UK Skilled Worker visa: salary thresholds, costs and how to apply

Qualified doctors, nurses, midwives, allied health professionals and some social care roles working for the NHS, an NHS supplier or in adult social care can apply for the Health and Care Worker visa, a version of Skilled Worker. It costs £324 for up to 3 years or £628 for longer, the applicant and family pay no health surcharge, and salaries usually need to be at least £25,000 or the national pay scale rate. Eligible codes include 2211 and 2212 (doctors), 2231 to 2237 (nurses and midwives), 2221 to 2229 (therapists), 2251 (pharmacists) and 6131 (nursing auxiliaries).

You need a confirmed job offer from a UK employer on the register of licensed sponsors and a certificate of sponsorship (CoS) issued within the last 3 months. The job’s 4-digit occupation code must be listed as eligible: “higher skilled” codes qualify; “medium skilled” codes only if the job is on the Immigration Salary List or the Temporary Shortage List, or in limited transitional cases for people already sponsored before 22 July 2025. Care workers in England must work for a CQC-registered employer, and codes 6135 and 6136 are now only open to people extending or switching in the UK.

New applicants must prove English at CEFR B2 (raised from B1 for applications from 8 January 2026) through a SELT, a UK qualification or an English-taught degree confirmed by Ecctis; people who held the visa before that date can extend at B1. If you will work in education, healthcare, therapy or social services and apply from abroad, you need a criminal record certificate from each country you have lived in as set out on GOV.UK.

The general rule is the higher of £41,700 a year or the going rate for the occupation code. Some applicants can be paid 70% to 90% of the going rate if the salary is still at least £33,400: people under 26, recent UK graduates or students switching, those working towards a regulated qualification, holders of a relevant STEM PhD (80%) or other PhD (90% and at least £37,500), and postdoctoral researchers. Jobs on the Immigration Salary List need at least £33,400 and the full going rate. Eligible health and education jobs follow national pay scales with a floor of £25,000.

From outside the UK the visa fee is £819 for up to 3 years or £1,618 for longer; in the UK £943 or £1,865. Jobs on the Immigration Salary List cost £628 or £1,235. The health surcharge is £1,035 per year for you and each dependant. The employer separately pays the certificate of sponsorship fee (£525) and the Immigration Skills Charge; it cannot pass the skills charge to you. Example from GOV.UK: a 2-year visa outside the salary list costs £819 plus £2,070 surcharge.

You can extend as often as you like while you meet the rules, and must apply to update your visa before changing employer or job. After 5 years you may apply for indefinite leave to remain if you still meet the salary requirements and pass the Life in the UK Test; time as a dependant does not count. The Home Office has consulted on an “earned settlement” model with longer qualifying periods, so check GOV.UK before planning.

Partners (married, civil or unmarried after 2 years’ cohabitation) and children under 18 can apply as dependants, can work and study, and pay the same visa fee. They must show £285 for a partner, £315 for one child and £200 for each additional child unless the sponsor certifies it will cover your living costs. People sponsored in a medium-skilled job, or as a care worker, after 22 July 2025 and 11 March 2024 respectively generally cannot bring dependants from abroad.

If the application is refused you can usually ask for an administrative review within 28 days of the decision if you were outside the UK (14 days inside) where you think UKVI made a caseworking error; it costs £80 and the result usually takes 28 days or more. You can also simply make a fresh application.