Brexit, the Immigration Rules and Where the UK Stands

Europe has no single work visa, which is why each country sets its own rules for each type of work. The official EU Immigration Portal lays out the rules of the EU states, but the UK has left the EU, so the portal skips it and the Home Office writes its own rules.

So the rights you gain in other parts of Europe stop at the British border, which means a work permit from Germany or Poland does not count here. A Schengen visa will not even get you in, as the UK was never part of Schengen, and our Europe-wide work visa guide puts the UK side by side with the rest.

Irish citizens stand apart, since the Common Travel Area lets them live and work here with no visa. Our page on Irish work permits shows how the system next door is run, and for a job in English inside the EU, see our page on work permits in Malta.

Irish, EU and Other Passports: Who Needs a UK Visa

Apart from British and Irish citizens, nearly all who want to work in the UK need leave to do so, and your passport, your status and at times your age set which route is open to you.

Skilled Worker Conditions: Skill Level, Pay and English

Most of the tests for a work visa for the United Kingdom sit in the Skilled Worker rules, and the Home Office has made a lot of them stricter of late.

• You need a confirmed job offer from a firm that holds a Home Office licence to hire from abroad.
• The job must be at degree level, known as RQF level 6, unless it is on the Temporary Shortage List or the Immigration Salary List.
• The pay must be at least £41,700 a year or the going rate for your job code, if that is the higher sum.
• A lower floor of £33,400 applies if you are under 26, if you switch from a Student or Graduate visa, or if you are in training for a profession.
• You need English at B2, which you show with an approved test, a degree taught in English or a passport that is exempt.
• You must hold £1,270 in the bank for 28 days in a row, unless the firm says in writing that it will back your first month.

Jobs in health and schools use the national pay scales, with a floor of £25,000 for most of them. Care worker and senior care worker jobs are now shut to new people who apply from abroad.

Seven UK Visa Routes That Allow Paid Work

The Skilled Worker visa is the main route, but not the only one, since some routes need a firm with a licence, while with others you can look for work once you are here.

The Graduate visa is set to drop to 18 months for those who apply at a later date, while a Seasonal Worker visa, with its own rules, deals with short jobs on farms.

From Licensed Employer to eVisa: The Skilled Worker Steps

For most people, the route starts with the firm and not with the visa form, and the steps come in the order set out here.

1. Find a firm with a licence: only a firm with a Home Office licence to hire from abroad can offer you a Skilled Worker job, so check that it holds one before you agree to the job.
2. Agree a job that fits: the job must match a code at degree level or sit on a shortage list, and the pay must reach £41,700 or the going rate, if that is higher.
3. Get your certificate number: the firm uses its licence to log your job and give you a number, and you then have three months from that day to apply.
4. Prove your English and funds: pass an approved English test at B2 unless you are exempt, and keep at least £1,270 in your bank for 28 days in a row, unless the firm backs your first month.
5. Apply online and pay: you apply on GOV.UK up to three months before your start date, and you pay the visa fee plus the immigration health surcharge for each year you will stay.
6. Prove who you are: you scan your passport with the UK Immigration: ID Check app on your phone, or you go to a visa centre to give your prints and a photo.
7. Get your eVisa and travel: from outside the UK, you should hear back in about three weeks, and your right to stay comes as an eVisa, which you can see and share online at any time.

You must not start work until your visa is granted and its start date has come, and if you change firm at a later stage, you need a new visa before you move.

Documents for Your UK Visas and Immigration Application

The staff who check your case hold each paper up against the job details from the firm, so a name, a wage or a job title that does not match can slow things down.

What You Upload or Show as the Worker

• Your passport or some other travel document, which must still be good for the whole trip.
• The job number that the firm gave you through its licence, with the date it was issued.
• Proof of English at B2, such as a pass in a Secure English Language Test or a degree taught in English.
• Bank statements that show £1,270 held for 28 days, unless the firm has said it will back you.
• A TB test result if you lived in a listed country for more than six months just before you apply.
• A police record check if your job code needs one, for each country where you spent 12 months or more in the last ten years.
• Proof of marriage or partnership and birth records if your partner or your children apply with you.

What the Licensed Employer Handles

• A Home Office licence to hire workers from abroad, which it must keep in force for the whole job.
• The job record it gives you, which shows the job code, the pay and the date you start.
• The Immigration Skills Charge, which the firm pays at a rate set by the size of its business.
• A right to work check on your eVisa, which the firm must do before your first day.

Visa Fees, the Health Surcharge and Employer Charges

The Home Office fee table sets the main costs, and it can change from time to time, so here are the rates that apply now to a Skilled Worker case.

If you apply from inside the UK, you pay more, at £943 or £1,865, while jobs on the salary list have a lower fee of £628 or £1,235. Tests and translations cost extra, and we set out the full costs for your case before you apply.

Decision Times From Outside and Inside the UK

The Home Office tends to rule on a Skilled Worker case within three weeks when you apply from outside the UK. The clock starts once you have applied, proved who you are and sent your papers. From inside the UK, the wait is most often eight weeks, and you may be able to pay more for a quick answer.

The firm's side can take more time, since a new licence takes about eight weeks as a rule. Once the firm has given you a job number, you have three months to apply, and you can do so up to three months before your start date.

Family Members and the Path to Settlement

In most cases, a partner and children can join a Skilled Worker who has a job at degree level. In care roles or in jobs below that level, they may come only in rare cases, such as when the job began before the rules changed and has gone on with no break.

Under the rules in force now, a lot of Skilled Workers can ask to settle once five years are up, with a pass in the Life in the UK test and a fee of £3,226. The government has asked for views on a longer wait, so check again before you plan round a date.

Shortage Areas and Degree-Level Jobs in Britain

Now that the skill bar is higher, most new Skilled Worker jobs are roles for those with a degree. The Migration Advisory Committee looks at where staff are short and says which jobs below that level may stay on the Temporary Shortage List. Health and schools have their own pay rules, and firms do not pay the Immigration Skills Charge for research jobs.

Read More About Working in the UK

Four more of our guides deal with UK pay, wait times and daily life when you get there.

• Skilled Worker visa processing time in the UK, which goes stage by stage, from the licence to the eVisa.
• High-paying and in-demand jobs in the UK, with the jobs UK firms find hardest to fill.
• Benefits of working in the United Kingdom, from the NHS to your rights at work and the time off you get.
• Relocating to the UK, from how to rent a home to how to open a bank account.

Errors That Lead to UK Refusals or Delays

• Taking a job with a firm that has no Home Office licence, or whose licence has run out.
• Waiting more than three months from the day the firm gave you your job number before you apply.
• Taking an English test that is not on the approved list, or passing at a level below B2.
• Putting cash in your bank less than 28 days before the day you send in your form.
• Coming in on an ETA and thinking that it will let you start a job once you are here.
• Paying an agent who sells a care worker visa from abroad, since that route is now shut to new applicants from abroad.

Our Care on UK Skilled Worker Files

• We only put forward jobs with firms that hold a current Home Office licence to hire from abroad.
• We check that the pay meets both the £41,700 floor and the going rate for the job code.
• We look at your proof of English early, so that a B1 result does not hold up a case that needs B2.
• We time your bank funds, your TB test and your job number, so each one is still valid on the day you apply.
• We help you get into your eVisa, share your right to work code and plan each time you need to extend.

The Home Office has the last word on every case, which we make plain from day one. You can see past results on our approvals page, read what clients say on our reviews page and learn who we are from our company profile.

Get Started With EU Helpers

Tell us if you are a worker, a job agent or a firm, and we will set out the next steps for a UK case, or you can book a time with our team to talk it through first.

Register as a Worker (Find Jobs in the United Kingdom)

Set up your profile once, and we can match you with UK firms that hold a licence to hire from abroad.

1. Matches with UK firms that hold a licence, for jobs at degree level and in health.
2. A check of your pay against the going rate for the job code that fits your role.
3. A list of papers that covers your English, your bank funds, a TB test and police checks.
4. Help to get ready for the ID check, through the phone app or at a visa centre.
5. Help with your eVisa, your share codes and each time you need to extend your stay.

Register as a Worker

Register as a Recruiter / Agency

Work with EU Helpers to place your people in UK jobs that meet the rules that came in after Brexit.

1. Open UK jobs from firms that hold a licence, with the job code for each one.
2. Clear notes on the B2 English level and on the rule that jobs must be at degree level.
3. Each file checked in full before the firm logs the job on its licence.
4. Updates on each case, from the job number to the day the visa is granted.
5. Notice in good time when the shortage lists or the Home Office fees change.

Register as a Recruitment Partner

Register as an Employer (Hire Foreign Workers in the United Kingdom)

If your UK firm holds a Home Office licence, or plans to apply for one, we can help you bring in staff from abroad within the rules.

1. Screened people whose English and skills fit the route you plan to use.
2. Help to match each role to the right job code and the going rate for it.
3. Papers that are all set before you log the job on your licence.
4. Plans for the Immigration Skills Charge and the other costs that fall on the firm.
5. Help with travel and arrival, timed to fit the start date you have set.

Register as an Employer

Why Registration Is Important

Signing up lets us check each worker, agent and firm before any UK case starts, and it gives us one record of key dates, test results and bank proof, since each of them has a time limit.

Author

EU Helpers Team. We track each Home Office change, from pay floors to English levels, and we rework this guide each time the UK rules shift.

Official Sources

Check the current version of each page below before you rely on a figure:

• United Kingdom, Skilled Worker visa guidance, Home Office: gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa
• United Kingdom, immigration and nationality fees, Home Office: gov.uk/government/publications/visa-regulations-revised-table
• United Kingdom, immigration health surcharge, UK Visas and Immigration: gov.uk/healthcare-immigration-application
• United Kingdom, Temporary Shortage List reports, Migration Advisory Committee: gov.uk
• United Kingdom, eVisas and online immigration status, Home Office: gov.uk/evisa
• EU Immigration Portal, rules for working in EU member states, European Commission: home-affairs.ec.europa.eu