UK Skilled Worker Visa

What Is a Skilled Worker Visa for?

The United Kingdom offers good immigration routes for businesspeople and investors who want to get UK residence. Unfortunately, not all immigrants have an entrepreneurial spirit or enough money to invest in the UK economy.However, if you have an in-demand specialisation and are a skilled worker, you can apply for a UK Skilled Worker visa. It offers a number of benefits for immigrants:

1. Moving to a developed country with high living standards
2. Getting a well-paid job, developing unique expertise, and improving your professional skills
3. UK Skilled Worker visa does not cost a lot. If your specialisation is on the shortage occupation list, you can get an additional discount
4. Adding a spouse or partner and children to a visa application
5.  After 5 years of stay in the UK on a Skilled Worker visa, you can apply for an Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) and then get UK citizenship for yourself and your family.

This explains why so many foreign specialists relocate to the UK on a Skilled Worker visa. If you want to apply for a UK Skilled Worker visa, Imperial & Legal advisors will be glad to offer the required assistance and comprehensive legal support.

UK Skilled Worker visa allows applicants to relocate to the UK with a family, work and study, and in several years, apply for ILR and UK citizenship. Imperial & Legal advisors will help you to achieve your goals.

Who Can Apply for a Skilled Worker Visa in the UK?

According to immigration rules, if you want to get a UK Skilled Worker visa, you need to comply with the following key rules:

1. An applicant for a Skilled Worker visa must seek a job only with companies that have a sponsorship licence issued by UK immigration authorities. In other words, if you are not sponsored by a licensed British sponsor, you cannot apply for a UK Skilled Worker visa. A sponsor guarantees you the job.
2. An applicant for a Skilled Worker visa must have a certificate of sponsorship indicating their position in the hiring company. These certificates are issued through the sponsorship management system (SMS). It is special software that only authorised personnel has access to.
3. An applicant for a Skilled Worker visa must have an in-demand qualification in healthcare, science, engineering, firefighting, social services, top-management, etc. To check whether your profession falls into this category, you need to know its four-digit code and search for it in the list of eligible occupations. You can also contact Imperial & Legal advisors.
4. An applicant for a Skilled Worker visa must receive at least a minimum salary. There are three salary categories for foreign employees in the UK:
   •  Minimum gross pay of £25,600 per annum
   • Minimum wage of £10.10 per hour
   • Level of pay depending on the occupation.

The highest possible category must be taken into account while calculating your salary in the UK. For example, if a sponsor offers you £35,000 per annum while the minimum pay for your occupation is £40,000, your application will not be approved by the Home Office.

Who Can an Applicant for a Skilled Worker Visa Add to Their Application?

An applicant for a UK Skilled Worker visa can add their spouse or partner and their minor children to the application.

Requirements for Obtaining a UK Skilled Worker Visa

To get a UK Skilled Worker visa, you need to meet the following requirements:

• Be older than 18 years old
• Have a clean criminal record
• Have a clean immigration record and no entry bans
• Be of good health (citizens of some countries must be tested negative for tuberculosis)
• Have good knowledge of English confirmed by a special test
• Have a relevant specialisation and/or work experience.

How Long You Can Stay on a UK Skilled Worker Visa and Further Opportunities

A UK Skilled Worker visa is valid for as long as your contract with the hiring company is valid or for five years if your contract is unlimited. After your visa expires, you can:

1. Apply for an indefinite leave to remain if you have spent five years in the UK on a Skilled Worker visa and meet other requirements for ILR applicants, including sufficient knowledge of English and Life in the UK test;
2. Extend your visa if you meet all the immigration requirements and your employer extends your contract, or you have found a new employer who can issue a certificate of sponsorship for you;
3. Switch to a different visa.

Applying for Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK

After staying and working in the UK for five years on a Skilled Worker visa, you and your dependants can apply for ILR, or settlement. You need to keep in mind that to get ILR, you must not leave the UK for more than 180 days in any 12 months of your stay. As a main applicant, you must provide reasons for all the periods of your absence (for example, business or personal reasons). You must also prove that your profession is still in demand and you receive at least the minimum salary.

If you apply for IRL, you must pass the Life in the UK test and prove your knowledge of English to at lease B1 level according to European classification.

UK Citizenship and Passport

After obtaining ILR in the UK on the basis of a Skilled Worker and after a year of living in the UK as a settled person, you and your dependants can apply for naturalization, or UK citizenship. For naturalisation to be successful, some requirements must be met. The major requirement is that you must not be absent from the UK for more than 450 days in the five years prior to the application and for more than 90 days in the last year prior to the application.

Costs of Applying for a UK Skilled Worker Visa

Costs of applying for a Skilled Worker visa depend on the number of applicants, visa validity period and place of application. To calculate the exact amount that you will need to pay, you must consider all costs, including government fees, immigration health surcharge and money to support you and your family.

Government Fee

You pay a government fee for your application to be processed when you submit it online. How much you pay depends on four factors:

1. Place of application – British visa centre outside the UK or inside the UK (if you extend your Skilled Worker visa or change a visa category)
2. Period of stay – up to three years or over three years
3. Applicant’s qualifications – if your profession is on the shortage occupation list, you will pay less no matter where you submit your application
4. Applicant’s nationality: citizens of 25 European countries pay £55 less. This discount can be added to the discount for your qualification. However, it is applicable only for the main applicant.

Government fee to apply for a UK Skilled Worker visa

Government fees often constitute the biggest part of the costs since your application can be refused several times because of the incorrect paperwork or missing documents. To avoid such mistakes and not to pay a government fee several times, it is better to contact experienced immigration advisors at Imperial & Legal.

Immigration Health Surcharge

All visas applicants coming to stay for longer than six months must pay an immigration health surcharge (IHS). This allows immigrants to use the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK free of charge. IHS amounts to £624 per person for every year of stay in the UK. You must pay for the whole period at once when you apply for a Skilled Worker visa.

Maintenance

When you apply for a UK Skilled Worker visa, you must prove that you have at least £1,270 in your bank account. For the Home Office, this money is sufficient to live off without getting any social benefits before you get your first salary in the UK. The money must be kept in your bank account for at least 31 day prior to the application.

If you add dependants to your application, IHS will be even larger. If you add a spouse or a partner to your application, the amount will increase by £285. You must pay £315 for the first child dependant and £200 for each additional child dependant.

Obtaining a UK Skilled Worker Visa with Imperial & Legal

To apply for a UK Skilled Worker visa in the most efficient way and to avoid any additional costs, you need legal support. Imperial & Legal’s experienced advisors have been successfully solving the issues for UK immigrants for many years. With our legal assistance, you will get a UK Skilled Worker visa in a few steps.