UK Skilled Worker Visa Explained
The route's own 70-point test — sponsorship, the RQF6 skill-level bar since 22 July 2025, B2 English, and the tradeable points from salary, a relevant PhD, or the Immigration Salary List.
Start with the gap this fills: this site already has two deep pieces on Skilled Worker sub-topics — the sponsor licence process an employer needs before it can sponsor anyone, and the salary threshold mechanism a specific offer has to clear — but neither explains the route itself: the points structure both of those pieces feed into, or the skill-level and English-language requirements that sit alongside salary. This article is the base-route explainer both of those pieces assumed the reader already had.
A note on the figures in this article: the Skilled Worker route has been revised more than once in a short period — the skill-level bar changed for applications from 22 July 2025, and the salary threshold discussed in our companion piece has moved twice in roughly eighteen months. A direct fetch of gov.uk's own current Skilled Worker guidance was not reachable while researching this article. What follows is drawn from web search results, cross-checked across multiple independent immigration-law sources, rather than confirmed directly against a government page. Always verify current figures on gov.uk, or with a qualified immigration adviser, before advising a client.
The 70-point structure
Sources consistently describe the Skilled Worker route as a points-based test totalling 70 points, split into a mandatory half and a tradeable half. The 50 mandatory points are reported as coming from having a confirmed job offer from a UK employer holding a valid sponsor licence, at a role meeting the required skill level, combined with meeting the English-language requirement — none of these three is reported as optional or substitutable by the other two. The remaining 20 points are tradeable, reported as coming from the salary offered clearing the applicable threshold, from holding a PhD relevant to the sponsored role, or from the role appearing on the Immigration Salary List.
A 70-point test, not a single checkbox
Sources consistently describe the Skilled Worker route as points-based: 50 mandatory points from a job offer from a licensed sponsor at the required skill level plus meeting the English-language requirement, and 20 further points that can be traded off across salary, a relevant PhD, or a role on the Immigration Salary List. A case can fail even with a generous salary on offer if the mandatory half is not met — the two halves are not interchangeable.
The skill-level bar rose from RQF3 to RQF6 — a genuinely recent change
Multiple sources report that for applications made from 22 July 2025, the required skill level moved from RQF Level 3 (roughly A-level equivalent) to RQF Level 6 (broadly bachelor's-degree equivalent), removing many mid-skill roles that previously qualified. This is a materially higher bar than many consultancies quoted clients even a year earlier, and it sits alongside — not instead of — the salary changes covered in our companion piece.
Salary is a separate test this article does not re-litigate
The route also requires clearing a salary threshold, and current guidance is reported as taking whichever is higher between a general figure and the occupation-specific "going rate" tied to the role's SOC code. Our dedicated salary threshold explainer covers that mechanism, the current reported £41,700 general figure, and the new entrant/PhD/Immigration Salary List discounts in depth — this piece treats salary as one mandatory ingredient among several, not the whole picture.
English requirement: B2, evidenced through an approved test
Sources describe a mandatory CEFR B2 (upper-intermediate) English-language requirement, generally evidenced through a Home Office-approved Secure English Language Test, a nationality-linked exemption, or a qualification already taught in English — distinct from the IELTS Academic product used for university admissions on the Student Route.
Sponsorship and the skill-level bar
A job offer alone is not reported as sufficient — the employer must hold a valid sponsor licence, and the role must be classified at or above the required skill level. That skill-level bar is the single biggest reported change to this route in recent years: sources describe it moving from RQF Level 3 to RQF Level 6 for applications made from 22 July 2025, materially narrowing which roles can qualify at all, independent of whatever salary is on offer.
A Certificate of Sponsorship is the trigger, not the finish line
A worker generally cannot apply until a licensed employer has assigned a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) referencing the specific role, salary, and SOC code being offered. As our sponsor licence explainer covers, the employer must hold a valid sponsor licence before it can issue a CoS at all — the CoS is the output of that separate employer-side process, not a substitute for it.
Sub-RQF6 roles have not all disappeared overnight
Sources describe several routes that can still let a role below the new RQF6 bar qualify: a position on the Immigration Salary List, a role on a reported roughly 52-occupation Temporary Shortage List, or transitional protection for a Certificate of Sponsorship assigned before 22 July 2025. None of these should be assumed to apply to a given case without checking current guidance — each carries its own conditions and, in the shortage-list case, is reported as time-limited.
How this connects to the sponsor licence and salary threshold pieces
This article deliberately stays at the route level rather than duplicating either companion piece. Our sponsor licence explainer covers the employer-side question in depth — how a business becomes licensed and how a Certificate of Sponsorship gets assigned once it is. Our salary threshold explainer covers the worker-side salary test in depth — the general threshold, the SOC-code going rate, and the new entrant/PhD/Immigration Salary List discounts. Together with the skill-level and English requirements covered here, those are the four pieces a consultancy needs to check on any Skilled Worker case; passing one does not imply passing the others.
What a consultancy should verify before advising a client
Because the skill-level bar and the salary threshold have each moved within roughly the last two years, and because sub-RQF6 exceptions (the Immigration Salary List, the Temporary Shortage List, and transitional CoS protection) each carry their own conditions, the practical discipline is to check the employer's sponsor licence status, the role's current skill-level classification, the salary against the current threshold and going rate, and the applicant's English evidence — together, not in isolation — directly against gov.uk before advising a client. Our UK visa consultant software page covers how VisaBOS helps a consultancy track a Skilled Worker case against all of these pieces from intake, though it remains a case-management tool, not a source of immigration law, and does not replace confirming current requirements with gov.uk or a qualified immigration adviser.
Frequently asked questions
What is the UK Skilled Worker visa?
It is the UK's main employer-sponsored work route for a non-UK national who has a genuine job offer from a UK employer holding a valid sponsor licence. Sources consistently describe it as a points-based test: 50 mandatory points from the combination of sponsorship at the required skill level and meeting the English-language requirement, plus 20 further points that can come from salary, a relevant PhD, or a role on the Immigration Salary List. It sits structurally apart from the Health and Care Worker visa, which our separate explainer covers, and from routes like the Global Talent or Scale-up visas that do not require the same sponsor-licence/CoS mechanism.
How is this different from the sponsor licence and salary threshold pieces already on this site?
Those two pieces each go deep on one half of this route. Our sponsor licence explainer covers the employer-side question of whether a business holds a valid sponsor licence and can issue a Certificate of Sponsorship at all. Our salary threshold explainer covers the worker-side salary test in detail — the general threshold, the SOC-code going rate, and the new entrant/PhD/Immigration Salary List discounts. This article is the route-level piece that was missing between them: it explains the 70-point structure the CoS and the salary figure both feed into, and adds the skill-level (RQF) and English-language requirements that neither of the other two pieces covers.
What changed with the skill-level requirement on 22 July 2025?
Multiple independent sources report that the required skill level for new Skilled Worker applications rose from RQF Level 3 (broadly A-level equivalent) to RQF Level 6 (broadly bachelor's-degree equivalent) for applications made from that date. This is reported as removing a meaningful number of mid-skill roles that previously qualified under the lower bar. A direct fetch of gov.uk's own current Skilled Worker guidance was not reachable while researching this article, so treat the RQF6 threshold and its effective date as reported and due for reconfirmation on gov.uk, not as independently verified against the primary regulator.
Does a role below RQF6 automatically fail now?
Not automatically. Sources describe several reported routes that can still let a sub-RQF6 role qualify: inclusion on the Immigration Salary List, inclusion on a reported roughly 52-occupation Temporary Shortage List, or transitional protection for a Certificate of Sponsorship assigned before 22 July 2025. Each of these carries its own conditions, and the shortage-list route in particular is reported as time-limited rather than a permanent fixture — a consultancy should check a specific role's current status rather than assume any of these apply.
What English level does the Skilled Worker route require?
Sources describe a mandatory CEFR B2 (upper-intermediate) English-language requirement, generally evidenced through a Home Office-approved Secure English Language Test, a recognised nationality-based exemption, or a prior qualification taught and assessed in English at the required level. This is a separate product from the IELTS Academic test used for university admissions, and from the CEFR level required on the Student Route, which our Student visa explainer covers separately.
What is the current salary requirement under this route?
This article deliberately does not restate the salary mechanism in detail — our dedicated salary threshold explainer covers it, including the current reported £41,700 general figure, how it combines with the SOC-code going rate, and how the new entrant, PhD, and Immigration Salary List discounts work. In short: a salary offer generally needs to clear whichever is higher between the general threshold and the occupation-specific going rate, and that test sits alongside, not instead of, the skill-level and English requirements this article covers.
What should a consultancy verify before advising a Skilled Worker case end to end?
Given how much of this route has moved in a short period — the skill-level bar in July 2025, the salary threshold across two revisions in roughly eighteen months — the practical discipline is to check all four pieces together rather than assume a pass on one implies a pass on the others: the employer's sponsor licence status, the role's skill level against the current RQF bar (and whether a shortage-list or transitional exception applies), the salary against the current threshold and going rate, and the applicant's English evidence against the current CEFR requirement. Our UK visa consultant software page covers how VisaBOS helps a consultancy track a Skilled Worker case against all of these pieces from intake, though it remains a case-management tool, not a source of immigration law, and does not replace confirming current requirements with gov.uk or a qualified immigration adviser.
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