Skilled Worker visa salary threshold for 2026, by occupation code
For most new applicants the bar is £41,700 a year or the going rate for the job's occupation code, whichever is higher. Pick a code, enter the offer and see which figure applies, with every number taken from GOV.UK.
Not legal or immigration advice
The check
Does this salary reach the published figure?
New applications only, for the occupation codes in Table 1 of Appendix Skilled Occupations.
Occupation code (Table 1)
Which of these applies?
The usual rule: the standard salary or the going rate, whichever is higher.
£54,700 is the published figure. This salary is £9,700 short of it.
Option A: the higher of £41,700 and the going-rate figure for 2134, £54,700 for 37.5 hours. The going rate sets the bar here.
The rule
Two numbers, and you need the higher one
A Skilled Worker salary has to clear two bars at once. The first is a yearly floor that applies to everyone in the same situation, £41,700 for most people. The second is the going rate for the occupation code on the certificate of sponsorship, which comes from national earnings data for that job. Whichever is higher is the figure that counts. A salary of £42,000 clears the floor, but if the going rate for the job is £45,000, it does not clear the bar; GOV.UK uses exactly that example.
Going rates in Table 1 are written for a 37.5-hour week and are pro-rated to the hours your sponsor states. The yearly floor is not. So longer hours can raise the figure you need, and shorter hours lower only the going-rate half of it. The Appendix also sets a minimum of £17.13 an hour inside every going rate, which is why some codes show the same figure in more than one column.
These floors took effect on 22 July 2025, under statement of changes HC 997. When we read GOV.UK on 31 Oct 2026, the guidance still gave them, and the Appendix had last been updated on 29 Oct 2026.
| Situation | Share of the going rate | Yearly floor |
|---|---|---|
| The usual rule | All of it | £41,700 |
| Under 26, a student or recent graduate, or in professional training | 70% | £33,400 |
| Postdoctoral position in a listed science or higher education code | 70% | £33,400 |
| Relevant STEM PhD | 80% | £33,400 |
| Relevant PhD in another subject | 90% | £37,500 |
| Job on the immigration salary list | All of it | £33,400 |
Worked example
A £45,000 software developer offer, three ways
Fictional offers, run through the check above. The rates are the real Table 1 rows.
| Usual rule, 37.5 hours | Graduate visa, 37.5 hours | Graduate visa, 40 hours | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly floor | £41,700 | £33,400 | £33,400 |
| Going-rate figure | £54,700 | £38,300 | £40,853 |
| Figure to reach | £54,700 | £38,300 | £40,853 |
| Short by | £9,700 | £0 | £0 |
Under the usual rule, a software developer needs the full going rate of £54,700, well above the £41,700 floor, so a £45,000 offer is £9,700 short. This is the case that surprises people: the headline £41,700 is not the number for most technology jobs.
Someone switching from a Graduate visa can be paid 70% of the going rate, £38,300, with a floor of £33,400. The same offer now clears it with £6,700 to spare. Stretch the week to 40 hours and the going-rate figure rises to £40,853, which the offer still clears. The 70% rate has a time limit: the total stay on it, including time on a Graduate visa, cannot be more than 4 years.
The floor matters for lower-paid codes. A software tester, code 2136, has a going rate of £41,200, which is below £41,700. So a £40,000 tester offer under the usual rule is measured against the floor and falls £1,700 short, even though it is within £1,200 of the going rate.
Already sponsored
If your first certificate came before 4 April 2024
People who got the certificate of sponsorship for their first Tier 2 or Skilled Worker visa before 4 April 2024, and have held Skilled Worker visas ever since, keep lower figures when they extend or update. GOV.UK puts it as whichever is higher of £31,300 or the lower going rate for the occupation, with £28,200 for a relevant PhD in a non-STEM subject. Those rules apply to applications made before 4 April 2030.
The lower going rates are in a different table of the Appendix, so the check above does not price them. Read the GOV.UK page on them, linked in the sources, and ask your sponsor which table they used.
Limits
What this check does not do
- It does not decide your occupation code. Your sponsor does, and the job description has to match it.
- It does not check the immigration salary list or the temporary shortage list. You choose that option; the list decides.
- It does not price healthcare and education codes on national pay scales, medium-skilled codes, or the transitional rules for people first sponsored before 4 April 2024.
- It does not check the postdoctoral codes beyond the guidance's list (2111, 2112, 2113, 2114, 2115, 2119, 2162, 2311), or whether a PhD is relevant to the job.
- It does not decide which parts of your pay count towards the salary. Ask your sponsor what figure they will put on the certificate.
- It accepts up to 48 hours a week and does not model anything longer.
- It does not look at the rest of the application: English, funds, the certificate itself, or the employer's licence.
For the employer side, the UK visa sponsor checker searches the Home Office register, and the UK sponsors hiring now lists licensed employers with open roles. When you apply, the Skilled Worker CV guide covers what a sponsor reads, and the UK take-home pay calculator turns the salary into monthly pay.
Last reviewed by the ResumeVera Editorial Team.
Sources
GOV.UK pages, fetched and read on 31 Oct 2026. The floors are the same rules ResumeVera stores for the UK, each with the sentence it was copied from.
- GOV.UK: Skilled Worker visa, your job, the £41,700 standard salary, the going rate and occupation codes
- GOV.UK: Skilled Worker visa, when you can be paid less, the £33,400 and £37,500 floors, the 70%, 80% and 90% discounts and the postdoctoral codes
- GOV.UK: if you got your first certificate of sponsorship before 4 April 2024, the £31,300 and £28,200 transitional floors, until 4 April 2030
- Immigration Rules: Appendix Skilled Occupations, Table 1 going rates per occupation code, the 37.5-hour week and the £17.13 hourly minimum
- Statement of changes to the Immigration Rules HC 997, the floors in force from 22 July 2025
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Know the figure, then find the employer
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