What is the Immigration Salary List?

The Immigration Salary List is a list of occupations in an appendix to the Immigration Rules. A Skilled Worker sponsored in one of these jobs can qualify with a lower minimum salary and pay a lower visa fee. Each entry names the UK nations it covers and has a removal date after which new certificates no longer qualify.

How the Immigration Salary List works

The Immigration Salary List is a list of jobs where a reduced skills and salary threshold applies on the Skilled Worker route. It is written into the Immigration Rules as Appendix Immigration Salary List.^{[2]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix Immigration Salary List} GOV.UK publishes a table of the same jobs, which shows each one by occupation code and by area of the UK.^{[1]Home Office, Skilled Worker visa: immigration salary list}

A job on the list gets two benefits. The first is a lower minimum salary. The Skilled Worker rules give 20 points for salary if the worker is sponsored for a job on the list and is paid at least £33,400 a year and the going rate for the occupation code.^{[3]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix Skilled Worker} The usual minimum is £41,700 a year or the going rate, whichever is higher.^{[4]Home Office, Skilled Worker visa: When you can be paid less} The second benefit is a lower application fee.^{[4]Home Office, Skilled Worker visa: When you can be paid less}

The sponsor guidance says the list covers jobs at graduate level and below. These jobs score salary points under points options D and I of the Skilled Worker rules.^{[6]UK Visas and Immigration, Workers and Temporary Workers: sponsor a skilled worker (accessible)} A job below graduate level can still be sponsored if it is on this list or on the Temporary Shortage List, or if a transitional provision applies.^{[6]UK Visas and Immigration, Workers and Temporary Workers: sponsor a skilled worker (accessible)}

What the list sets for each job

Each entry on the GOV.UK table gives the occupation code, a description of the job types included, the areas of the UK that qualify and the salary. The annual salaries are based on a 37.5-hour week and must be pro-rated for other hours.^{[1]Home Office, Skilled Worker visa: immigration salary list}

The fee figures come from GOV.UK. The Immigration Salary List fee is the same whether the worker applies from inside or outside the UK.^{[5]Home Office, Skilled Worker visa: How much it costs} The table on GOV.UK also has a lower rate column. It applies to some workers who have held Skilled Worker permission continuously since before 4 April 2024, and to some Health and Care Worker jobs. This page uses the standard rates.^{[1]Home Office, Skilled Worker visa: immigration salary list}

Some entries have extra conditions. Code 3111, laboratory technicians, is only included for jobs requiring 3 or more years of related on-the-job experience. Code 6131, nursing auxiliaries and assistants, only applies to roles in environments where registered nurse or other registered healthcare professional roles also exist.^{[1]Home Office, Skilled Worker visa: immigration salary list} Care workers and senior care workers (6135 and 6136) are subject to separate restrictions in the Skilled Worker rules.^{[2]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix Immigration Salary List}

Cut-off dates

The Appendix states that an occupation is on the list only where the application is made using a certificate of sponsorship issued before the removal date shown in the table.^{[2]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix Immigration Salary List} For most entries the removal date is 31 December 2026. For care workers (6135) and senior care workers (6136) it is 22 July 2028.^{[2]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix Immigration Salary List}

There is a narrow rule for people whose job has already been removed. If the job came off the list on or before the date the sponsor assigned the certificate, the worker can still use the list in one case. Their most recent permission must have been as a Skilled Worker in a listed job, and they must be sponsored to continue in the same job for the same sponsor.^{[3]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix Skilled Worker}

Example

Tomasz is a bricklayer offered a job in England. Bricklayers are code 5313 on the list and the entry covers the whole UK. The GOV.UK table gives a standard rate of £33,400, which is £17.13 an hour.^{[1]Home Office, Skilled Worker visa: immigration salary list} If his certificate of sponsorship is issued before the removal date and he is paid at least that amount, the salary rule for a listed job is met. For a stay of up to 3 years the visa fee is £628, and a partner or child applying with him pays the same fee for the same length of time.^{[5]Home Office, Skilled Worker visa: How much it costs}

By contrast, boat and ship builders and repairers (5235) are listed for Scotland only. The same job based in England would not use the list.^{[1]Home Office, Skilled Worker visa: immigration salary list}

What people get wrong

Many people assume a job on the list qualifies anywhere in the UK. It does not. Each entry shows the nations where it applies, and some, such as fishing boat masters and boat and ship builders, are listed for Scotland only.

A second common mistake is to treat the Temporary Shortage List as the same thing. The sponsor guidance says a job that is on the Temporary Shortage List only, and not on the Immigration Salary List, is not eligible for points under the listed-job salary options.^{[6]UK Visas and Immigration, Workers and Temporary Workers: sponsor a skilled worker (accessible)}

The bottom line

The Immigration Salary List lowers the minimum salary to £33,400 and the visa fee for the jobs on it. It is limited by occupation code, by UK nation and by removal date. The rules sit in Appendix Immigration Salary List and Appendix Skilled Worker, and GOV.UK publishes the current table of jobs.