Skilled Worker visa: the complete guide — steps, documents, timing and costs

The visa “cost” is a stack, not a price

People ask “how much is the Skilled Worker visa?” as if it’s one number. It isn’t. It’s four separate things, each with its own rule:

• Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) — issued by your employer; an employer-side cost.
• Immigration Skills Charge — paid by the employer for sponsoring you; cannot be passed to you.
• Visa application fee — around £819 (up to 3 years) to £1,618 (over 3 years) when applying from outside the UK.
• Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) — £1,035 per person per year, usually paid upfront for the whole visa.

Separately, you must usually show a maintenance of at least £1,270 (proof of funds, not a fee) unless the employer certifies it.

The salary threshold — the gate before any of this matters

Before costs even come into it, the job itself has to qualify. For most Skilled Worker applications, you need to be paid the higher of £41,700 a year (the general threshold) or the “going rate” for your specific job — the median UK salary for that occupation, indexed to a SOC code (Standard Occupation Classification, the official job-category code your employer assigns on the Certificate of Sponsorship). A role can clear £41,700 and still fail the visa if the going rate for its SOC code is higher — this trips up more applications than the fee itself.

The steps, in order

Strip away the jargon and it’s six stages, and you control almost none of the first one:

1. Your employer secures sponsorship. Only UK employers holding a sponsor licence can hire you on this route — if they don’t have one, nothing else here applies until they do.
2. They issue your Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS). An electronic record — not a paper certificate — with a unique reference number, your job title, salary, SOC code and start date. This is the single document that unlocks everything else, and its own clock starts ticking the moment it’s assigned (see Timing below).
3. You complete the online application on the GOV.UK visa portal, entering the CoS reference number, and pay the visa fee, the IHS, and any priority option.
4. You prove your identity. Applying from outside the UK: fingerprints and a photo at a visa application centre. Applying from inside the UK (switching from another visa): often done digitally via the “UK Immigration: ID Check” app scanning your passport’s chip, no in-person appointment needed. Either way, this biometric data stays valid for 10 years.
5. You wait for a decision — the timing in the next section.
6. You set up your eVisa (UKVI account, share code) — see the eVisa section further down; there’s no physical card to collect anymore.

Documents you actually need

The list is shorter than the forums make it sound, but each item has a specific rule worth knowing before you gather it:

• A valid passport or other travel document proving identity and nationality.
• Your CoS reference number — issued by your employer, valid for 3 months (see Timing).
• Proof of English — since 8 January 2026, the bar rose from B1 to B2 on the CEFR scale (roughly A-level standard), a real jump most older guides haven’t caught up with. You can meet it via an approved SELT (Secure English Language Test — accepted providers include IELTS for UKVI, Pearson PTE Academic UKVI, LanguageCert SELT, Trinity College London ISE UKVI, and PSI Skills for English UKVI), via a degree that was taught or researched in English, or you’re exempt entirely based on your own nationality — not where you live — if you hold one of a short list (UK, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and a few others). French nationality isn’t on that list, so a French national will need a SELT — but if you’re moving from France without holding French nationality, check your own passport against the official list before assuming you need the test.
• Financial evidence — £1,270 held for 28 consecutive days before applying, unless your employer certifies maintenance or you’ve already held a UK visa for 12+ months.
• A TB test certificate — only if you’ve been resident for 6+ months, immediately before applying, in a country on the Home Office’s list (mostly outside Europe). This one runs on residence, not nationality: France is not on that list, so anyone applying straight from France — whatever their passport — can generally skip it. Worth knowing, since many generic guides list it as a universal requirement.
• A criminal record certificate — only for specific sectors: health, care and education roles most commonly.

Timing: the CoS window, and how long the decision takes

Three clocks run at once, and mixing them up is where people lose time they didn’t plan to lose:

• The CoS clock: a Certificate of Sponsorship must be used within 3 months of being assigned to you — apply later than that, and your employer has to issue a new one.
• The start-date clock: you can submit your visa application up to 3 months before the start date stated on your CoS — applying too early, before that window opens, isn’t possible; applying right at the edge of it is where priority processing earns its cost.
• The decision clock: standard processing is up to 3 weeks from outside the UK, up to 8 weeks from inside the UK (switching visas) — both measured from when your biometrics are done, not from submission. Priority service (~£500) targets a decision within 5–10 working days; super-priority (~£1,000) targets the next working day. Neither is a guarantee — priority slots themselves can be full for weeks during busy periods, so it isn’t a rescue button you can always press at the last minute.

Put together: the safe move is to have your English test and financial evidence ready before the CoS is issued, so you can apply within days of receiving it — leaving the standard processing time as your buffer, instead of needing to gamble on priority service being available.

Who pays what — the line that matters

The compliance reality: the employer must bear the sponsorship-side costs (the CoS and the Immigration Skills Charge) — these legally can’t be recovered from you. But the visa application fee and the IHS can legally be paid by the worker. That’s the grey zone where offers differ wildly: a generous employer covers everything for you and your family; a minimal one sponsors you and leaves the application fee, the IHS and all dependant costs to you.

What to negotiate (in order of value)

• The IHS, including dependants — usually the biggest number, and the most overlooked.
• The visa application fee for you and your family.
• A relocation allowance (flights, initial accommodation, shipping).
• Who handles the paperwork — a good employer’s immigration partner removes huge friction.

eVisa and the share code (there’s no physical card anymore)

Don’t expect a stamp in your passport or a physical card: since the Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) was phased out, your Skilled Worker visa exists only as an eVisa — a digital record of your status held by the Home Office. You access it through a free UKVI account, and to prove your status to your employer, a landlord, or a bank, you generate a time-limited share code online rather than handing over a document. Create the UKVI account and test your share code before you need it for anything urgent — a login problem the day you’re meant to start a job or sign a lease is entirely avoidable.

Common mistakes

• Reading “sponsorship” as “all visa costs covered”.
• Forgetting dependants multiply the IHS.
• Not getting the cost split in writing before accepting.
• Assuming the numbers are static — fees change; always check the current GOV.UK figures.
• Not checking the job’s SOC code going rate — a salary that looks fine can still fail the visa.
• Never setting up the UKVI account, then scrambling for a share code under pressure.
• Booking the SELT only after receiving the CoS instead of beforehand — then discovering the bar is now B2, not B1.
• Letting the CoS expire (3 months) for lack of ready documents — the employer then has to issue a new one.
• Counting on priority service at the last minute, assuming a slot will always be available.

Your visa plan — a preview, not the full file

The principle: map the four costs, learn which are legally the employer’s, and negotiate the rest (IHS first) in writing. The full, dated sequence — documents, share code, dependant applications, deadlines — is what Veia turns into your personal roadmap, with reminders so a missed step doesn’t delay your start date.