Software developer visa: what code 2134 has to pay
Programmers and software developers (SOC 2134) are eligible for a Skilled Worker visa. The bar is the going rate of £54,700 for a 37.5-hour week, well above the £41,700 general floor.
Code 2134: salary check for a developer job
Minimum salary for this job
£54,700
Your salary is £2,700 below the threshold.
| Points option A | £41,700 floor |
| Going rate (full time) | £54,700 |
| Going rate per hour | £28.05 |
| Your pay per hour | £26.67 |
| 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
Code 2134, "programmers and software development professionals", sits in Table 1 of Appendix Skilled Occupations, the higher skilled list, so a licensed sponsor can recruit into it from abroad without any shortage list. Because its going rate of £54,700 is above the general threshold of £41,700, the going rate is the number that decides: a full-time developer must be paid at least that, and the figure moves with the hours on the certificate of sponsorship. Three groups may be paid less. A new entrant needs £38,300, 70 % of the rate. A holder of a STEM doctorate relevant to the job needs £43,700, and a holder of a relevant doctorate in another subject £49,200. The code is not on the Immigration Salary List or the Temporary Shortage List and has no postdoctoral discount. Someone first sponsored before 4 April 2024 and continuously since is assessed on the older rate of £40,000. The checker above starts on code 2134.
Verdict for code 2134
| Test | Result for 2134 |
|---|---|
| Table | Table 1 (higher skilled) |
| Going rate, 37.5 hours | £54,700 |
| New entrant (70 %) | £38,300 |
| Relevant STEM PhD (80 %) | £43,700 |
| Relevant PhD, other subject (90 %) | £49,200 |
| Immigration Salary List | no |
| Temporary Shortage List | no |
| First sponsored before 4 April 2024 | £40,000 |
The titles the classification places here are computer games designers, computer programmers, software developers and programmers and software development professionals not elsewhere classified. A job title alone settles nothing: the duties written on the certificate have to match what SOC 2020 describes for the code. The employer chooses the code, but a caseworker can refuse if a cheaper code was picked for a job that is really development work, under SW 6.2 of the rules.
Contract hours change the threshold
Developer contracts are often written for 35 or 40 hours rather than 37.5, and the going rate is pro-rated to whatever the certificate says. At 35 hours the threshold is £51,053.33; at 45 hours it rises to £65,640. Only the first 48 hours a week are counted, so a contract for more hours cannot inflate the salary on paper. The £41,700 floor is not pro-rated, but with this code it never decides. A new entrant on a 35-hour contract needs £35,746.67, and a STEM doctorate holder on 40 hours £46,613.33.
Only guaranteed basic gross pay is tested. Equity, bonuses, overtime, allowances and other benefits in kind are left out, so a package that looks generous on paper can still fall short if the base salary is below the line. Each monthly payslip has to reach the pro-rated rate on its own.
Developers who came on a Skilled Worker visa before 4 April 2024 and have held it without a break are measured against the older table for applications made before 4 April 2030. For them code 2134 needs £40,000 at 37.5 hours, with a floor of £31,300, which is why a long-standing developer can change employer at a salary that a newcomer could not be offered. Choose that answer under "Already a Skilled Worker?" in the checker to see the difference for your hours.
Neighbouring codes a sponsor might use
Many technology jobs straddle two codes. If yours is closer to architecture, security, testing or infrastructure work, a different code may describe it better, with its own rate:
| Code | Occupation | Going rate | New entrant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2133 | IT business analysts, architects and systems designers | £54,900 | £38,400 |
| 2135 | Cyber security professionals | £48,500 | £34,000 |
| 2136 | IT quality and testing professionals | £41,200 | £33,400 |
| 2139 | Information technology professionals not elsewhere classified | £52,300 | £36,600 |
| 2141 | Web design professionals | £43,800 | £33,400 |
A lower rate is not a reason to choose a code. The duties on the certificate must match the code's description, and a DevOps engineer coded as a tester to fit a lower rate is exactly what SW 6.2 targets. The SOC code checker searches every title.
Fees on top of the salary test
The developer pays £819 for a visa of up to three years from abroad and the health surcharge of £1,035 a year, £3,924 for three years in all. The employer pays £525 for the certificate of sponsorship and the immigration skills charge, which code 2134 does not escape. Settlement is possible after 5 years if the salary still meets the rate then in force. Moving to another company is a new application with a new certificate, not a notification: from inside the country it costs £943 for up to three years, and the new salary is tested against the rates in force on the day you apply. To see whether a given company already holds a licence, search the register of licensed sponsors.