Skilled Worker visa changes for employers

Since 22 July 2025, new hires generally need a degree-level job. That means a job the government rates at the level of a university degree, such as most professional and management roles. A role below that bar can still be sponsored for a new hire, but only if it sits on the immigration salary list or on the temporary shortage list. Both are official lists of jobs the government allows, at a reduced skill level or salary, for a limited period.

New hires normally need £41,700 a year, or the going rate for the role when that is higher, though some roles and applicants qualify for lower salaries. The going rate is the official salary the government sets for each occupation. Three everyday roles show how this works.

New entrants are workers under 26, people switching from a UK Student or Graduate visa, and people training for a professional qualification; they can be paid a lower rate for up to 4 years.

From 8 April 2026, you must pay the full required salary each time you run payroll. Hitting the yearly total is not enough if some pay periods fall short.

You can no longer bring care workers or senior care workers in from abroad as new hires. They qualify only when a worker extends, updates or switches, after 3 months of legal work for you as their sponsor. In practice, only carers who are already in the UK can be sponsored. Extending means renewing the same visa, and switching means moving onto it from a different visa.

A job on the temporary shortage list counts only if the certificate of sponsorship was issued before 31 December 2026. The certificate of sponsorship is the record you create for each worker, and they need it to apply for their visa.

Immigration salary list entries are removed on the same date, 31 December 2026. Care workers are different: their removal date is 22 July 2028.

The skills charge is paid for each sponsored worker, and the GOV.UK rates depend on how long their visa lasts. It is a Home Office charge on employers, separate from the licence fee. The current rates came into force on 16 December 2025.

The licence fee rose on 8 April 2026: small sponsors now pay £611 instead of £574, and large sponsors £1,682 instead of £1,579. You count as small if at least 2 of these are true: you take in £15 million a year or less, what the business owns is worth £7.5 million or less, you have 50 staff or fewer. The totals below add up the licence fee, the £525 certificate, and one worker's skills charge.

These totals include one licence fee, which is not charged again for each extra worker. Every further worker adds the £525 certificate plus their skills charge: small sponsors pay £480 a year, medium and large sponsors £1,320.

The worker covers their own visa fee and healthcare surcharge. The healthcare surcharge pays for their use of the NHS. From outside the UK, that works out at £1,854 (1-year visa), £3,924 (3-year visa) or £6,793 (5-year visa).

Newly hired Skilled Workers must show English at level B2. B2 means a good working level of English, one step above B1, the level for everyday conversation. Anyone who already had the visa before 8 January 2026 can keep using the lower B1 level when they extend.

From 26 March 2027, workers applying to settle must show B2 English in speaking and listening. Settling means getting indefinite leave to remain, the right to stay in the UK with no time limit.

From 26 March 2026, the Home Office turns down Skilled Worker applications from Afghan nationals made overseas.

Level 2 user accounts, the lower-level logins some staff use on the online sponsorship system, will be switched off automatically after 8 March 2027. If anyone on your team uses one, plan now for how they will keep access. Level 1 users are the people who run the licence day to day in that system, so anyone who still needs access can be made a level 1 user.