Check Skilled Worker occupation codes, sponsor licences and salary rules, distinguish eligibility from a job offer, and recognise recruitment warning signs.
A job offer and sponsorship are different things
A job offer is an employer’s offer of a particular role. For the Skilled Worker route, it must also fit the immigration requirements: an eligible job, an employer approved by the Home Office and qualifying pay. A vacancy saying “sponsorship available” is a starting point for checking, not evidence that a visa has been secured.
A licensed sponsor assigns a Certificate of Sponsorship, an electronic record with a reference number used in the visa application. The certificate is not the visa itself. The applicant still needs to meet the route’s other conditions, including applicable English-language, financial and suitability requirements. For Afghan nationals applying from overseas, the separate visa brake must also be checked; a sponsor licence or certificate does not displace it.
Check the occupation code against the actual duties
Ask a prospective sponsor for the four-digit occupation code, then check the official eligible-occupations table. The code must describe the work, not merely resemble the job title. An IT-related title, for example, is not enough to prove that the duties fall within a particular eligible occupation.
Current guidance distinguishes higher-skilled and medium-skilled occupations. Medium-skilled eligibility is limited: check the Immigration Salary List, Temporary Shortage List and any relevant transitional or prison-officer provisions. An old list or a recruitment website’s summary may not reflect the route available on your application date. Use the live table and the linked rules, including any expiry dates or restrictions shown for that occupation.
Salary: the general threshold is not the only test
The usual requirement is at least £41,700 a year and the occupation’s going rate, using whichever requirement is higher. Suppose an offer is £42,000 but the applicable going rate is £45,000: the offer does not meet the ordinary salary test simply because it exceeds £41,700. Check the relevant table and how the rules treat working hours and countable pay.
Some applicants can qualify under different salary arrangements. Official guidance describes eligible new entrants, relevant PhDs and specified postdoctoral roles, with conditions and applicable going-rate percentages; £33,400 is not a universal alternative minimum. A relevant non-STEM PhD has a different stated floor of £37,500. Certain healthcare and education roles use separate pay arrangements, and transitional cases need their own checks. Ask the sponsor which precise option applies and why.
Use the sponsor register carefully
Check the employer’s legal name in the official register of licensed worker sponsors and confirm that its licence covers the relevant route. Match that organisation to the entity offering the job, not just a similar trading name. A register entry establishes licence information; it does not prove that the employer is recruiting for your occupation or willing to sponsor you.
Contact the organisation through contact details obtained independently from its genuine website. Compare the job description, working location, salary and recruitment correspondence. Where an agency is involved, establish who the employer and sponsor would actually be. Keep an application record so that inconsistent claims can be checked before you provide sensitive documents.
Recognise recruitment and visa scams
The Home Office warns about invented vacancies, convincing fake offer letters, websites promising easy visas and requests for payments into personal accounts. An official-looking logo or knowledge of your personal details does not establish authenticity. A promise to guarantee a job or visa should trigger further checks, not an urgent transfer.
Do not confuse legitimate application costs with a demand to purchase a guaranteed job or sponsorship outcome. Verify payment instructions through official channels, avoid sharing account passwords and keep messages and receipts if you suspect fraud. Consult the Home Office scams guidance for current reporting and protection advice.
Prepare a realistic search
Build a shortlist around your skills and actual duties rather than searching only for “visa jobs”. Prepare a tailored CV, examples of relevant work, qualification records and questions about sponsorship. Check the occupation, employer and salary together before relying on a vacancy.
An eligible occupation means that a role may fit an immigration category if all the requirements are met. It does not mean that a vacancy exists, an employer will interview you or a job offer is guaranteed. Educational planning and application organisation can be discussed with Yaldis; case-specific immigration eligibility should be taken to a suitably regulated adviser.
General information, not individual immigration advice. Official sources were reviewed for this edition; check the linked guidance again before acting.
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Sources
- Visa brake: changes to the UK visa system — Source checked:
- Skilled Worker visa — Source checked:
- Skilled Worker visa — Source checked:
- Skilled Worker visa: eligible occupations and codes — Source checked:
- Fraud, tricks and scams: guidance — Source checked:
- Register of licensed sponsors: workers — Source checked:
- Immigration Rules Appendix Skilled Worker — Source checked: