Skilled Worker visa: caseworker guidance
Immigration staff guidance on considering applications under the Skilled Worker route.
Documents
Details
UK Visas and Immigration guidance on how staff should consider applications to enter, remain or settle in the UK under the Skilled Worker route.
Updates to this page
Last updated
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The guidance has been updated to make minor clarifications and corrections, in particular to switching, appropriate SOC codes, London weighting, supplementary employment, and salary requirements at settlement. Some of these updates reflect Immigration Rules changes on 8 October 2024.
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Updated the minimum salary thresholds for the Skilled Worker visa. A full list of changes is in the 'Changes from last version of this guidance' section.
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The guidance has been updated narrow the eligibility for care workers and senior care workers in England to be sponsored only where the sponsor is registered with the Care Quality Commission and is currently carrying on a regulated activity, with transitional arrangements for workers already in the route.
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Guidance updated, including a change for applicants who are sponsored for General Practitioner (GP) specialty training and addition of a specific requirement that applicants must genuinely intend to undertake their sponsored job, and not intend to work in breach of their conditions.
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New restrictions on students switching into this route have been added.
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Updated the guidance in line with Immigration Rules changes. The full list of changes is in the "Changes from last version of this guidance" section.
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Added accessible HTML version.
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Updated in line with Immigration Rules changes.
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Updated guidance for use on or after 15 February 2022.
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This guidance has been updated to reflect changes to digital status for non-EEA nationals who are extending, switching or updating their visa within the UK.
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This guidance has been updated to reflect the following changes in the Immigration Rules for applications made from 6 October 2021: confirmation that only A-rated sponsors can certify the financial requirement; a concession for calculating the continuous period for settlement, for workers who experienced delayed decisions on certain types of applications due to the COVID-19 pandemic; applying the £10.10 minimum hourly rate to settlement applications; the replacement of the T2 Sportsperson route with the International Sportsperson route; The guidance has also been updated to remove information relating to applications made before 31 December 2020, as this is no longer needed.
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Updated caseworker guidance.
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First published.
Update history
2026-04-08 00:01
This guidance has been updated to add information about the prison officer allowance; the English language requirement for settlement; and the introduction of the visa brake for nationals of Afghanistan.
2025-12-16 10:24
Updated the table of charging costs for CoS assigned from 16 December 2025 in the accessible version to match the PDF.
2025-12-16 00:01
Updated with information about the English language requirements change from 8 January 2026 and the Immigration Skills Charge uplift.
2025-11-11 08:00
Updated to reflect the addition of Part Suitability to the Immigration Rules.
2025-07-22 09:00
The guidance has been updated to reflect the Immigration Rules change on 22 July 2025.
2025-04-09 00:01
Updated the guidance to reflect Immigration Rules changes.
2024-11-27 12:01
Updated to reflect the change to e-Visas.
2024-10-08 09:00
The guidance has been updated to make minor clarifications and corrections, in particular to switching, appropriate SOC codes, London weighting, supplementary employment, and salary requirements at settlement. Some of these updates reflect Immigration Rules changes on 8 October 2024.
2024-04-04 00:01
Updated the minimum salary thresholds for the Skilled Worker visa. A full list of changes is in the ‘Changes from last version of this guidance’ section.
2024-03-11 00:01
The guidance has been updated narrow the eligibility for care workers and senior care workers in England to be sponsored only where the sponsor is registered with the Care Quality Commission and is currently carrying on a regulated activity, with transitional arrangements for workers already in the route.
2023-08-07 00:01
Guidance updated, including a change for applicants who are sponsored for General Practitioner (GP) specialty training and addition of a specific requirement that applicants must genuinely intend to undertake their sponsored job, and not intend to work in breach of their conditions.
2023-07-17 15:00
New restrictions on students switching into this route have been added.
2023-04-12 09:00
Updated the guidance in line with Immigration Rules changes. The full list of changes is in the “Changes from last version of this guidance” section.
2023-01-04 16:00
Added accessible HTML version.
2022-11-09 00:15
Updated in line with Immigration Rules changes.