UK Skilled Worker Visa Salary Thresholds in 2026: The Actual Numbers
The general minimum is £41,700 after the July 2025 reforms, plus four named exceptions that lower the bar. How to check whether a specific offer qualifies.
If you're targeting a UK Skilled Worker visa in 2026, the salary threshold is the single rule most likely to disqualify your application. Here's what's currently required, where the exceptions are, and how to check whether a specific job offer actually meets the bar.
Disclaimer: Immigration rules change frequently. This post reflects the rules in force after the 22 July 2025 Skilled Worker reforms, with fee updates effective April 2026. Always verify against the official Skilled Worker visa page and your sponsor's Certificate of Sponsorship before relying on these numbers. Nothing here is legal advice.
The headline figure
For most applicants, the general minimum salary for a Skilled Worker visa is £41,700 per year. This figure was raised from £38,700 on 22 July 2025 (which itself replaced the previous £26,200 threshold in April 2024). The pace of change is the headline story: the floor has nearly doubled in 18 months.
"The headline figure" is misleading on its own. Your actual required salary is the higher of:
- The general threshold (£41,700), and
- The "going rate" for the specific occupation code your job falls under.
If the going rate for your role exceeds £41,700, that becomes your minimum. If it's lower, the general threshold applies. There is no shortcut: both numbers have to be met.
Going rate per occupation: where most applicants get caught
The Home Office maintains a list of "going rates" for every occupation eligible for sponsorship, indexed by Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code. These rates reflect what the role typically pays in the UK labour market.
A few examples to illustrate the spread (figures rounded to the nearest hundred; verify the exact going rate for your specific SOC code on gov.uk before applying):
| SOC code | Occupation | Approximate going rate (post-July 2025) |
|---|---|---|
| 2136 | Programmers and software development professionals | £49,400+ |
| 2231 | Nurses (Health and Care route) | £29,970 |
| 2421 | Chartered and certified accountants | £42,900 |
Crucially, the going rate is updated when the Home Office refreshes the Appendix Skilled Occupations table (typically annually, sometimes more often during a reform window). If you receive a Certificate of Sponsorship at the start of a tax year, the rate that applies to your application is the one in force on the date your sponsor issued it.
You can look up the going rate for any occupation in the Home Office's Appendix Skilled Occupations table on gov.uk. Note that several occupations were removed from sponsorship eligibility in the July 2025 reforms, including care workers (SOC 6135), senior care workers (SOC 6136), healthcare practice managers (SOC 1231), and dental nurses (SOC 6133).
The four exceptions that materially lower the bar
There are four named exceptions that drop the minimum below £41,700. If you fit into any of them, the maths is genuinely different.
1. New entrants
If you're under 26, a recent graduate, or transitioning from a postdoctoral position into your first non-academic role, you may qualify as a "new entrant". The reduced minimum is £33,400 per year, or 80% of the occupation's going rate, whichever is higher.
You can hold new entrant status for up to four years. After that you'll need to meet the full thresholds. The new entrant discount cannot be combined with PhD or Immigration Salary List discounts; you choose one.
2. Health and Care Worker route
The Health and Care Worker visa (technically a sub-category of Skilled Worker) carries a substantially lower salary floor:
- General minimum: £25,000 per year, or £12.82 per hour, or the going rate for the role, whichever is highest.
- Going-rate-per-occupation still applies.
Eligible occupations include doctors, nurses, paramedics, midwives, pharmacists, and a defined list of allied health professionals. Your sponsor must hold a sponsor licence for this specific route. Note that the July 2025 reforms closed the route to new overseas care worker (SOC 6135) and senior care worker (SOC 6136) applicants, with an in-country transition period running to 22 July 2028 for existing visa holders switching from other routes.
3. Immigration Salary List (formerly the Shortage Occupation List)
Roles on the Immigration Salary List are eligible for a 20% discount on the general threshold, reducing it to £33,360. The discount applies to the general salary threshold only, not to the occupation-specific going rate. The list is maintained by the Migration Advisory Committee and reviewed periodically. As of 2026 it includes around 21 occupations across healthcare, construction, agriculture, and the creative industries (with 18 UK-wide and 3 Scotland-specific entries).
The previous "20% off the going rate" version of this discount was abolished in the July 2025 reforms.
4. PhD-relevant roles
If your job is directly related to a PhD you hold:
- A PhD in a STEM subject lets your employer pay you at 80% of the going rate, with a minimum of £33,400.
- Any other PhD: 90% of the going rate, with a minimum of £37,500.
Note: the Migration Advisory Committee recommended in December 2025 that the PhD discount be removed entirely. The recommendation has not yet been implemented but is a watching brief.
How to check whether a specific offer qualifies
Three questions, in order:
- What's the SOC code? Ask your prospective employer. It should be on the job description or the draft Certificate of Sponsorship. If they cannot tell you, that is a warning sign that they have not done the sponsorship homework.
- What's the going rate for that SOC code in 2026? Look it up in the Appendix Skilled Occupations table on gov.uk.
- Is the offered salary at least the higher of the going rate and £41,700? If not, check whether you fit any of the four exceptions above.
If after those three questions the maths does not work, the application will fail at the salary requirement, regardless of how strong the rest of your case is.
Common mistakes
A few patterns that recur when reviewing offers:
- Confusing gross with take-home pay. All thresholds are gross annual salary before tax and pension deductions. Your bank account will show less.
- Counting bonuses and overtime. Variable pay generally does not count toward meeting the threshold. Only guaranteed base salary does.
- Hourly-rate roles. For non-salaried positions, the Home Office uses a 37.5-hour-per-week assumption to calculate annual equivalents. A £22/hour role works out to £42,900/year and clears the general threshold; £21/hour works out to £40,950 and does not.
- Assuming the going rate matches the median salary on payscale sites. It does not. The Home Office's figures are bespoke to the visa system and often lag the actual market.
A note on the sponsor licence
Even if the salary maths works, the employer must hold a current Skilled Worker (or Health and Care) sponsor licence. About 120,000 UK employers do; the rest cannot sponsor regardless of how much they pay. The full list updates daily on gov.uk and is what powers the "Visa sponsors only" filter in Lumina.
Mohammad Etminan is the founder of Lumina. He writes about the practical mechanics of the UK Skilled Worker visa job search and the data underneath it. This post is a starting point, not legal advice. For an application that depends on a specific outcome, talk to a regulated immigration adviser.