The Skilled Worker Route
The Skilled Worker route replaced the Tier 2 (General) route on 1st December 2020. (All Tier 2 workers are now considered as ‘Skilled Workers’ under the Immigration Rules.)
The new route is broadly similar to its predecessor but there are important differences, the Home Office idea of course being to make employment of migrant workers more flexible in light of Brexit and the loss of free movement. We outline the new route and the important differences below.
Cap on numbers
Under the Tier 2 (General) route, numbers of such workers coming in to the UK from overseas was capped. There is currently no limit on the number of workers who can enter the UK under the Skilled Worker route. This also does away with the time-consuming application and monthly allocation process that was involved in overseas workers applying to come to the UK.
Lower minimum skill level
The Tier 2 (General) route generally required a job offer with a minimum skill level of RQF level 6, equivalent to degree level. This did not mean the job required a degree qualification but that the role had to be pitched at graduate level. The skill minimum skill level under the Skilled Worker route has been lowered to RQF level 3, deemed equivalent to A levels. Again, this doesn’t mean the job requires A level qualifications but that the role requires that level of skills.
It is left up to the employer sponsor to determine the correct job classification in this regard but of course, UKVI will judge whether the employer has properly chosen the job classification (for example, when the worker makes their visa application or on a licence audit).
Lower salary requirement
For a job to qualify for sponsorship under the Tier 2 (General) route, the role was also required to pay of a certain level. The salary had to meet both the general base minimum threshold of £30,000 (for a ‘skilled worker’ – ‘new entrants’ could be paid less) and the ‘going rate’ according to the job classification (the going rates were set by the Codes of Practice which listed all job classifications or codes – this is now incorporated as an Appendix in the Immigration Rules). The minimum required salary under the Skilled Worker route has been lowered to a general base minimum of £25,600 a year under the Skilled Worker route and it still also has to pay at least the going rate for its job classification but there is the added flexibility of ‘tradeable points’, i.e. certain skills can compensate for salary.
In short, PhDs relevant to the role. PhDs in STEM subjects, jobs in ‘shortage occupations’ or in a listed health or education occupation can all be paid less than the base minimum salary and going rate within certain, varying parameters as listed in the Rules, as can ‘new entrants’.
New entrant retains the definition it had under the Tier 2 (General) route and includes those under the age of 26 and UK graduates but the criteria have been added to include those working towards professional qualification, as other widening criteria.
The salary requirement for Indefinite Leave to Remain has also been reduced from £35,800 under Tier 2 to simply meeting the base minimum of £25,600 and the going rate. The base minimum is lowered further to £20,480 for those in certain occupations.
No more Resident Labour Market Test?
Under the Tier 2 (General) route there was generally a requirement to advertise the role to the resident workforce for twenty-eight days and carry out a prescriptive recruitment record-keeping process before the role could be offered to a migrant worker who didn’t otherwise have the right to work in the UK. This process was a called a Resident Labour Market Test.
The Skilled Worker route Rules no longer require a Resident Labour Market Test but UKVI has recently added the old Market Test record keeping duties to the sponsorship duties which has sown much confusion in respect of what is now required of sponsor employers in terms of recruitment processes.
No ‘cooling off period’
The 12-month ‘cooling off period’ has been removed, which was a limitation of the Tier 2 visa regime whereby an applicant could not reapply to enter the Tier 2 route if they had been in the route in the previous 12 months.
There is also no limitation on the length of stay in the Skilled worker route, whereas Tier 2 generally limited workers to six years.
English language requirement
Ways of meeting the English language requirement have been broadened to include GCSE/A Level or Scottish Highers in English obtained while at school in the UK.