Skilled Worker Visa Salary Threshold 2026: What You Actually Need to Earn

The number that stops most Skilled Worker visa applications before they start is not the visa fee or the English language test — it is the salary threshold. In 2026 the UK government substantially raised the minimum, and a lot of the advice circulating online still quotes the old figures. Here is what the thresholds actually are, how the "going rate" system works on top of them, and where the exceptions apply that can legally lower the bar.

The General Threshold: £41,700

For most applicants in 2026, the headline figure is £41,700 per year. This applies to standard new hires who are not recent graduates, not on a PhD track, and not in a role on the Immigration Salary List.

But the general threshold is only half the equation. You also have to meet the occupation-specific "going rate," which is the Home Office's benchmark salary for your specific job as defined by your SOC 2020 code. Your offered salary must equal the higher of the two — not a blend, not an average. If your role's going rate is £49,400 (as it is for software developers, SOC 2134), you need £49,400, not £41,700.

The going rate is set at 100% of the median salary for that occupation from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE). The Home Office updates Appendix Skilled Occupations on GOV.UK with the full table. Before you negotiate salary with an employer, look up your exact SOC code and check the going rate there — not on a job board, not in industry surveys. The official appendix is what matters.

The Hourly Rate Floor: £17.13

There is a third constraint that catches part-time workers and those in roles with variable hours: the hourly floor of £17.13. An employer cannot structure a contract with reduced hours to meet the annual salary threshold on paper while paying a lower effective rate.

The Home Office assesses salary based on a capped 48-hour working week. For a standard 37.5-hour week, the annual equivalent of £17.13/hr is approximately £33,400. That convergence is not a coincidence — it is how the new entrant and ISL thresholds are set.

New Entrant Rate: £33,400

If you qualify as a "new entrant," the general threshold drops to £33,400, and you only need to meet 70% of the going rate for your occupation (instead of 100%).

You qualify as a new entrant if you meet any one of these conditions:

• You are under 26 years old at the time of application
• You are switching from a Student or Graduate visa
• You are in the first two years of a new role after switching from a Graduate visa
• Your role is in an occupation listed on the Immigration Salary List (ISL) at the new entrant rate

The Graduate visa route is particularly relevant for Ukrainians who enrolled at UK universities during their stay. Completing a degree and applying for the Graduate visa first — which allows two years of unsponsored work — and then switching to Skilled Worker as a new entrant means you enter at £33,400 rather than £41,700. For many roles in healthcare, engineering, and accounting, that difference is decisive.

What Happened to the Shortage Occupation List

The Shortage Occupation List (SOL) was abolished in 2024 and replaced by the Immigration Salary List (ISL). The change matters because it fundamentally altered the benefit of being on a "shortage" list.

Under the old SOL, roles on the list qualified for a 20% discount on both the general threshold and the going rate. The ISL removed the going rate discount entirely. ISL roles now only receive a reduced general threshold — £33,400 instead of £41,700 — but still must meet 100% of the occupation's going rate.

In practice, this means that for most ISL-listed roles where the going rate was already above £33,400 (which is most of them), the ISL inclusion provides little or no effective relief on what the employer actually has to pay. The going rate remains the binding constraint.

PhD and STEM Reductions

If you hold a PhD in a STEM subject relevant to your role, the thresholds are lower:

• General threshold: £33,400 (instead of £41,700)
• Going rate: 80% of the occupation's going rate (instead of 100%)

For a PhD in a non-STEM subject, the general threshold drops to £37,500 and the going rate reduces to 90%.

These reductions are applied to the going rate as a multiplier — so a STEM PhD applicant for a software developer role (going rate £49,400) would need £39,520 (80% of £49,400) rather than £49,400, but still not less than £33,400.

Tradeable Points: What They Are and How They Work

The UK uses a points-based system. An applicant needs 70 points total. The mandatory 50 points come from:

• A confirmed job offer from a licensed sponsor (20 points)
• A role at RQF Level 6 or above — graduate-level or equivalent (20 points)
• English language at B1 or above (10 points)

The remaining 20 points must come from salary. To get those 20 points, you must meet both the general threshold and the going rate as described above.

Here is where tradeable points come in: if your salary is between 70% and 100% of the going rate, or if it is below the general threshold but above £33,400, you may be able to "trade" characteristics to make up the difference. Tradeable characteristics include:

• PhD relevant to the role (+10 points)
• PhD in STEM (+20 points)
• Role on the Immigration Salary List (+20 points)
• New entrant status (+20 points)
• Job offer in a shortage area listed on the Immigration Salary List (+20 points)

These trades allow applicants to score the required 20 salary points even if their offered salary falls short of the full threshold. But the minimum floor is £33,400 and £17.13/hr — no trading can take you below that.

Representative Salary Benchmarks by Occupation (SOC 2020)

These are real going rates from Appendix Skilled Occupations for 2026:

For most of these roles, the going rate exceeds the £41,700 general threshold — meaning the going rate is the binding number, not the headline threshold. If you are targeting a specific occupation, look up its going rate first.

How to Get a Skilled Worker Visa: The Sequence

The process has a fixed order that cannot be reversed:

1. Get a job offer from a Home Office-licensed sponsor. The employer must already hold a sponsor licence, or you must wait while they apply for one (typically eight weeks).

2. Confirm your SOC code with the employer. Both of you need to agree on the correct SOC 2020 classification before the Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) is assigned. A misclassified CoS is grounds for refusal.

3. Receive the CoS reference number. This 12-character code ties you to the employer, role, and salary in the Home Office system.

4. Apply for the visa online. You will need the CoS number, proof of English language proficiency, a valid passport, and bank statements showing you have held at least £1,270 for 28 consecutive days (the maintenance requirement, waived if your employer certifies maintenance).

5. Pay the visa fee and Immigration Health Surcharge. For a three-year visa the fee is £827 (outside UK), and the IHS is £1,035/year — a total of £3,932 for a three-year single visa before any family members are added.

6. Receive a decision. Standard processing is eight weeks; priority service (additional £500) targets five days.

The ILR Clock Starts Here

For Ukrainians currently on a humanitarian visa — Homes for Ukraine, Ukraine Extension Scheme, or Ukraine Permission Extension — the five-year clock toward Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) does not run on those visas. It only begins on the date a standard visa like Skilled Worker is granted.

Every month you remain on a Ukraine scheme without switching is a month that does not count toward settlement. That is not a criticism of the Ukraine schemes — they are a genuine lifeline — but it is a practical reason to pursue the Skilled Worker route as soon as your salary and role qualify.

The Ukraine to UK Visa Pathway Guide covers the full timeline from humanitarian leave to ILR — including what happens under the proposed Earned Settlement model expected in late 2026, and how profession-specific paths like healthcare and engineering fit into the overall strategy.