UK Visa Cost Calculator for 2026: Work Out Your Exact Skilled Worker Bill
A step-by-step calculation of your 2026 Skilled Worker visa cost: application fee, IHS, dependants, and employer-side fees, with worked examples and a ready reckoner.
Every visa fee table on gov.uk answers a question nobody asks. You do not want to know what "the fee" is; you want to know what your situation costs, with your visa length, your family, your route, and your employer's reimbursement policy factored in. This post is that calculation, step by step, with a worked example at each stage. Grab the numbers for your own case as you go and you will have your total by the end.
Disclaimer: Fees change frequently and the Home Office publishes the authoritative figures on gov.uk. Always check the current visa fees page before planning around specific numbers. The figures below reflect the fee rises of 16 December 2025 (Immigration Skills Charge) and 8 April 2026 (application fees). Nothing here is legal or financial advice.
Before you start: the five questions that set your price
Your total depends on five inputs, nothing else:
- Which route? Standard Skilled Worker, or the Health and Care Worker sub-route. This is the single biggest swing, worth thousands.
- How long is the visa? Up to 3 years, or over 3 years (usually 5). Fees and the health surcharge both scale with length.
- Applying from inside or outside the UK? In-country applications (extensions and switches, including Graduate visa switches) cost more.
- How many people are coming? Each dependant pays their own application fee and health surcharge.
- Will the employer reimburse anything? Some fees are legally the employer's. The rest are yours unless the contract says otherwise.
Write down your answers. Now the maths.
Step 1: your application fee
For a standard Skilled Worker visa, applying from outside the UK:
- Up to 3 years: £819
- Over 3 years: £1,618
Applying from inside the UK (switching or extending):
- Up to 3 years: £943
- Over 3 years: £1,865
If the job is on the Immigration Salary List, the fee is lower (£628 up to 3 years, £1,235 over). If the role qualifies for the Health and Care Worker route, the fee drops to £324 (up to 3 years) or £628 (over 3 years), and it is the same whether you apply from inside or outside the UK. Not sure which route your role falls under? Our comparison guide walks through it.
Worked example: Amir, a software engineer, has a 3-year offer and is applying from Pakistan. Application fee: £819.
Step 2: the Immigration Health Surcharge
The IHS is the number that shocks people, because it is charged per person, per year, upfront.
- Standard rate: £1,035 per adult per year
- Under-18s: £776 per year
- Health and Care Worker route: fully waived, for the main applicant and dependants
So a 3-year visa means £3,105 per adult at payment time, not spread over the visa. A 5-year visa means £5,175 per adult.
Worked example: Amir's 3-year visa adds £1,035 x 3 = £3,105. Running total: £3,924.
Step 3: dependants
Each dependant (partner, child) pays their own application fee and their own IHS, and the application fee is the same regardless of age: £819 for up to 3 years, £1,618 for over 3, out-of-country. The only child discount is the lower IHS rate of £776 per year.
Rule of thumb per dependant on the standard route: an adult adds about £3,900 for 3 years or £6,800 for 5 years; a child adds about £3,100 for 3 years or £5,500 for 5 years. On the Health and Care Worker route the IHS waiver applies to dependants too, which is why that route can save a family over £20,000.
Worked example: Amir's wife joins him. Her fees add roughly £3,900. Running total: about £7,800.
Step 4: the employer's share (which you should never pay)
Two fees belong to the employer by law, and passing them to you breaches their sponsor duties:
- Certificate of Sponsorship fee: £525
- Immigration Skills Charge: £1,320 per year (medium and large sponsors) or £480 per year (small sponsors and charities), paid upfront for the whole visa length
You do not pay these, ever. A contract or "repayment agreement" that shifts the Immigration Skills Charge to you is illegal, and an employer proposing it is telling you they do not understand their own licence. Walk away. The full breakdown of who pays what, including how clawback clauses on the reimbursable fees work, is in our cost of sponsorship post.
Worked example: Amir's employer (200 staff) pays £525 + £1,320 x 3 = £4,485. Amir pays none of it.
Step 5: the extras nobody budgets for
- English language test (if you need one): about £200
- TB test (required in some countries): about £100
- Document translation and certification: £100 to £500
- Priority processing (optional): about £500, or about £1,000 for super priority
- Immigration adviser or solicitor (optional): commonly £1,500 to £5,000
Most single applicants should pencil in £300 to £500 here; families with translated documents, more.
Worked example: Amir needs an English test and translations: about £400. Final total: roughly £8,200 for two people.
The ready reckoner
Applicant-side totals on the standard Skilled Worker route, out-of-country, before extras:
| Scenario | Application fees | IHS | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single, 3 years | £819 | £3,105 | £3,924 |
| Single, 5 years | £1,618 | £5,175 | £6,793 |
| Couple, 3 years | ~£1,640 | £6,210 | ~£7,850 |
| Couple, 5 years | ~£3,240 | £10,350 | ~£13,590 |
| Family of four, 5 years | ~£6,470 | ~£18,110 | ~£24,600 |
The same scenarios on the Health and Care Worker route collapse dramatically: a single applicant on a 3-year visa pays £324 all-in, because the IHS disappears and the application fee is reduced.
Three ways to cut the number
- Check whether your role qualifies for the Health and Care Worker route. Nurses, doctors, and many allied health roles do. This is worth more than every other saving combined.
- Ask about reimbursement before you sign. Many employers reimburse the application fee and IHS as a hiring benefit. The time to ask is at offer stage, in writing: "Could you confirm whether the company reimburses the visa application fee and Immigration Health Surcharge, and the terms of any clawback period?"
- Pick the visa length deliberately. A 3-year visa is cheaper upfront, but if you plan to stay to settlement you will pay a second round of fees to extend. Two 3-year visas usually cost more than one 5-year visa. Do both sums before choosing.
One thing this calculation cannot fix
None of these numbers matter if the employer cannot sponsor you in the first place. Before budgeting a penny, spend two minutes confirming the company holds a Skilled Worker licence, either on the gov.uk register or with our free sponsor check tool. And if you are still hunting for the job itself, Lumina's "Visa sponsors only" filter shows you only roles at licensed sponsors, which is the cheapest cost-saving of all: not wasting applications on employers who could never say yes.
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 budgeting guide, not legal or financial advice. For decisions that depend on specific numbers, check the current gov.uk fees page and consult a regulated immigration adviser.