Skilled Worker visa: check your job, salary and cost
Most new Skilled Worker jobs must pay at least £41,700 a year or the going rate of their occupation code, whichever is higher. Pick your code and salary to see where you stand.
Skilled Worker eligibility and salary check
Minimum salary for this job
£54,700
Your salary of £56,000 meets it, with £1,300 to spare.
| Points option A | £41,700 floor |
| Going rate (full time) | £54,700 |
| Going rate per hour | £28.05 |
| Your pay per hour | £28.72 |
| Visa fee, up to 3 years (outside the UK) | £819 |
| Health surcharge, 3 years | £3,105 |
Higher skilled occupation (Table 1): eligible.
Threshold in each situation
| Standard rate | £54,700 |
| New entrant (under 26, recent student or graduate, in training) | £38,300 |
| PhD in a STEM subject relevant to the job | £43,700 |
| PhD in another subject relevant to the job | £49,200 |
Calculated in your browser: nothing you type is sent anywhere. Not legal advice; not affiliated with the Home Office.
Published by Radif Partners · How we calculate · Home Office fees of 8 October 2026, rules checked 13 October 2026
A Skilled Worker visa lets you work in the UK for an employer the Home Office has licensed, in a job whose occupation code is eligible, at a salary that meets two tests at once: the general threshold of £41,700 a year and the going rate of the code, pro-rated to your weekly hours. New entrants, holders of a relevant PhD, postdoctoral researchers and jobs on the Immigration Salary List can be paid less, down to £33,400, and health and education jobs follow national pay scales from £25,000. Since 22 July 2025 only 91 "higher skilled" codes are open to new applicants without conditions; 170 "medium skilled" codes need a place on a shortage list, and 113 codes are not eligible at all. The calculator above applies those rules to your code and salary, then prices the visa: from outside the UK the fee is £819 for up to three years and £1,618 for longer, plus the health surcharge of £1,035 a year for each person.
The three things the Home Office checks
Every Skilled Worker application scores points, and all 70 must be there: 20 for a certificate of sponsorship from a licensed employer, 20 for a job at the right skill level, 10 for English at level B2, and 20 for the salary. The first three are yes or no. The salary is where most refusals happen, because the threshold is not one number: it depends on the occupation code the employer chooses, on your hours, and on who you are.
The employer picks the four-digit code from the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC 2020) and writes it on the certificate. The caseworker may refuse if a less suitable code was chosen to get under a lower going rate, so the code has to match what you will actually do. The SOC code checker searches the 412 codes by job title.
How the salary threshold is worked out
For a new applicant in a standard job, the salary must reach both £41,700 a year and the going rate printed in Table 1 of Appendix Skilled Occupations. The going rate assumes a 38-hour week, so it rises or falls with the hours on the certificate; the £41,700 floor does not. A software developer (code 2134) has a going rate of £54,700: at full time the threshold is £54,700, at 40 hours it becomes £58,346.67. Hours above 48 a week do not count towards the salary, which stops long rotas from inflating pay on paper.
Since 8 April 2026 the rules also say the pay must hold in every pay period: each month (or week) must reach the going rate for the hours worked that period, so an annual figure propped up by a year-end bonus no longer works. Only guaranteed basic gross pay counts (employee pension and National Insurance contributions included); shift pay, overtime, bonuses, accommodation or cost-of-living allowances and benefits in kind do not.
| Situation | Floor | Share of the going rate | Option |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard job | £41,700 | 100% | A |
| PhD relevant to the job (any subject) | £37,500 | 90 % | B |
| PhD in a STEM subject | £33,400 | 80 % | C |
| Job on the Immigration Salary List | £33,400 | 100% | D |
| New entrant or postdoctoral position | £33,400 | 70 % | E |
| Listed health or education job | £25,000 | national pay scale | K |
Which occupation codes are still open
The July 2025 reform raised the skill level to degree level (RQF 6). Codes below it moved to Table 1a and are open to new applicants only while they sit on the Immigration Salary List or the Temporary Shortage List, whose certificates must be issued before 31 December 2026. Workers already in a medium skilled job before 22 July 2025 keep access to it, with their dependants. Care workers (codes 6135 and 6136) can no longer be recruited from abroad; switching inside the UK is allowed until 22 July 2028 after three months with the sponsor. The Immigration Salary List page and the Temporary Shortage List page give the codes and their conditions.
What the visa costs a family
Each person pays the application fee for the same length as the main applicant, and the immigration health surcharge for every year, children at the reduced £776. A couple with two children applying from abroad for five years pays £6,472 in fees and £18,110 in surcharge, £24,582 in all, before the £1,270 of savings each adult may have to show. Jobs on the Immigration Salary List pay a lower fee (£628 up to three years), and the Health and Care Worker visa is cheaper again with no surcharge. The cost calculator prices any combination.
Skilled Worker visa cost for your family
Total to pay when you apply
£24,582
Skilled Worker, over 3 years, outside the UK · Home Office fees of 8 October 2026
| Person | Fee | Surcharge |
|---|---|---|
| Main applicant | £1,618 | £5,175 |
| Partner | £1,618 | £5,175 |
| Child 1 | £1,618 | £3,880 |
| Child 2 | £1,618 | £3,880 |
| Application fees | £6,472 |
| Health surcharge (5 years) | £18,110 |
| Total | £24,582 |
Calculated in your browser: nothing you type is sent anywhere. Not legal advice; not affiliated with the Home Office.
From visa to settlement
After 5 continuous years you can apply for indefinite leave to remain, 28 days early, if you spent no more than 180 days abroad in any 12 months and your salary still meets the settlement threshold (£41,700 or the going rate for most). From 26 March 2027 settlement will need English at B2. The government consulted on "earned settlement" from November 2025; the rules in force on 13 October 2026 still say five years. The ILR calculator dates it from your trips.