The Skilled Worker visa new entrant salary: 70% of the standard going rate, at least £33,400

The general bar and the new entrant salary threshold

The new entrant salary threshold for a Skilled Worker visa sits below the general bar, and it still depends on your occupation code. GOV.UK says you'll usually need to be paid at least £41,700 a year or the going rate for your job, whichever is higher. Each code has its own going rate in GOV.UK's going-rates table, last updated on 22 July 2025, and every code with its standard, new-entrant and PhD figures is listed here too.

Your new-entrant minimum is 70% of the standard going rate or £33,400, whichever is higher. On a code with a high going rate, the 70% figure sets your minimum. If 70% of your code's going rate comes to less than £33,400, the floor sets it instead. GOV.UK gives the rule on its page about when you can be paid less.

The going rates assume a 37.5-hour week. The going-rates table says they "must be pro-rated for other working patterns, based on the weekly working hours stated by your employer".

Who counts as a new entrant: the five GOV.UK conditions

You can use the new entrant rate for a Skilled Worker visa if your salary will be at least £33,400 a year and one of these applies. In GOV.UK's words:

• "you're under 26 on the date you apply"
• "you're currently in the UK on a Student visa studying at bachelor's degree level or above (or you have been in the last 2 years, and a Student or visit visa was your most recent visa)"
• "you're currently in the UK on a Graduate visa (or you have been in the last 2 years, and a Graduate or visit visa was your most recent visa)"
• "you'll be working towards a recognised qualification in a UK regulated profession"
• "you'll be working towards full registration or chartered status in the job you're being sponsored for"

Before you rely on a condition, check these details.

• One condition is enough. If you are 29 and in the UK on a Graduate visa, the Graduate condition covers you.
• The Student condition needs bachelor's degree level or above. Appendix Skilled Worker of the Immigration Rules lists the courses that count: a UK bachelor's degree, a UK master's degree, a UK PhD or other doctoral qualification, a Postgraduate Certificate in Education or a Professional Graduate Diploma of Education. You must have completed the course, be applying no more than 3 months before you're expected to complete it, or be studying for a PhD with at least 12 months of study in the UK. If your course does not fit, look for another condition, such as being under 26 on the date you apply.
• The 2-year lookback helps if you have left the UK. If you held a Student or Graduate visa in the UK in the last 2 years, you can still qualify, as long as your most recent visa was that one or a visit visa. The Immigration Rules disregard visit visas here, so if you have held any other UK visa since, you cannot use that condition. Read more about applying from outside the UK after your Graduate visa.

The 4-year limit for Skilled Worker new entrants

GOV.UK puts a time limit on the new-entrant rate: "Your total stay in the UK cannot be more than 4 years if you apply for one of these reasons. This includes any time you've already spent in the UK on a Graduate visa." Appendix Skilled Worker counts your combined permission as a Skilled Worker, Graduate and Tier 2 Migrant (Tier 2 was the old name for the Skilled Worker route) towards the 4 years, whether or not it was continuous.

Example: 2 years in the UK on a Graduate visa count towards the 4, leaving you at most 2 years at the new-entrant rate. A Graduate visa for a PhD or other doctoral qualification lasts 3 years. If you used all of it, you would have at most 1 year left.

Worked examples: the new-entrant salary for tech codes

These examples take the standard going rate column from GOV.UK's going-rates table, updated 22 July 2025, and assume a 37.5-hour week. The figures are arithmetic from that table, with no real job offer behind them.

2134 Programmers and software development professionals

70% of £54,700 is £38,290, which Appendix Skilled Occupations prints as £38,300. That clears the £33,400 floor, so £38,300 is your new-entrant bar. The general bar is £54,700, because the going rate is higher than £41,700. As a new entrant, your minimum drops by £16,400.

Example offer: a 2134 role at £36,000 for 37.5 hours a week clears £33,400 but falls £2,300 short of the £38,300 new-entrant bar for that code.

2136 IT quality and testing professionals

70% of £41,200 is £28,840. That falls below £33,400, so the floor sets the new-entrant bar at £33,400. The general bar is £41,700, since £41,700 is higher than the £41,200 going rate.

Other tech and data codes

For 2135, 70% of the going rate is £33,950, which the Rules print as £34,000. That is above the £33,400 floor, so £34,000 is the bar.

The calculator covers the tech and data codes on this page. For any other code, enter the four digits instead of picking a family and it uses the going rate and the new-entrant figure the Rules print for that code, so there is no arithmetic to do and no rounding to guess. The full going-rates table lists all of them. JLocate's demo vacancies, and the employers they are checked against, are fictional. The rules and thresholds are GOV.UK figures, checked on 15 September 2026 and read again from Appendix Skilled Occupations on 22 September 2026.

The lower going rate column and who it covers

Each code in GOV.UK's going-rates table has two salary columns: a standard going rate and a lower going rate. The lower column covers a different group of people from new entrants.

According to the table page, the lower rate applies if you are applying for a Health and Care Worker visa in certain occupations, or if you "got your certificate of sponsorship for your first Skilled Worker visa before 4 April 2024 and have continually held one or more Skilled Worker visas since then". If you got your first certificate after 4 April 2024, the page points you to the standard column.

As a new entrant, you take 70% of the standard going rate. For these two codes, reading the lower column by mistake would make you think you need more than you do:

If an employer or a website quotes the lower-rate figure as your minimum, ask which rule they are using. As a new entrant, take 70% of the standard column and apply the £33,400 floor.

PhD and postdoctoral salary rates

GOV.UK lists other reduced rates next to the new-entrant rate. Each is a share of the standard going rate, with its own salary floor.

To use either PhD rate:

• You need a UK PhD, or an equivalent doctorate-level overseas qualification. GOV.UK says you'll need to apply through Ecctis to check if an overseas qualification is equivalent to a UK PhD.
• You must be able to prove your qualification is relevant to the job you'll be doing in the UK. Your employer can confirm this.
• Your job must be on GOV.UK's list of jobs that qualify for a PhD salary discount.

This guide gives no PhD figures by code, so check your code against that list.

The postdoctoral rate covers codes 2111 chemical scientists, 2112 biological scientists, 2113 biochemists and biomedical scientists, 2114 physical scientists, 2115 social and humanities scientists, 2119 natural and social science professionals not elsewhere classified, 2162 other researchers, unspecified discipline, and 2311 higher education teaching professionals. The same 4-year limit applies to it, including any time you have spent on a Graduate visa.

The rules that still apply to new entrants

• Immigration salary list jobs. If your job is on the immigration salary list, GOV.UK says you need at least £33,400 and at least the standard going rate for the job.
• Sponsorship. You need a confirmed job offer from a UK employer approved by the Home Office, a certificate of sponsorship and a job on the list of eligible occupations. Read why a sponsor licence and a sponsored job are different things.
• English. You'll usually need to prove your knowledge of English. An English test must show at least level B2 on the CEFR scale, and switching from a different visa needs level B2. A degree-level qualification taught in English and awarded by a UK institution also counts as proof.
• What the employer pays. The new-entrant rate sets the lowest salary that meets the Skilled Worker salary requirement for you. GOV.UK says your employer must also make sure the job pays at least the minimum wage. The employer decides what to offer, and qualifying as a new entrant does not oblige any employer to sponsor you.

For the wider route, from finding a sponsor to switching visa, read getting a sponsored UK job after graduating. Once you have a tech role and a code in mind, work out your figure. The sources page lists every rule JLocate applies, with its GOV.UK source and check date.

This guide gives information about the rules. For legal advice on your own case, speak to an immigration adviser registered with the Immigration Advice Authority, or a solicitor.

Questions people ask

Related

• Getting a sponsored UK job after graduating
• Applying for a Skilled Worker visa after leaving the UK
• Graduate visas are shortening to 18 months
• A sponsor licence is not the same as a sponsored job

Sources

Checked against these pages on 22 September 2026. Immigration rules change; the official page wins if it disagrees with this guide.

• GOV.UK: Skilled Worker visa, when you can be paid less
• GOV.UK: Skilled Worker visa going rates for eligible occupation codes (updated 22 July 2025)
• GOV.UK: Skilled Worker visa, your job
• GOV.UK: Immigration Rules, Appendix Skilled Worker (updated 3 August 2026)
• GOV.UK: Skilled Worker visa overview
• GOV.UK: Skilled Worker visa, knowledge of English
• GOV.UK: Graduate visa
• GOV.UK: Find an immigration adviser