When Can a Business Pay a Skilled Worker Visa Applicant Less Than The Minimum Salary Threshold For The Skilled Worker Visa?

Posted onMarch 5, 2024

The question ‘When can a business pay a skilled worker visa applicant less than the minimum salary threshold for the skilled worker visa?’ is gaining in popularity as UK businesses who rely on sponsoring overseas workers are realising that the 4 April 2024 is only a few short weeks away.

On 4 April 2024, the minimum salary threshold for employing a Skilled Worker Visa applicant increases from £26,200 to £38,700, or the going rate for the job, whichever is the higher figure. That is a massive jump and the rise will hit many UK business owners and their customers hard.

In this article, our Immigration Solicitors outline the circumstances where a business can pay a Skilled Worker Visa applicant less than the minimum salary threshold.

UK Online and London-Based Immigration Solicitors and Sponsorship Licence Lawyers

For immigration advice call OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.

The immigration rules on the minimum salary threshold

The immigration rules currently say that a Skilled Worker Visa applicant must be paid at least £26,200 or the job’s usual ‘going rate’. There is a requirement that the hourly rate of pay must be at least £10.75 per hour. Those figures rise on 4 April.

The only positive, from a business immigration and employer’s perspective, is that the rules are not retrospective – any sponsored workers who are sponsored before 4 April can continue to be paid the current minimum salary threshold.

A Skilled Worker Visa applicant can be paid between 70% and 90% of the usual going rate for the job if the wage on offer is at least £20,960 gross per year and the employee meets any one of the following criteria:

The job is in a shortage occupation
The applicant will be working in a job that meets the criteria for a Health and Care Worker Visa
The applicant qualifies as a new entrant

The immigration rule changes on 4 April 2024 are likely to present a ‘double whammy’:

Increasing the minimum salary threshold to £38,700 – an overnight increase of £12,500
Abolishing the salary discount for a job being on the shortage occupation list (renamed as the immigration salary list)

There will be no help with the going rate as this is set by the government on advice from the Migration Advisory Committee.

The Migration Advisory Committee has recently reviewed the immigration salary list and made recommendations about which jobs should be on the list, based partially on the planned rise in the minimum salary threshold coming into force on 4 April 2024.

The only options left are the Health and Care Worker Visa (this forms part of the Skilled Worker Visa route but only is of relevance if your business is in the healthcare sector) or where the recruit qualifies as a ‘new entrant.’

The definition of a new entrant for the Skilled Worker Visa

The immigration rules say that a new entrant is an overseas job applicant who meets one of these criteria:

Under 26, studying or a recent graduate, or in professional training
Has a science, technology, engineering or maths (STEM) PhD level qualification that is relevant to the sponsored job (if the applicant has a relevant PhD level qualification in any other subject their salary must be at least £23,580)
Has a postdoctoral position in science or higher education

A new entrant who is under 26, studying or a recent graduate, or in professional training can be paid 70% of the job’s usual going rate if one of the following applies:

Under 26 on the date of the Skilled Worker Visa application
In the UK on a Student Visa studying at bachelor’s degree level or above - or the applicant has been in the last 2 years and a Student Visa or Visitor Visa was their most recent visa
Will be working towards a recognised qualification in a UK-regulated profession
Will be working towards full registration or for chartered status in their sponsored job

If the Skilled Worker Visa applicant has a PhD level qualification that is relevant to their sponsored employment the PhD salary discount means they can be paid 80% or 90% of the job’s usual going rate, depending on which subject they are qualified in.

Job applicants with a science, technology, engineering or maths (STEM) qualification can be paid 80% of their job’s usual going rate provided they will still be paid at least £20,960 gross per year.

Job applicants with a non-STEM qualification can be paid 90% of their job’s usual going rate provided they will still be paid at least £23,580 a year.

In both situations, the Skilled Worker Visa applicant must:

Have a UK PhD or an equivalent doctorate-level overseas qualification
Have a qualification relevant to the sponsored job

Job applicants with a postdoctoral position in science or higher education can be paid 70% of their job’s usual going rate if they will be working in a postdoctoral position in certain science or higher education roles, namely:

2111: chemical scientists
2112: biological scientists and biochemists
2113: physical scientists
2114: social and humanities scientists
2119: natural and social science professionals that are ‘not elsewhere classified’, such as research fellows and sports scientists
2311: higher education teaching professionals

The worker's total stay in the UK cannot be more than 4 years if they apply to work in a postdoctoral position at 70% of the usual going rate, including any time already spent on a Skilled Worker Visa or Tier 2 (General) Work Visa.

Sponsorship Licence Lawyers

Our Sponsorship Licence Lawyers are not surprised when recruiters or experienced HR professionals are left bemused by the complexity of the new entrant rules.

As Business Immigration Solicitors we recommend that, where possible, your business completes the sponsorship of Skilled Worker Visa applicants before 4 April. If that is not possible and you want advice on the minimum salary threshold and new entrant criteria our Sponsorship Licence Lawyers can provide expert advice or bespoke training on the intricacies of international recruitment and managing your sponsor licence. Alternatively, we provide a complete sponsor licence management service.

UK Online and London-Based Immigration Solicitors and Sponsorship Licence Lawyers

For immigration advice call OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.

Minimum Salaries for Sponsored Overseas Workers From 4 April 2024

Right to Work and Rent Fines for Employers and Landlords Increase on 13 February 2024

Sponsor Licences and Cooling Off

OTS Solicitors Celebrates its Inclusion in the 2024 Chambers Guide to the Legal Profession