are applying from and how long you intend on working in the UK.
If you are applying for a Skilled Work Visa from within the UK, the fees are:
If you are applying from outside the UK, the fees are:
The good news is that if you are filling a job on the Shortage Occupation List (SOL), you can benefit from a visa discount. An SOL visa costs £464 for 3 years or £928 for longer.
However, these fees do not include additional immigration fees, such as the cost to register your biometric information, the Immigration Health Surcharge or any lawyer fees. You may also need to pay to have your documents translated into English.
In order to legally hire talent from overseas, employers must have a Sponsorship Licence from the UK government. With this licence, you can then issue ‘certificates of sponsorship’ to international workers who you intend to hire.
The Sponsor Licence permission can vary depending on how many people you wish to recruit and how large the business is.
You must also be mindful that you’ll need to pay an Immigration Skills Charge per each and every overseas worker you hire. This charge can be as low as £364 for a 12-month employment, followed by another £182 for each subsequent 6-months thereafter.
However, larger businesses can pay up to £1,000 for a member of staff to work on their premises for 12 months. The fee is then reduced to £500 for each subsequent 6-month period after.
Our immigration lawyers situated in the heart of London are well-versed in the Work Visa rules. We can assist you in creating an airtight Skilled Worker Visa application from start to finish, and in fact we help hundreds of people achieve their dreams of working in the capital, and the UK, every single day.
Call us on 0207 993 6762 for a free initial consultation on your case and to hear more about our bespoke Work Visa advice services.
Yes it is one of the mandatory points to score in order to qualify for a skilled worker visa
In most instances you can switch to a skilled worker visa route if you are already in the UK and have a valid job offer from a sponsor. In some cases you will have to leave the UK and re-enter with an entry clearance, for e.g. if you are in the UK on a tourist visa.
Unfortunately we do not assist in finding a job as we are an immigration firm. We can guide you how to go about finding one once you instruct us to deal with your application.
Yes anyone who has spent 5 years on a skilled worker visa will qualify for ILR subject to meeting all the other requirements.