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What documents does a UK Skilled Worker visa need?

A UK Skilled Worker visa application needs a certificate of sponsorship from a licensed employer, a valid passport, proof of English at B1, a tuberculosis test certificate from an approved clinic in India, and either savings of £1,270 or your sponsor's confirmation that they will support you. Some jobs also need a criminal record certificate.

The documents, in the order they matter

  1. Certificate of sponsorship (CoS). Not a paper certificate: a reference number your employer issues from their sponsor licence. It states the job, the occupation code and the salary. Without it there is no application; everything else is supporting evidence.
  2. Passport, valid, with a blank page.
  3. Proof of English at B1 on the Common European Framework: an approved test such as IELTS for UKVI, or a degree taught in English that Ecctis confirms.
  4. Tuberculosis test certificate. India is on the list of countries where applicants for more than six months must be tested at a clinic approved by the Home Office. The certificate is valid for six months.
  5. Financial evidence. Either your sponsor certifies on the CoS that it will maintain you in the first month, or you show £1,270 held for 28 consecutive days.
  6. Criminal record certificate, from every country you have lived in for 12 months or more in the last ten years, if your job is in health, education or social care.
  7. Evidence of qualifications where the occupation requires them, and a PhD certificate if you are claiming points for one.

Money paid at application

The visa fee, which depends on the length of the visa and whether the occupation is on the shortage list, and the immigration health surcharge for each year of the visa, paid upfront. Both are on the gov.uk page, which is the only current source.

The rules that changed in 2025

In July 2025 the general salary threshold rose and the minimum skill level for new applicants moved to degree level, with a transitional list for some occupations. Anyone who read about the route before that date should check the current thresholds before assuming a job qualifies.

The Skilled Worker route does not lead to permanent residence by itself in the way Express Entry does; settlement follows after five years of continuous sponsorship, which is why it sits among the work routes rather than the settlement routes on this site.

Sources

Checked against these on by Zehla AZ, Head of Sales. Immigration rules change without notice — if you are reading this much later, check them again.