What is the Skilled Worker salary threshold?

The salary threshold is the minimum yearly pay a sponsored job must offer to qualify for a Skilled Worker visa. For most jobs it is the higher of £41,700 or the going rate for the occupation. Lower thresholds apply in set cases, such as new entrants, some PhD holders and jobs on the immigration salary list.

How the salary threshold works

To get a Skilled Worker visa the applicant must be paid at least the minimum salary for the type of work. That minimum is whichever is highest of two figures: £41,700 a year, or the going rate for the type of work.^{[1]Home Office, Skilled Worker visa: Your job} Each occupation code has its own going rate.^{[1]Home Office, Skilled Worker visa: Your job} The Immigration Rules set the same test in their first points option. The salary must equal or exceed both £41,700 a year and the going rate for the occupation code.^{[3]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix Skilled Worker}

The minimum can be lower if the applicant is extending a Skilled Worker visa, updating it for a new job or employer, or switching to the visa to become a prison officer.^{[1]Home Office, Skilled Worker visa: Your job}

Lower thresholds

If the usual requirement is not met, a lower salary may still qualify, but only in set cases. In all of them the salary must be at least £33,400 a year, or £37,500 for a non-STEM PhD.^{[2]Home Office, Skilled Worker visa: When you can be paid less}

The under-26 case and the postdoctoral case limit the total stay in the UK to 4 years, including any time on a Graduate visa.^{[2]Home Office, Skilled Worker visa: When you can be paid less} Prison officers who extend or switch need at least £31,300 and the lower going rate for the role.^{[1]Home Office, Skilled Worker visa: Your job} Healthcare and education jobs have different salary rules because the going rate follows national pay scales.^{[1]Home Office, Skilled Worker visa: Your job}

What counts as salary

The Immigration Rules count only guaranteed basic gross pay, before tax, and other guaranteed payments treated the same for tax, pension and National Insurance. They do not count overtime, shift or bonus pay, employer pension and National Insurance contributions, allowances, benefits in kind, one-off payments or payments to cover immigration costs and business expenses.^{[3]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix Skilled Worker} If a worker is sponsored for more than 48 hours a week, only the pay for the first 48 hours counts towards the salary thresholds, although the full weekly hours are used when checking pay against the going rate. The worker must also be paid at least the going rate for every hour worked in each pay period.^{[3]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix Skilled Worker}

Example

Amara is offered a Skilled Worker job at £42,000 a year. The going rate for her job’s occupation code is £45,000. The minimum is the higher figure, so £42,000 does not meet the usual salary requirement. GOV.UK uses this same example.^{[1]Home Office, Skilled Worker visa: Your job}

If the going rate were instead £38,800, the minimum would be £41,700, because that is the higher of the two figures.^{[1]Home Office, Skilled Worker visa: Your job} A package of £38,000 basic pay plus a £4,000 bonus would count as £38,000, because bonuses are not counted as salary.^{[3]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix Skilled Worker}

What people get wrong

The figure of £41,700 is not the whole test. The going rate for the job’s occupation code can be higher, and the minimum is whichever is higher.

A second mistake is to count the whole package. Allowances, bonuses, overtime and benefits in kind are not salary for this purpose.^{[3]Home Office, Immigration Rules Appendix Skilled Worker} A third is to rely on an old figure. These thresholds are set in the Immigration Rules, so check the current Rules on GOV.UK before relying on a number.

The bottom line

The Skilled Worker salary threshold is a floor with two parts: a fixed figure and a job-specific going rate. The higher one applies unless the applicant falls within a lower-threshold case such as a new entrant, a relevant PhD, a postdoctoral post or a job on the immigration salary list. Count only guaranteed basic pay. The figures on this page were last checked on 11 November 2026.