The Skilled Worker visa
Britain’s main work visa: salary thresholds, cost, the employer’s sponsor licence and family members. You can check a company against the Home Office register on our checks page.
Articles on this topic: 14
UK population has almost stopped growing: net migration down by two thirds, births at a 43-year low
The ONS has published mid-2025 estimates. The UK has 69.5 million people, up 227,700 over the year — the weakest growth since 2020. Net migration collapsed from 651,700 to 222,900 and births hit their lowest level in 43 years. Here are the numbers and what follows from them.
UK visa waiting times in 2026: the official UKVI timelines and how to get a decision in a day
The official UKVI timelines: visitor, student and work visas from outside the UK take 3 weeks, family visas 12 weeks, and most in-country extensions 8 weeks. Pay an extra £500 and a decision is promised within 5 working days; £1,000 buys one by the end of the next working day. Here is when the clock starts, why timelines slip, and when the extra fee is a waste of money.
A sponsor licence for employers: £611 for small business, a £525 certificate and up to £1,320 a year in charges — how to hire from abroad
Only an employer with a sponsor licence can hire from abroad — including EU citizens who arrived after 2020. The GOV.UK rules: prices for small and large businesses, certificates of sponsorship, the Immigration Skills Charge, the 8-week timeline and the duties that get licences revoked.
Skilled Worker visa in 2026: the £41,700 threshold, who qualifies at £33,400, what it costs and how to bring family
The UK's main work visa in 2026: a salary threshold of £41,700 or your job's going rate, discounts down to £33,400 for the young and shortage occupations, English now at B2, fees from £819 plus £1,035 a year for the NHS. The GOV.UK rules on who qualifies, what it costs and which family members can come.
Made redundant in the UK: how much you are owed and what to do if you are on a work visa
The statutory maximum is £22,530: £751 per week of service, up to 20 years, and only after two years in the job. The first £30,000 is tax free. And if you are on a Skilled Worker visa, redundancy leaves you 60 days or the remainder of your visa, whichever is shorter. Here is what you are owed, by when, and where to get free advice.
UK job vacancies are lower than in any year since 2014: what the ONS figures of 15 September mean if you are looking for work
The ONS published its labour market data at 7am on Tuesday. Vacancies stand at 702,000 for June to August, down 8,000 on the quarter; outside the pandemic slump the last comparable level was in 2014. Unemployment is 4.9%, but 145,000 fewer people are on a payroll than a year ago. Private sector pay is rising 2.9% a year — more than twice as slowly as public sector pay.
Moving to the UK in 2026: visas, real costs and what has changed
A guide built from primary sources: which visa you need to work, what the move actually costs, where to enrol biometrics from Russia and Belarus, and whether settlement really now takes ten years.
HC 584: what changes in the UK Immigration Rules from 8 October — a breakdown by date and route
The Home Office has laid another package of amendments before Parliament. It carries four commencement dates, a dozen affected routes, and one significant piece of news about what is not in it. Here is what changes, who it touches, and which amendments come with transitional protection — and which do not.
UK student visa: from 30 November you must show 14,130 pounds in the bank
The Home Office has raised the maintenance funds a prospective student must hold before applying. London goes to 1,570 pounds a month from 1,529; the rest of the country to 1,203 from 1,171. Across the standard nine months that is 14,130 and 10,827 pounds. The new figures bite on 30 November 2026, and it is the application date that counts, not the course start date.
Going self-employed in the UK: registering, your UTR and what you pay in 2026
Register if you earned more than £1,000 in a tax year, and tell HMRC by 5 October. Class 2 is no longer compulsory; Class 4 is 6% and 2%. Unregistered subcontractors lose 30% instead of 20%. From 6 April 2026, turnover above £50,000 means quarterly reporting. And the part that catches people out: a Student visa bars self-employment, while a Skilled Worker visa allows 20 hours a week.
Driving in the UK on a foreign licence: exchange rules, tests and costs in 2026
An EU licence is valid until you are 70, a Ukrainian one for 36 months, and a Russian, Belarusian, Kazakh or Moldovan one for just 12. Which countries can exchange without tests, who must sit theory and practical, what it costs, and where people lose time.
Settlement in the UK: what ILR really is, and why the qualifying period may double
UK law has no "residence permit" or "permanent residence" — it has time-limited leave, indefinite leave to remain (settlement) and citizenship. ILR usually comes after 5 years of work, with English at B1, a £50 Life in the UK test and a £3,226 fee; citizenship a year later, at £1,839. Two continuous years abroad and ILR lapses. And the qualifying period is set to rise from 5 years to 10, promised for autumn 2026 and stated to be retrospective.
Starting out in Britain: nine guides checked against the public registers
A bank account without proof of address, a credit record from zero, a free NHS interpreter, the home rate for university, school after VAT, work and pay, and doctors and restaurants checked against the registers. All of it in one place, in the order in which the questions come up.
Working in England 2026: what jobs pay, what you keep, and how the work visa actually starts
The minimum wage in England is £12.71 an hour by law; median full-time pay is £39,039 a year, worth about £2,630 a month after tax. You can start work before your National Insurance number arrives, but never without the right to work. And the Skilled Worker visa starts with a sponsoring employer: £41,700 or your occupation’s going rate, whichever is higher.