Skilled Worker Visa Salary Checker

For applications from 22 July 2025 onward, the general salary threshold (Option A) is £41,700 a year, or 100% of the going rate for your occupation code, whichever is higher. That second half is what catches people out. For most technology occupations the going rate sits well above £41,700, so the going rate is the figure that actually binds. A software developer under SOC 2134 needs £54,700 on the standard route, not £41,700, because the going rate is higher than the cash floor.

Because the rules apply two separate tests and you must clear both. Every salary option has a fixed cash floor (£41,700, £37,500 or £33,400 depending on the route) and a required percentage of your occupation's going rate (100%, 90%, 80% or 70%). Your actual requirement is whichever of those two figures is higher. Checkers that only compare your salary against the cash floor will tell you that you qualify when you do not.

The going rate is the Home Office's benchmark salary for your Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code, based on Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings data. The current rates took effect on 22 July 2025 and use a 2024 ASHE basis. Your sponsor assigns the SOC code on your Certificate of Sponsorship, and that code determines your going rate. If the code is wrong, the salary requirement will be wrong too, which is worth checking before the CoS is assigned rather than after.

No. The salary tests look at guaranteed basic gross pay only. Bonuses, commission, overtime, shift premiums, equity and share awards, employer pension contributions, and benefits in kind are all excluded. This matters most in technology and finance, where a total package can look comfortably above the requirement while base salary alone falls short.

Option E, the new entrant route, lowers the cash floor to £33,400 and the going-rate requirement to 70%. You can generally use it if you are under 26 on the date of application, are switching from a UK Student or Graduate visa, or are working toward a recognised professional qualification or postdoctoral position. It can be used for a maximum of four years in total, after which you must be paid at the standard rate. It is the single most useful route for graduate hires in tech, and the most commonly overlooked.

Generally no. The Immigration Salary List (Option D) replaced the old Shortage Occupation List and is much narrower. Mainstream software, data, and IT occupations are not on it. Do not plan an application around Option D unless you have confirmed the specific occupation appears on the current list, because the 80% going-rate discount is not available otherwise.

The cash floor is not pro-rated in the way people expect. Your salary is assessed on the basic gross pay you will actually receive, and the going rate is adjusted only by reference to weekly hours, capped at 48 hours per week for the calculation. In practice this means a part-time role has to pay a full-time-equivalent salary high enough that the actual pay still clears the cash floor, which makes part-time sponsorship difficult at typical tech salaries.

Your sponsor has a duty to report changes to your pay, and a reduction below the applicable requirement can invalidate your sponsorship. This applies to unpaid leave, a move to part-time hours, and demotions. Salary reductions during statutory leave, phased returns, and certain sick-pay situations are treated more flexibly, but a permanent cut below the requirement generally means a new application at the correct salary.

No. Salary is one requirement among several. The job must be at the required skill level and eligible for sponsorship, the employer must hold a valid sponsor licence and assign a Certificate of Sponsorship, and you must meet the English language and financial maintenance requirements. This tool answers the salary question specifically, which is the one that most often determines whether an offer works, but it is not an overall eligibility assessment.

Ireland's Critical Skills Employment Permit has a substantially lower salary floor of €40,904 for degree-qualified applicants, with no going-rate test layered on top, so the arithmetic is simpler and the bar is lower for mid-level roles. The UK requires the higher of a cash floor and an occupation-specific going rate, which pushes the effective requirement for most tech roles above £50,000. Take-home differs too: Ireland's marginal rate reaches 52% earlier than the UK's does.