Working in the UK: The United Kingdom is one of the most preferred destinations for Indians to work abroad. It falls among the elite group of countries that people aspire to migrate to for higher studies and for jobs. Apart from the UK, Canada, Australia and the US are the most favoured countries. However, unlike Canada and Australia, which have a fairly open immigration system that allows people to become permanent residents from the day they land in the country, the immigration system in the UK is very stringent. Between 2008 and 2010, the point-based Visa system was phased in and since then, eligibility of applicants to work in the UK is based on this.

Earlier, the UK used to have a Tier 2 (General) work visa, which has now been replaced by the Skilled Worker visa. This visa allows applicants to go to or continue to stay in the UK for an eligible job. But how does the points system work and how many points are needed to be able to work in the UK?

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Among the long-term work visas in the UK are the Skilled Worker visa, the Health and Care Worker visa, Intra-company visa, Minister of Religion visa (T2) and the International Sportsperson visa.

The points-based system is applicable to most of the work visas, but most common is the Skilled Worker visa, as the rest of the visas cater to specific situations. Moreover, the Health and Care Worker visa is a part of the Skilled Worker route into the UK.

UK points-based immigration system: Understanding the Skilled Worker visa route

The Skilled Worker visa can be applied for if the applicant meets a certain criteria, including whether their occupation type is eligible for the same. Moreover, the job offer must come from an employer in the UK who has been approved by the Home Office and the applicant must have the minimum salary for the type of work they would be undertaking as per the UK-defined standards.

There are several factors that affect the awarding of points for immigration. As per the website of the UK Government, a job offer by an approved sponsor, job at an appropriate skill level and English skills at a required level are mandatory for being eligible, with the first two having a weightage of 20 points each and the English skills requirement clause having a weightage of 10 points. Apart from this, 0, 10 or 20 points are awarded for the salary requirements, depending on the salary offered to the applicant, 20 points are awarded in case the job of the applicant is in a shortage occupancy according to the Migration Advisory Committee, 10 points are awarded if the applicant has a PhD in a job-relevant subject and they get 20 points if the PhD is in a job-relevant STEM subject.

Explaining this system to FinancialExpress.com, Ajay Sharma, President and Founder of Abhinav Immigration Services Private Limited, said, “The first look at the point system will indicate a very rosy picture that if you have the required qualification, this IELTS score and a certain work experience, you would be able to go in. And this is also what excites the majority of people. But the points system is structured in a way that it is impossible to get the Skilled Worker visa unless you have a job offer from a UK employer. The important thing to understand is that getting a job offer is mandatory for the visa. None of the other factors would matter if the individual does not have a job offer. But another important aspect about the job offer is that people often say that they will ask some relative owning, say a store, in the UK to offer a job. But that does not work, since the employer needs to have a sponsor licence, which means they need to have a licence which would allow them to hire skilled workers internationally.”

He also said that prior study and work experience in the UK is valued more in the country.

Skilled Worker visa in the UK: Minimum points required

Now coming to the most important point, the minimum threshold. Including the mandatory as well as the tradeable factors affecting the UK points system, the UK Government website states that a total of 70 points are required for an individual to be able to apply for working in the UK on the basis of the Skilled Worker visa.

The salary levels have been divided into three categories. An individual is awarded 0 points if their salary level is £20,480 to £23,039 or at least 80% of the going rate for the profession (whichever is higher), while they get 10 points if they have been offered a salary of £23,040 to £25,599 or at least 90% of the going rate for the profession (whichever is higher). Meanwhile, 20 points are awarded in case of salary of £25,600 or above or at least the going rate for the profession (whichever is higher).