UK Immigration Salary List for Skilled Worker Visa

The UK Immigration Salary list contains all of the eligible occupations with a reduced salary requirement for Skilled Worker visa applicants. If a job role is on the Immigration Salary List, applicants can qualify for a Skilled Worker visa if they have a salary that is lower than the standard requirement for the UK Skilled Worker visa route.

The Immigration Salary list replaced the Shortage Occupation list on 4^th April 2024. The key difference between the two is that the Immigration Salary list contains discount salary thresholds for certain occupations while the Shortage Occupation list contained all occupations experiencing a shortage of labour in the UK.

Key points of the new Immigration Salary List

If your job role is on the Immigration Salary list, this means that you will not need to meet the standard salary requirement of £38,700 for a Skilled Worker visa or £29,000 for a Health and Care Worker visa. Instead, you will only require a salary that is 80% of the usual minimum rate to qualify for a Skilled Worker or Health and Care Worker visa.

In real terms, the discount means that Skilled Worker visa applicants with an eligible occupation on the Immigration Salary List only require a salary of at least £30,960 (rather than £38,700) or the going rate, whichever is higher. Remember, £30,960 is the lowest salary threshold on the new Immigration Salary list; the exact salary threshold you need to meet will depend on your occupation. For example, the minimum salary requirement for a Biological scientist in the UK is £41,900 once the discount is applied.

For Health and Care Worker visa, applicants with an eligible occupation on the Immigration Salary List must receive an annual salary of at least £23,300 (rather than £29,000) or the going rate for their job, whichever is higher.

The annual salaries contained in the Immigration Salary list assume a 37.5-hour working week and must be pro-rated for those working a different number of hours per week (as stated by the employer).

Standard and Lower Rate on the Immigration Salary List

The new Immigration Salary list contains two columns of salaries; the standard rate with discount applied and the lower rate with the discount applied. The standard rate column contains the discounted minimum salary requirement for those applying for a Skilled Worker visa. The lower rate column, on the other hand, contains the discounted minimum salary requirement for those who:

• Are applying for a Health and Care Worker Visa in a listed occupation.
• Received their certificate of sponsorship for their current visa application before 4^th
  April 2024.
• Received their certificate of sponsorship for their first Skilled Worker visa before 4^th
  April 2024 and have continually held one or more Skilled Worker visas since that date.

Benefits of the Immigration Salary List

The discount of 20% on the standard salary threshold for both the Skilled Worker and Health and Care Worker visas will enable UK employers to recruit skilled staff on a lower salary. In addition, work visa applicants (and their dependants) pay a lower application fee if they have an occupation on the Immigration Salary list. This lower fee for the Skilled Worker visa is £551 (compared to £719) if applying to stay for up to 3 years, or £1,084 if (compared to £1,420) for more than 3 years. This reduced application fee is the same regardless of whether the application is made inside or outside the UK.

UK Immigration Salary List Guidance for Employers

If you are a UK employer with a Skilled Worker or Health and Care sponsor licence, following the publication of the new Immigration Salary list, we recommend that you carry out the following checks to ensure that you are meeting your obligations as a licenced sponsor:

1. Check that your sponsored workers have the correct role and salary information on their certificate of sponsorship.
2. Ensure that newly sponsored employees meet the new minimum salary requirements, or
3. Update your list of Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) codes for each sponsored role. The older 2010 codes have now been replaced by the newer 2020 codes, meaning that all roles will now have a different code number. As such, it is important to ensure that the SOC codes you provide to new work visa applicants and to those applying for an extension of their existing work visa is correct. The new 2020 SOC classification structure can be found using the CASCOT occupation coding tool¹.

For any support and guidance in relation to the new Immigration Salary list and work visa or sponsor licence applications, please do not hesitate to speak to one of our friendly expert immigration solicitors at 02037442797 who will be pleased to assist you.

References:

¹ Warwick Institute for Employment Research: CASCOT occupation coding tool