Skilled Worker

The Skilled Worker route enables UK employers with an appropriate sponsor licence to recruit or continue to employ skilled non-British or Irish citizens in a specific job. It is the most popular route of entry and stay for work purposes. It is also open to multinational employers to sponsor existing non-British or Irish citizen employees of an overseas-linked entity under Skilled Worker even if they would meet the requirements for the Global Business Mobility—Senior or Specialist Worker or Graduate Trainee routes (which cater specifically for intra-company transfers). In many cases the eligibility requirements are less restrictive, and there is the option of settlement, in the Skilled Worker route.

The Skilled Worker route replaced Tier 2 (General) in the post-Brexit immigration system, and at the time of its introduction was significantly less restrictive than its predecessor. The Tier 2 (General) category was fully deleted from 1 December 2020, and those with existing permission in the category will need to apply for further permission to stay or settlement under the Skilled Worker criteria.

The route became by far the most used work route, with numbers particularly high in the Health and Care