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What is the highly skilled worker category?

The highly skilled worker category is designed to allow highly skilled people to come to the United Kingdom to look for work or self-employment opportunities.

Who can apply as a highly skilled worker?

Unlike sponsored skilled workers (who are covered by tier 2 of the points-based system), you do not need a job offer to apply under the highly skilled worker category. When you apply, you are awarded points based on your qualifications, previous earnings, United Kingdom experience, age, English language skills and available maintenance (money).

You can apply under the highly skilled worker category now if you are:

• already in the United Kingdom with permission to stay (known as 'leave to remain') in an immigration category that allows you to switch into the highly skilled worker category;
• already in the United Kingdom as a highly skilled worker and you want to extend your permission to stay within your existing category;
• already in the United Kingdom under the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP), you want to extend your permission to stay and you are eligible to switch into the highly skilled worker category; or
• outside the United Kingdom and you are eligible to apply for permission to enter (known as 'entry clearance') under the highly skilled worker category.

What points you have to score to apply as a highly skilled worker

To apply under UKBA points-based system and be accepted into the highly skilled worker category, you must pass a points-based assessment.

You must score:

• 75 points for your attributes (age, qualifications, previous earnings, and experience in the United Kingdom); and
• 10 points for English language; and
• 10 points for available maintenance (funds).

If you do not score a minimum of 75 points for your attributes and 10 points for English language and 10 points for available maintenance (funds), your application will be refused.

How the points different for first-time applications and extension applications

The requirements that you must meet in order to be awarded points different depending on whether you are:

• applying to enter the highly skilled worker category for the first time (initial applications) ; or
• applying to extend your existing permission to stay in this category (extension applications), or
• applying to extend existing permission to stay given to you under the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP)..

What category of person should apply?

You should apply if you are a not a national of the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland and want to enter or stay in the United Kingdom to work in the highly skilled worker category.

You should apply if you are:

• in the United Kingdom with permission to stay (known as 'leave to remain') in an immigration category that allows you to switch into the highly skilled worker category;
• already in the United Kingdom under highly skilled worker category and want to extend your permission to stay within your existing category;
• already in the United Kingdom under the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme and want to extend your permission to stay; or
• applying from outside the United Kingdom for permission to enter (known as 'entry clearance') in the highly skilled worker category.

What categories points are awarded for:

• Age
• Qualifications
• Previous earnings
• United Kingdom experience
• English language
• Maintenance (funds)

Points are awarded for the following categories:

How many points you must score

You will need at least 95 points to be able to apply, which must include 10 points for English language and 10 points for maintenance (funds).

How many points you must score for your attributes

You must score a total of at least 75 points for age, qualifications, experience, and earnings known as attributes. The points available are:

How many points you must score for English language

You must score 10 points for English language skills or your application will be refused.

How many points you must score for maintenance (funds)

You must score 10 points for maintenance (funds) or your application will be refused.

Age

The points awarded for an initial application as a highly skilled worker

You can score up to 20 points for your age if you are under 32 years old on the date of your application. The points awarded are:

Under 28 years old - 20
28 or 29 years old - 10
30 or 31 years old - 5

The points awarded for an extension application as a highly skilled worker

If you are already in the United Kingdom under the highly skilled worker category, or as a self-employed lawyer, writer, composer or artist, you are awarded the following points:

Under 31 years old - 20
31 or 32 years old - 10
33 or 34 years old - 5

The points awarded for an extension application under the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme

If you are already in the United Kingdom under the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme and are applying to extend your stay under the highly skilled worker category, you are awarded the following points:

Under 30 years old - 20
30 or 31 years old - 10
32 or 33 years old - 5

Qualifications

The points awarded for qualifications

The points awarded for qualifications are:

Unlike in UKBA Highly Skilled Migrant Programme, a Master in Business Administration (MBA) is not a separate category under the points-based system, so you cannot rely solely on an MBA qualification to meet the requirements of the highly skilled worker category.

However, you may be able to use your MBA to score points as a Master's qualification as detailed below.

Points are only awarded for one qualification.

How qualifications are assessed

Points are only awarded for a qualification which is assessed and recognised by the National Recognition Information Centre (UK NARIC) to meet or exceed the recognised standard of a bachelor's or master's degree or a PhD in the United Kingdom.

The points-based calculator contains information from UK NARIC on the equivalency of overseas qualifications. UKBA always uses the calculator to assess the qualifications you use.

• the earlier assessment of the qualification confirmed that it was equivalent to a higher level of qualification than is now shown by the points-based calculator; and
• there is no evidence that you used deception to obtain the earlier decision.

You must prove your qualifications by sending evidence to support your application, or your application will be refused.

Previous earnings

The points awarded for previous earnings

You can score up to 45 points for your earnings. The points awarded for salaried employment or self-employed earnings are:

UKBA only consider actual earnings, and will not consider earnings claimed on a pro rata basis. For example, if you have worked part-time you cannot try to claim for what you might have earned if it was full-time work.

Earnings will not be taken into account if you were in breach of the immigration laws when you made the earnings.

The period of earnings UKBA will assess

Earnings must be made up of 12 consecutive months and must fall within the 15 months before your application.

You can claim points for a 12-month period outside of the 15-month period only in very limited circumstances. These are if you have been away from the workplace for a time during the last 12 months because of:

• full-time study; or
• a period of maternity or adoption-related absence.

You do not have to be in continuous employment during the 12-month period being assessed, so:

• you can claim for a period of earnings less than 12 months; and
• earnings do not have to be from a single employer and can be from full-time, part-time, temporary or short-term work.

If you claim for a period that is more than the 12 months, UKBA will assess the most recent period of 12 months for which you have sent evidence.

Assessment of previous earnings

UKBA assess your gross salary before tax. This also applies if you are self-employed and draw a salary from your business.

If you earned the money in a country with no tax system, UKBA will consider your total earnings for the period. If you are self-employed, your earnings are assessed on the profits of your business before tax. If you have a share of a business, your earnings are assessed on your share of the business's net profits before tax.

Earnings UKBA include in the assessment

UKBA include previous earnings from:

• salaried employment; or
• self-employed activities.

Your overall total earnings can include those from several sources of work, including salaried employment and self-employed activities. Earnings do not need to have been with a single employer, and can be considered from full-time, part-time, temporary and short-term work.

Earnings may include, among other things:

• salaries (including full-time, part-time, and bonuses);
• earnings from self-employment;
• earnings from business activities;
• statutory maternity pay and contractual maternity pay;
• allowances (such as accommodation, schooling or car allowances) that form part of your remuneration package;
• dividends paid by a company, where it is a company in which you are active in the day-to-day management, or where you receive the dividend as part or all of your remuneration package;
• income from property rental, where this forms part of your business; and
• payment in lieu of notice (a payment made instead of requiring an employee to work the normal period of notice when leaving a job).

Unearned sources of income that UKBA will not consider as previous earnings include:

• expenses (such as accommodation, schooling or car allowances) that reimburse you for money you have previously spent;
• dividends from investments, unless it is a company in which you are active in the day-to-day management, or unless you receive the dividend as part or all of your remuneration package;
• income from property rental, unless this forms part of your business;
• interest on savings;
• funds that were inherited;
• money paid to you as a pension;
• expenses where the payment reimburses you for money you have previously spent;
• statutory redundancy payment;
• sponsorship for periods of study; or
• state benefits.

How UKBA convert your earnings into pounds sterling (GBP)

Earnings made overseas must be converted into pounds sterling so that they can assess them. The exchange rate Bordering Agency use is the one produced by OANDA.

You should use the closing spot exchange rate on the OANDA website on the last day of the period for which you have claimed earnings in that currency It is an independent website, for which we are not responsible.

The period of earnings assessment if you have been a full-time student

This option is only available for initial applications to the highly skilled worker category.

You may have difficulty obtaining points for earnings in the previous 15 months if you were studying during that time. You can, in certain circumstances, claim points for money earned before you started studying, even if that money was earned more than 15 months before your application under the highly skilled worker category. This is only for people entering the highly skilled worker category for the first time, and is not available if you are switching from the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme.

To qualify for the full-time study provision, you must:

• be currently in full-time study; or
• have finished a full-time course within the 12 months before your application.

If you are, or have been, a full-time student in those 12 months before your application, the time must:

• be 12 consecutive months; and
• in the 15 months immediately before you make the application or the start of your full-time studies.

If you have taken a number of full-time courses with gaps in between of less than 12 months, you can choose the start of the first full-time course and ask us to consider earnings from 12 of the 15 months immediately before the start of that course.

If you have not finished your studies yet, the date of application is considered to be the date on which your studies ended.

United Kingdom experience

The points awarded for United Kingdom experience

If this is an initial application, you can score five points for United Kingdom experience if:

• you have successfully scored points under previous earnings and those earnings were made in the United Kingdom; or
• you have been in full-time study in the United Kingdom for at least one full academic year, and have been awarded a qualification at bachelor's degree level or above. The qualification should have been awarded within the last five years.

English language

How points are awarded for English language

English is the official language of the United Kingdom. The ability to speak English to a competent level improves your potential to succeed in the United Kingdom labour market and helps you integrate into the United Kingdom. So you must have a good knowledge of English.

There are three ways that you can score points for English language. You can:

• be a national of a majority English speaking country; or
• pass an English language test on our list of approved English language tests ; or
• hold a degree assessed by UK NARIC as being taught in English and is equivalent to a United Kingdom bachelor's degree or above.

You will also meet the English language requirement if:

• you were given permission to stay under a tier 1 category (other than investors or post-study workers) and are applying for an extension; or
• you were given permission to stay as a highly skilled migrant under the immigration rules that came into force on 5 December 2006, and you are applying for an extension under a tier 1 category.

If you are applying for permission to stay (known as 'leave to remain') under the highly skilled worker category and have received a previous grant of leave under an immigration category that did not require a particular standard of English, you must meet the English language requirement.

If you are a national of a majority English speaking country

You must have 10 points for English language. These will be awarded if you are a national of a majority English language speaking country listed below:

• Antigua and Barbuda;
• Australia;
• The Bahamas;
• Barbados;
• Belize;
• Canada;
• Dominica;
• Grenada;
• Guyana;
• Jamaica;
• New Zealand;
• St Kitts and Nevis;
• St Lucia;
• St Vincent and the Grenadines;
• Trinidad and Tobago;
• United States of America.

If you have passed an English language test

You must have 10 points for English language. These will be awarded if you pass a test on our list of approved English language test. Only test certificates from providers that have been assessed as meeting our requirements will be accepted.

If you have disabilities (for example, hearing difficulties) you are not exempt from the English language requirement. You should contact a test provider for details of support you can receive while sitting the test.

If you have a degree taught in English

You must have 10 points for English language. These will be awarded if you hold a degree which is equivalent to United Kingdom bachelor's level or above and which was taught or researched in English to a particular level. UKBA will consider this to be proof of your English language ability.

The qualification must be recognised by UK NARIC as:

• equivalent to at least a United Kingdom bachelor's degree; and
• having been taught in English to a standard comparable to that of level C1 on the Council of Europe's Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (CEFR).

Where the degree was taken in a majority English speaking country, listed below, we will assume it to have been taught in English:

• Antigua and Barbuda;
• Australia;
• The Bahamas;
• Barbados;
• Belize;
• Dominica;
• Grenada;
• Guyana;
• Ireland;
• Jamaica;
• New Zealand;
• St Kitts and Nevis;
• St Lucia;
• St Vincent and the Grenadines;
• Trinidad and Tobago;
• the United Kingdom;
• the United States of America.

Canada is not on this list.

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Maintenance (funds)

What is maintenance (funds)?

You must be able to support yourself for the entire length of your stay in the United Kingdom without needing to rely on public funds. If you cannot you could face financial hardship as you do not have access to most state benefits.

You must show that you have enough funds in personal savings to support yourself.

You should also assess the potential costs of living in the United Kingdom. If you are applying for permission to stay (known as 'leave to remain'), this will be based on past living expenses. If you do not expect to receive any income from your employment in the United Kingdom after the first month, you should make sure that you have enough funds to support yourself and any dependants you have.

The points awarded for maintenance (funds) if you are already inside the United Kingdom

You must score 10 points for maintenance (funds). These will be awarded if you are applying for permission to stay in the United Kingdom (known as 'leave to remain') and have £800 in available funds.

The points awarded for maintenance (funds) if you are applying from outside the United Kingdom

You must score 10 points for maintenance (funds). These will be awarded if you are applying to a British overseas entry clearance post for permission to come to the United Kingdom (known as 'entry clearance') and have £2,800 in available funds.

You must have the £2,800 in your account for at least three months before you apply, and be able to send documents that show the money has been there for three months.

You must prove your maintenance (funds) by sending the specifed evidence to support your application, or your application will be refused.