Skilled Worker visa salary calculator

A UK job must pay at least £41,700 or the going rate for its occupation code, whichever is higher. If you count as a new entrant, the bar is 70% of the going rate and never below £33,400; that includes a Student or Graduate visa that ended less than 2 years ago, even if you have left the UK. Pick an occupation to see the figure and what sponsorship costs each side. Who counts as a new entrant.

Salary threshold

The SOC code is the 4-digit occupation code the employer puts on the certificate of sponsorship. Not listed? Choose any other occupation and enter its code.

Salary provision

Without a profile both figures are shown. Add one to have the right one picked for you.

Standard
£54,700 standard general threshold £41,700, or the GOV.UK going rate for SOC 2134 (£54,700), whichever is higher.
New entrant, if you qualify
£38,300 new-entrant general threshold £33,400, or 70% of the GOV.UK going rate, as Appendix Skilled Occupations prints it for SOC 2134 (£38,300), whichever is higher. Checked 15 September 2026
About this code
Most developer and engineer titles map here. The employer picks the code on the Certificate of Sponsorship.

What a vacancy must show, by occupation

Every occupation family JLocate maps, at both rates, using standard going rates from the GOV.UK table updated 22 July 2025 and the new-entrant figures the Rules print. For any other job, all 261 eligible codes are on one page.

FamilySOCStandardNew entrant
Software developer2134£54,700£38,300
Web developer2134£54,700£38,300
Data engineer2133£54,900£38,400
Data scientist or statistician2433£55,100£38,600
Data analyst (shortage list, certificate by 30 December 2026)3544£41,700£33,400
DevOps, cloud or platform2139£52,300£36,600
QA or test2136£41,700£33,400
Cyber security2135£48,500£34,000
Product or technical project2133£54,900£38,400
AI or machine learning2134£54,700£38,300
IT or software support (shortage list, certificate by 30 December 2026)3132£41,700£33,400

Every Skilled Worker fee, in one table

The figures GOV.UK publishes, checked 22 September 2026. The panel on the right works out which of them apply to one situation; this is the whole list, so the guides can point at one place instead of repeating parts of it.

FeeAmountWho pays
Certificate of sponsorship£525Employer
Immigration skills charge per sponsored worker£1,320 first 12 months, then £660 each further 6 months
£480 small or charitable sponsor, then £240		Employer, and it cannot be charged to you
Sponsor licence only if the employer has none£1,682 medium or large
£611 small or charitable		Employer. What applying involves
Visa application, from outside the UK£819 up to 3 years
£1,618 more than 3 years		You
Visa application, from inside the UK£943 up to 3 years
£1,865 more than 3 years		You
Visa application, job on the Immigration Salary List£628 up to 3 years
£1,235 more than 3 years		You. Which codes are on the list
Immigration health surcharge£1,035 a year, for each year of the visaYou, in full and up front
Money you must have available£1,270 held for 28 days in a row, with day 28 inside 31 days of applyingYou, unless your sponsor certifies maintenance. Not a fee: you keep it

Each row links to its GOV.UK page in the panel on this screen. Dependants pay their own application fee and health surcharge. Fees change, usually in the spring.