Skilled Worker Visa

ATAS details

Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) applies to all international students and researchers (apart from exempt nationalities) who are subject to UK immigration control and are intending to study or research at postgraduate level in certain sensitive subjects.

So, in short, this would apply only to those who plan to do research while on a Skilled Worker visa.

More details can be found on this link.

Check if you need ATAS here .

Personal information
Are you now or have you ever been known by another name?

Most of us might have a name with initials which are expanded in passport. This question does not ask for that name with initials, but if you have been known by a different name before. For example, if you have changed your name after marriage, this is the place you should give that name. You might need to add a proof for this name - might be a school certificate, translated birth certificate, proof of affidavit.

Do you have a valid national identity card?

Here you would give the details of your national identity card - for Indian citizens, Aadhar card can be used and the Issuing Authority will be 'Government of India'.

How long have you lived at this address?

There is a chance that you have lived at different addresses (rental houses, college hostels, etc) at the time you were applying for the visa. But you need not give list of all these addresses, instead you can give the address you have in your passport. In that way, you do not need to provide proof for different addresses and is not complicating your application.

What is the ownership status of your home?

You can mention 'I own it', if that is the address on your passport, and even if it is not legally owned by you, but someone in your family (your parents).

Passport details

Here, you need to give the details of your latest passport only, and no need to give the details of your former passports.

Spouse / partner details
Will they be travelling with you to the UK?

Answer yes only if you are travelling together (same time). Even if you are travelling together, you need to file a separate application under Dependant category to be able to travel together.

If they are travelling at a later date, answer 'No'.

Do you know where you will be staying in the UK?
Do you know where you will be staying in the UK?

Yes - if you know where you are going to live, might be a temporary stay offered by your organisation, a home you have rented, or a hotel or AirBnB you have booked for your initial period of stay. Also, you can say yes if you know the region where you are planning to live, but have not finalised where you are staying yet. In that case, you can say 'Unknown at this stage, <City you plan to live in>' in the address column.

Address

Address of the place you are planning to stay. Even if you don't have the exact house address, but know the city you are planning to live in (city of your work, perhaps), the pin code can be given. This address is important because this is the post office where you are going to collect your BRP from. Your BRP will arrive within 14 days of your arrival in the UK and you should collect it from the post office you mentioned.

Accommodation details
Will you be staying anywhere else in the UK?

Mostly No because you don't have details of the accommodation until you arrive in the UK. Answer 'yes' if you have another place to stay after your initial temporary stay. You might have to add proof for this - eg: a rental agreement, a hotel booking confirmation, etc.

Travel history (UK)

Might worth mentioning even if you had a transit visa in the UK in the last 10 years. Give the details accurately.

Travel history (other)

Same as above - mention even if you had a transit visa to any countries. Here, 2 sections are there - one for EU countries and another one for any other countries you might even have visited or had a transit visa.

Extra information
If you needed to add more information about your application but were not able to, you can write it here. If there is no further information you want to add, click the 'Save and continue' button.

You can add any details you wish to notice your entry clearance officer. But for a skilled worker visa, this would mostly be empty, until there is some part of your application you wish to bring their attention to.

Sponsor

These details can be seen on the CoS you have got.

Has your sponsor or employer confirmed you are eligible for the Health and Care visa?

Yes - if you are offered a job under health and care visa (mostly for nurses and carers)

No - if it is any other job, eg: IT jobs

Have you reviewed the guidance on professions that require an overseas criminal record check?

You have to review the following points from the UK website .

You’ll need to provide a criminal record certificate if you’re applying from outside the UK and you work in:

  • education, for example teachers, education advisers and school inspectors, childminders, teaching assistants

  • healthcare, for example nurses, doctors, paramedics, managers, pharmacists, dentists and dental nurses, ophthalmic opticians

  • therapy, for example psychologists, speech and language therapists, counsellors

  • social services, for example social workers, managers, probation officers, welfare and housing officers

You need not do a criminal record check if your job offer is in IT domain (software engineer) or any other domain not listed above.

More details on criminal check can be found here.

Is your employment in a profession that requires an overseas criminal record check?

Review the above guidelines and answer 'Yes' or 'No' based on the job offered. IT related jobs (software engineer, developer, infrastructure manager, etc), do not need to apply for a criminal record check.

For those jobs which need criminal record check, you have to submit valid proof - for example, you might have to apply for a Police Clearance Certificate (PCC) from the passport website, if you are in India (Apply for PCC in India).

Nursing jobs and healthcare jobs would need a criminal record check and it is advisable to apply for this just after you got your job offer and before the CoS as this step takes time.

Is your job with <Company Name> on the shortage occupation list?

Check if the job code mentioned in your CoS is in this list.

This will be mentioned on your CoS also.

It is not necessary that your application should be on Shortage Occupation List to be qualified to apply for Skilled worker visa. The advantage with having a job listed on this list is that even if you have been offered only 80% of the normal salary for that particular job, you can qualify for the visa. The qualifying salaries for these roles can also be seen in the site above.

What is the length of your Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS)?

This is the time period between work start date and work end date mentioned in your CoS. Normally this would be 3 years, but can be upto 5 years, after which you need to extend the visa again.

Has your sponsor agreed to certify your maintenance on your certificate of sponsorship?

The answer can be found in the CoS under Migrant's Employment section - 'Tick to certify maintenance for migrant (and dependants, if applicable)'.

If it's No (N), you would have to show proof of your funds for maintenance as shown here for yourself - https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa/how-much-it-costs (See Money to support yourself) and for your dependants - https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa/your-partner-and-children (See section Money they need to support themselves). As on January 2023, the rates are as follows :

  • at least £1,270 in your bank account to show you can support yourself

  • £285 for your partner

  • £315 for one child

  • £200 for each additional child

    You will need to have had the money available for at least 28 days in a row. Day 28 must be within 31 days of applying for this visa.

If it's a Yes (Y), you need not show any funds. But your certificate of sponsorship must confirm this under Migrant's employment.

English language

To prove this, you can either write IELTS UKVI (UK Visa and Immigration) General Examination or obtain a ECCTIS (formerly NARIC) certificate.

The scope on how to register or attend for an IELTS Examination is out of scope for this site, and lots of information about that is available and can be found on the IELTS website.

Instead of taking an IELTS Exam, an easier alternative is to attain English language proof from ECCTIS (previously UK NARIC) certification. This can be done only if your medium of instruction in college or university was in English. To apply for ecctis certificate, you will first have to collect a Medium of Instruction (MoI) certificate from your college/university stating that your education was done in English. Then apply to ecctis with the MoI, your degree certificate, and your transcript (or your semester wise marklists, if you do not have a transcript) . You might have to wait for a maximum of 14 days to get the certificate which evaluates your English language proficiency based on the documents you submitted. You would atleast need a B1 in CEFR scale to be qualified for Skilled Worker Visa. See here for more details.

Payment

You would be asked to pay for IHS (Immigration Health Surcharge). This is the amount you pay towards availing the free medical services while in England.

I have tried to my best level of knowledge, to answer all the confusing questions you might face while applying for the visa. Still, if you have any doubts, please feel free to send me those doubts using the below contact form. I would try to update this website with more clarity for the questions you have, if it is a generic query.

If you have been offered a job offer in the United Kingdom, you should apply and be granted a Skilled Worker Visa (formerly Tier 2) before you can travel to the UK. To apply for these visa, you will need a CoS (Certificate of Sponsorship). This section covers how to apply for a skilled worker visa after you have got a CoS, what all documents are required, and the timeframe for obtaining these documents.

The government website has excellent and detailed references to most of the stuff you would need to apply for these visa. This site does not aim to answer the obvious questions and answers while applying. However, this site would try to give an answer to some ambiguous or confusing sections within it according to the best of our knowledge.

As a first step, check if your job offer is genuine. Also check if your employer is in the list of licensed sponsors.

You would need to apply for English proficiency first as mentioned here. You can start that once you get the job offer, might be even before you are issued the CoS as it might take some time.

Check here to see if you need a TB test. If needed, get an appointment for performing TB Test if you have got an offer and is sure of getting the CoS, as there are only a few hospitals in each area that serves all of the visa applicants, and it might take a while to get an appointment.

A Police Clearance Certificate (Criminal Check) might also be needed for some of the jobs (not required for computer professionals).

Make sure that you have got these 2 important documents before applying for the Visa.

Now, submit the application and from the link generated, log in to your biometrics (VFS Global) account.

You have to physically go there and submit your biometrics. All the other documents that should be shown as proof can be uploaded in this website until 24 hours before your scheduled appointment. We recommend you to do this so that you do not have to pay for an extra Document scanning assistance or carry or misplace these important documents there. You can carry only your passport, and document checklist to the biometrics appointment (VFS office) if you upload all the other necessary documents.

The main documents include - CoS, TB Test, ECCTIS/IELTS certificate, IHS Payment Proof, Passport, and Marriage certificate if you are travelling with your partner. You can also upload a cover letter if you wish to notify the officer any special circumstances about your application. However, please note that a cover letter is not a mandatory document. Only create one if you wish to explain some particular points for example, a difference in names of the proofs submitted, or a particular difference in your application. Do not use it to repeat the same points you mentioned in your visa application or your submitted proofs.. If yours is a straightforward application (say, You can also upload Visa fee payment confirmation, and proof of funds (only if maintenance is NOT certified by your sponsor).

Agencies asks you to upload several documents, but from our experience, the less is better. The entry clearance officer will have to go through all the submitted documents before arriving at a decision, and if you submit unnecessary documents, it is going to be delayed, and there are chances that there is a discrepancy between any of these documents that gets your application rejected. Please refer this UK government website link which tells you the supporting documents you have to submit.

Please find the below table to have an approximate idea of expenses for an application in the Shortage Occupation List with a CoS for 3 years:

Now, all the best with your application and have a great time in the UK.

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