Skilled Worker Visas and choosing job codes

One of the key parts in deciding whether a migrant worker can be provided with a Skilled Worker visa is to decide if their job role is eligible for this visa route by checking it is a recognised skilled job and that the salary meets the minimum requirements.

To be eligible for a Skilled Worker Visa, an individual must be offered a job listed in the Appendix Skilled Occupations, which is attached to the Immigration rules.

An employer must issue the individual with a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS). The CoS should include a description of the job the worker will undertake, their salary, as well as the correct occupation code for the job.

A full list of the occupation codes can be found on the Government website. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) website has provided a search tool to locate a suitable code.

The occupation code provides the ‘going rate’ for each job role. To be eligible for a Skilled Worker Visa, the employer must be offering to pay the individual at least the ‘going rate’ for the job role.

It is an employer’s responsibility to choose the correct job code on the CoS, and it is imperative that careful consideration is taken when doing so. The Home Office may refuse an application for a CoS if they have reasonable grounds to believe the incorrect job code was selected for the following reasons:

• choosing a job code that is eligible for the Skilled Worker Route, even though the job undertaken by the worker is not eligible
• choosing a job code with a lower ‘going rate’ than the most appropriate code
• choosing a job code that is listed as a shortage occupation when the job the worker will be doing is not a shortage occupation
• choosing a job code that is eligible for PhD points, even though it is not the most appropriate code for the job being undertaken.

The information on the CoS must be accurate and the individual will only be entitled to carry out work as detailed on the CoS or in the sponsor notes. The Home Office have the power to revoke the employer’s sponsorship licence completely if they find that false information has been provided on the CoS, and this includes if an inappropriate code has been used to meet the skill level.

If there are no codes that relate to the job, the Home Office may need to be contacted to request that a code is included, but it is likely a response would take quite some time. Therefore, the best practice is to choose the closest applicable code and provide helpful explanatory information for this choice in the job description part of the form to show it is the most appropriate fit.

Alternatively, an email can be sent to the Home Office with the supporting information or a later sponsor note added to the CoS. If there are no clear fits, it may well be the case that the role is not eligible for this visa route.

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At Ashtons Legal, we support businesses with a range of immigration issues. For tailored advice for your business, please contact Jessica Piper, Robert Hickford or Claire Sleep through this website or by calling 0330 404 0768.