If your organisation sponsors overseas workers on UK Skilled Worker visas — or you're building HR tooling that handles sponsorship compliance — salary thresholds are the single most operationally critical piece of the rules to get right.
The April 2024 rule changes were the biggest shift in years. This post covers the core logic, the data sources you need, and the edge cases that trip up HR systems.
The Core Logic: Two Thresholds, Take the Higher
The minimum salary for any Skilled Worker visa application is:
min_salary = max(general_threshold, going_rate_for_soc_code)
General threshold (from April 2024): £38,700/year (£10.75/hour)
Going rate: 25th percentile of ASHE earnings for the specific SOC 2020 occupation code
Both values are published in Appendix Skilled Occupations of the Immigration Rules. The going rate varies significantly by occupation — for some roles it is well above £38,700, making the general threshold irrelevant in practice.
The New Entrant Modifier (70%)
Certain workers qualify for a reduced rate — 70% of the going rate, with a floor of £30,960:
def applicable_minimum(soc_going_rate, is_new_entrant):
general = 30960 if is_new_entrant else 38700
going = soc_going_rate * 0.7 if is_new_entrant else soc_going_rate
return max(general, going)
New entrant criteria:
- Under 26 at time of application
- Switching from Student or Graduate visa
- Working towards a recognised professional qualification
What Happened to the Shortage Occupation List?
Removed in April 2024. The 20% salary discount it provided is gone. If your codebase has logic like:
if role in shortage_occupation_list:
min_salary = going_rate * 0.8 # WRONG — remove this
Delete it. The replacement (the Immigration Salary List) carries no discount. Update your data pipeline accordingly.
SOC Code Accuracy: The Critical Input
The entire threshold calculation hinges on the correct SOC 2020 code. Misclassification is the most common compliance failure during UKVI audits.
Key points for tooling:
- Never auto-assign SOC codes without human verification
- The same job title maps differently depending on duties and seniority
- Discrepancies between the Certificate of Sponsorship and actual role duties are an audit trigger
Data Sources to Keep Current
- Appendix Skilled Occupations — going rates by SOC code (update when Immigration Rules change)
- ONS ASHE data — underlying earnings survey (annual)
- SOC 2020 coding tool — job title to SOC mapping
Monitor "Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules" on legislation.gov.uk — this is your trigger to refresh threshold data.
Building a Compliant Threshold Check
Minimum viable inputs for any compliance tool:
- SOC 2020 code (employer-verified)
- Offered annual salary
- Worker age at application date
- Previous visa type (to determine new entrant eligibility)
Output should show pass/fail with the full calculation exposed for audit trail purposes.
For an AI-assisted approach to querying these rules in plain language, ImmigrationGPT is worth reviewing — it takes a question-answering approach to the Immigration Rules that could inform user-facing compliance interface design.
This article contains general information only. For advice specific to your situation, consult a qualified immigration lawyer.
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