Skilled Workers
Overview of the Skilled Worker route
You might still be able to apply for a Skilled Worker visa if your job is eligible but your salary is less than the standard salary requirement of £38,700 or your job’s standard ‘going rate’.
You can be paid between 70% and 90% of the standard going rate for your job if your salary is at least £30,960 per year and you meet one of the following criteria:
- you’re under 26, studying or a recent graduate, or in professional training
- you have a science, technology, engineering or maths (STEM) PhD level qualification that’s relevant to your job (if you have a relevant PhD level qualification in any other subject your salary must be at least £26,100)
- you have a postdoctoral position in science or higher education
There is no requirement for sponsors to undertake a Resident Labour Market Test, however, vacancies must be ‘genuine’ and meet the skill and salary thresholds.
Genuine vacancy
The Home Office defines a genuine vacancy as one which:a) requires the jobholder to perform the specific duties and responsibilities for the job and meets all of the requirements of the relevant routeb) does not include dissimilar and/or predominantly lower-skilled dutiesc) is appropriate to the business in light of its business model, business plan and scale
Eligibility criteria
To be eligible for a Skilled Worker Visa, the applicant must score a minimum of 70 points in total. This includes 50 points for mandatory or ‘non-tradeable’ criteria, and 20 points for ‘tradeable’ criteria.An applicant must meet the following mandatory criteria to score 50 points:
In addition to scoring 50 points for the above criteria, the applicant must score a further 20 ‘tradeable’ points based on:
(a) their salary; and
(b) other criteria if necessary and applicable (i.e. relevant academic qualifications held by them, being sponsored to work in a shortage occupation or an eligible health or education occupation, or because they are a ‘new entrant' to the UK’s labour market)
Financial requirement
If the applicant is applying for entry clearance from outside the UK or has been in the UK for less than one year at the date of application, they must show they have enough funds to support themselves and any family members in the UK.
Criminal records certificate requirement
Skilled workers in in education, health or social care sectors and dependent partner (over 18 years old) of the main applicant in any of the above routes, either together with the main applicant or separately must provide a criminal record certificate for any country (excluding the UK) where you have lived for 12 months or more (whether continuous or in total), in the 10 years before your application, while aged 18 or over.
Dependants
Skilled workers can bring their family members (partners and children below 18 years) to the UK and can apply to settle in the UK after 5 years’ continuous lawful residence.