Skilled Worker Visa overseas applications - FAQs

You can apply for your visa up to 3 months before the work start date given on your CoS. The visa will normally be granted with an additional two weeks before your work start date, to allow you to arrive in the UK and settle in a little first.

You cannot enter the UK before the start date as recorded on your visa.

You must apply online.

The online visa application must be submitted in the country where you currently live. This does not have to be your country of origin, but can be any country in which you are living/working/studying. However, you cannot be a ‘Visitor’ in that country.

Though the Team is permitted to provide immigration advice, they are not 'Immigration Advisors' for the purpose of a visa application form. 

Please see our guidance (PDF download).

If you need to take an English language test, we strongly recommend you take the ‘IELTS for UKVI’ test, which will provide a certainty of acceptance.

One of the ways you can meet the salary requirement for Skilled Worker is by having a PhD which is relevant to your job. 

Please check your CoS. If the last paragraph on page 2 is "Is PhD Level qualification required for post?  N", then you should answer No to the question on the visa application form which asks "Are you using your PhD as part of this application?". All this means is that you do not need to rely on your PhD to meet the salary requirement; either your salary alone is sufficient, or you are relying on another set of tradeable points.

The University of Cambridge is an A-rated Premium Sponsor.

This is the University's sponsor licence number, and you will find it on your CoS under "Certificate of sponsorship status".

This relates to the 'financial requirement' aspect of Skilled Worker. It is the UK government's way of making sure that you can support yourself, and your family if necessary, during the first month of your visa. The University is an A-rated sponsor, and therefore your recruiting department can agree that they will support you financially during that period if necessary. This is not a commitment to provide additional financial support or to pay you extra, just that it may be possible to pay you an advance of your salary in cases of extreme financial hardship.

If you have been in the UK for 12 months or more on any visa type, you do not need to meet the financial requirement.

If you are not exempt, please check the final entry on your Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) which will confirm if the recruiting department has agreed to certify the financial/maintenance for you. If they have, then no further action is required.

If they have not, then you must ensure you have at least £1,270 in your bank account/savings to show you can support yourself in the UK. You will need to have had the money available for at least 28 days in a row. Day 28 must be within 31 days before you apply for the visa.

Please see the "Sponsor note" section of your CoS, which will confirm if the the recruiting department does not certify the financial/maintenance for your dependants. If they do not, your family members must also have a certain amount of money available to support themselves while they’re in the UK.

You - or your partner or child - will need:

• £285 for your partner

• £315 for one child

• £200 for each additional child

Please contact your recruiting department before you submit your visa application if you cannot meet the financial/maintenance requirement.

No, not even if you have a clinical role. The University is not an approved UK health and care sector employer.

Please check the second page of your CoS, just above the "Summary of job description". The 4-digit number is your SOC code.

If it is, this will be mentioned on your Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) as "Tick to confirm if the job is on the current Immigration Salary List: Y" (page 2 of the CoS). If this is not on your CoS, then your job is not on the Immigration Salary List.

Please check page 2 of your CoS, "Does the worker require an Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) certificate for this role?". 

The requirement for some international researchers to obtain ATAS clearance was introduced on 21 May 2021. Whether or not you need ATAS clearance will depend in your nationality, whether your job involves research and, if it does, in what field. Please see our guidance if you need further information.

If you do need ATAS clearance, we recommend you apply as early as possible.

The "period of approval" is the time between the start and end of your visa, once it is granted. it is our standard practice to answer yes to this question as it helps to show the Home Office that travel may be a part of your role but you are based in the UK and will return if and when you do travel overseas.

In the majority of cases, no.

However, please check your CoS ("Job type" section) to see if you are being sponsored under any of the following occupation codes. If you are, then as part of the visa application you must provide a criminal record certificate from the relevant authority in any country in which you have been present for 12 months or more (whether continuously or in total) in the past 10 years, while aged 18 or over:

• 2319 Teaching and other educational professionals not elsewhere classified
• 2322 Education managers
• 2329 Other educational professionals not elsewhere classified
• 2469 Welfare professionals not elsewhere classified
• 3224 Counsellors
• 3229 Welfare and housing associate professionals not elsewhere classified
• 3571 Human resources and industrial relations officers

Please check gov.uk for indicative timescales for visa applications.

Certain countries provide enhanced services which will expedite the visa application. For details on which services are available, including the processing times and the cost, please check the information on Visa Application Centres in your country of application.

This will depend on the length of your visa. Please see gov.uk for up-to-date information on visa fees.

In addition to the visa fee, you will also need to pay the Immigration Health Surcharge (see below).

Payment of the Immigration Health Surcharge (also known as the NHS surcharge) is mandatory for all overseas nationals who are issued a visa of more than 6 months in length. It is an additional charge, over and above the visa fee, and must be made up-front at the time of the visa application. Payment of the IHS will ensure that you have full access to the UK's National Health Service on the same terms as a permanent UK resident.

If you include family members in your visa application, the IHS payment page may say you do not have any dependants. This is because, though you must pay for the IHS with your visa application, it is a separate system. Your dependants will need to pay the IHS when they submit their own visa applications.

Yes. The University operates schemes to assist with visa costs. Please check our website for eligibility and procedure details.

After you submit your application online, you will be provided with an information sheet which will confirm which documents you need to submit.

Your visa will be granted in digital format, known as an eVisa. You will receive notification of your decision by email, which will contain details of how to access your eVisa. You can enter the UK at any time after your application is granted.

Please note:

• The Home Office has now ceased production of Biometric Residence Permits and Entry Clearance vignettes (a sticker in your passport which allowed you to enter the UK). Anyone with a pending application will now be notified when their application is granted that they have an eVisa.
• You must start work within 28 days of the later of (a) the work start date on your CoS, and (b) the date your visa is granted.

You must notify your recruiting department immediately if your visa is refused.

There is no separate appeal process, but you may be able to lodge what is known as an ‘Administrative Review’. Please see any correspondence from the Home Office that accompanies your refusal letter.

Please see gov.uk for information on your visa conditions.

You are permitted to undertake other work (known as 'supplementary work') in limited circumstances. Please see our guidance for conditions.

Your dependants can either apply at the same time as you to enter the UK, or they can wait until you have entered the UK and started work before they apply. They must apply online.

Please check our comprehensive guidance for dependants.

The University provides comprehensive guidance on common issues and topics regarding relocating to the UK, including accommodation, healthcare, schooling, banking, tax, travel and more.

Yes, you must start work within 28 days of the later of:  

1. the start date on your CoS; and  
2. the date your permission is granted.

For example, if your CoS start date is 1 August and your permission is granted on 3 August, you must start work on or before 31 August (within 28 days of 3 August).

Your departmental administrator will contact you in advance of your arrival to make arrangements for your first day.

Under UK legislation, as an employer we are required to check that you hold permission to live and work in the UK before you start work, and you can evidence this with a 'share code' from Prove your right to work to an employer.

You must undergo a right to work check before you start work.

Yes. There is no limit to the length of time you can live in the UK with a Skilled Worker Visa. You can extend it by up to 5 years at a time.

After you have spent five years in the UK on a Skilled Worker Visa you are eligible to apply for settlement (also known as Indefinite Leave to Remain). If you are successful in gaining settlement, you are no longer subject to visa restrictions in the UK and you will have the unlimited right to work.

Please bear in mind the following conditions for a settlement application:

• You should not have had more than 180 days’ absence outside the UK in any 12-month rolling period across the five years holding Skilled Worker Visas.
• The above includes all personal and business-related travel. However, absences in excess of 180 days will be waived where you are in an academic or research role and the absences were for ‘research purposes’.

Please see our guidance on the ILR process.