UK Skilled Worker Visa: Have you been dreaming of working and living in a country with great potentials for economic growth? Have you been looking out for opportunities to live and work in a foreign country where the rights of foreigners are protected? Then the United Kingdom is one of the countries where skilled professionals can grow their career with enhanced quality of living, and diverse and robust cultural environment.
The question that comes to mind is, how then can you turn this dream to life-long achievement and reality? So, how can you transform this dream into reality? The United Kingdom Skilled Worker Visa programme answers this question.The Skilled Worker visa allows a foreigner to come to or stay in the UK to do an eligible job with an approved employer. This visa replaces the Tier 2 (General) work visa.
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UK SKilled Worker Visa | DETAILS
The Skilled Worker visa allows qualifying individuals to come to the UK to work for an approved sponsor in an eligible role. The visa is available to those who attain 70 points by meeting certain eligibility criteria including skill and salary level, English language proficiency and being offered a qualifying job from an employer in the UK with a valid sponsorship licence.
This Visa programme makes provision for partners and children to apply to join the main visa applicant in the UK as Skilled Worker dependants. The Skilled Worker visa UK is granted for up to five years, after which, the worker can become eligible to apply for UK permanent residency.
Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible for the United Kingdom Skilled Worker Visa 2023, Applicants must meet the following requirements:
- You must have a confirmed job offer before you apply for your visa.
- work for a UK employer that’s been approved by the Home Office
- have a ‘certificate of sponsorship’ from your employer with information about the role you’ve been offered in the UK
- do a job that’s on the list of eligible occupations
- be paid a minimum salary – how much depends on the type of work you do
- Applicants must be able to speak, read, write and understand English. You’ll usually need to prove your knowledge of English when you apply.
- Also note that there are specific eligibility requirements that depends on your job.
Benefits of UK Skilled Worker Visa
There are many benefits of the UK Skilled Worker Visa 2023 and some of them are listed below:
- Straightforward, less cumbersome and accessible for skilled professionals willing to move to the UK.
- Work in an eligible profession
- Pursue studies
- Bring dependents (partner and children)
- Undertake additional work under specific circumstances
- Participate in voluntary work
- Travel abroad and re-enter the UK
- Apply for permanent residency in the UK after 5 years
Application Procedures
How-to-Apply: Applicants are to complete all their applications online.
To apply for a Skilled Worker visa, the applicant will need to submit an online application, together with their supporting documentation, and pay the relevant fee.
Applications can be made up to 3 months before the day the worker’s intended employment start date in the UK, as stated on the Certificate of Sponsorship.
The applicant will need to submit an online application within three months of being assigned their Certificate of Sponsorship. Each certificate has a unique reference number that they will need to apply.
Applicants will also be required to attend an appointment at a visa application centre to enrol their biometric information and to submit various documents in support.
How you apply depends on whether you’re:
- outside the UK and are coming to the UK
- inside the UK and extending your current visa
- inside the UK and switching from a different visa
If you want to change your job or employer, you must apply to update your visa.
Your partner and children can apply to join you or stay in the UK as your ‘dependants’ if they’re eligible.
Supporting Documents:
- Their Certificate of Sponsorship reference number, as assigned by their sponsor
- The sponsor’s name and sponsorship licence number
- Confirmation of job title
- Confirmation of annual salary for the job
- Job occupation code
- A current passport or other travel document to prove they can travel
- Expired passports or travel documents to show their travel history
Additonally, it may also be important to submit additional documents depending on the peculiarity of the circumstances, which may include:
- Proof of personal savings, where applicable
- Proof of knowledge of English, where applicable
- Tuberculosis test results if from a listed country
- Evidence of relationship to any dependants also applying
- Valid ATAS certificate, where applicable
- UK PhD certificate, or Ecctis reference number, where applicable
- Criminal record certificate from any country they have lived in for 12 months or more in the last 10 years, where they will be working in either the education, health or social care sector in the UK