Country guide · United Kingdom

Getting a job in the United Kingdom, 2026

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The Skilled Worker thresholds after the 2025 and 2026 changes, two shortage lists that expire on 31 December 2026, the three routes that need no sponsor, the settlement question nobody can answer yet, and what the regulators actually require.

Country guidePublished 20 September 2026·Every figure checked 20 September 2026·15 min read

£41,700

General salary threshold for a Skilled Worker visa

Immigration Rules Appendix Skilled Worker

RQF 6

Skill level the job must sit at, raised from RQF 3

HC 997, in force 22 Jul 2025

31 Dec 2026

Both shortage lists expire on this date

Appendix Immigration Salary List

18 months

Graduate route, cut from 2 years for courses from 1 Jan 2027

Appendix Graduate

Read this before the visa section

Step one is not the visa. Step one is the interview call.

Everything in this guide about permits, thresholds and documents only comes into play after an employer in United Kingdom has chosen you. Nobody applies for a work permit without an offer letter, and nobody gets an offer letter without an interview. The order is fixed:

Step 1 · what EDZER does
A strong résumé, a strong LinkedIn, and a job search strategy
Step 2
Interview calls from employers in United Kingdom
Step 3
An offer, and the eligibility checks that come with it
Step 4
Only now: the visa, the permit and the documents below

The Skilled Worker route asks for RQF 6 and £41,700, and sponsoring costs the employer money and paperwork, so a sponsored hire has to be clearly worth it on paper. Recruiters screen on the CV before the visa question is even raised. Step one is the whole game, and it is the part almost everyone under-invests in.

How a résumé is expected to look in United Kingdom

UK convention: no photograph, no date of birth, no nationality. Two pages, achievement-led, with a short profile at the top. Say plainly whether you need sponsorship.

Where people actually apply

Find a job (GOV.UK) · LinkedIn · Indeed UK · Reed · CV-Library · Totaljobs

What EDZER does for step one

Your résumé, rewritten for the country. In the format its recruiters expect, by a human writer, with a 90 to 100 ATS score guaranteed
Your LinkedIn profile, rebuilt. Every section written so recruiters searching there find you and read on
Profiles on that country's job portals. Set up and optimised to match, so every application reads the same
A job search strategy document. Which roles, which employers, which portals, in what order, for your profile
An interview prep kit. For the roles you are targeting, so the calls turn into offers
Guidance on where and how to apply for jobs. From our team, so you are not guessing which door to knock on

What EDZER does not do

Visa or work permit applications, or immigration advice of any kind
Document attestation or credential evaluation
Placing you in a job or promising an offer: the recruiter decides selection, on your profile

Our job is to make sure you are presented in the strongest way possible, so that the interview calls come. What happens in the interview is yours.

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Start step one for United KingdomRésumé, LinkedIn and the interview kit is the Premium plan. With the job portals, Premium Plus. Pick a plan and pay on the next page; the writer starts the same day.

Have a question first? Ask on WhatsApp. For starting the work, the button above is faster.

Section 01

The Skilled Worker visa, the thresholds and the deadlines

Free

The United Kingdom rebuilt its work visa rules across 2025 and 2026, and the changes were not cosmetic. The skill bar went up, the salary floor went up, one whole route closed, and two shortage lists expire at the end of this year. If you are reading older advice, almost all of it is wrong.

The Skilled Worker visa as it stands

The minimum skill level rose from RQF 3 to RQF 6, degree level, on 22 July 2025, removing roughly 180 occupations from eligibility. People already holding the visa kept transitional protection.

Option	Salary floor	Going rate	Who it is for
A	£41,700	100%	Standard applicant
B	£37,500	90%	PhD relevant to the job
C	£33,400	80%	STEM PhD relevant to the job
D	£33,400	80%	Job on the Immigration Salary List
E	£33,400	70%	New entrant
K	£25,000	Going rate	Specified health and education occupations

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You must meet both the cash floor and the stated percentage of the occupation's going rate. Going rates assume a 37.5 hour week and are pro-rated. Reduced options F to J exist only for people who have held Skilled Worker permission continuously since before 4 April 2024. Immigration Rules Appendix Skilled Worker, checked 20 September 2026.

Since 26 March 2026 the salary must be met in every pay period

Not on average across the year. A variable or commission-heavy package that dips below the threshold in a single month is a compliance problem for the sponsor and a risk to your visa. Explanatory memorandum to HC 1691, 5 Mar 2026

Two deadlines that fall on 31 December 2026

The Immigration Salary List, which gives access to the £33,400 floor at 80% of the going rate, expires on 31 December 2026 for most of its 24 occupation groups. Care workers and senior care workers run to 22 July 2028.
The Temporary Shortage List, covering 60 or more occupations at RQF 3 to 5, requires the Certificate of Sponsorship to be issued before 31 December 2026. Workers on it cannot bring dependants.

Section 02

The routes that need no sponsor, English, and settlement

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This section is free as well. It opens the moment you are signed in.Open it, free

Section 03

Regulators, exams and the British CV

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This section is free as well. It opens the moment you are signed in.Open it, free

Free ATS check for United Kingdom

Not ready to start yet? Get your résumé scored free, and we will tell you exactly what United Kingdom recruiters would change.

Takes a minute. Your score comes back on this page. A writer from EDZER reviews the file and follows up on WhatsApp about the résumé and LinkedIn work, nothing else.

Your name

WhatsApp number

Where you live now

Where you want to work (up to 5)

Target role or roles

Experience

Highest qualification

Current designation and employer (if working)

When do you plan to apply?

Your current résumé

Used to score your résumé and for our writers to contact you about the résumé and LinkedIn work for United Kingdom. We do not handle visas or immigration. Never sold or shared. Privacy.

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