UK Work Visa Salary Requirements Explained for Nigerian Applicants

Salary is the part of the application you cannot talk your way around

The Skilled Worker visa runs on a points system. You need 70 points in total, and your pay is worth a fixed 20 of them. Everything else — a licensed sponsor, a job at the right skill level, English language — is pass or fail.

That means a brilliant CV cannot rescue an underpaid offer. If the salary written on your Certificate of Sponsorship is below the legal floor, the caseworker has no discretion to approve you.

So before you get emotionally invested in any UK job offer, check the number. It is the fastest way to tell whether an opportunity is real.

The two numbers your offer must beat

There are always two tests, and your salary has to pass both. The first is the general salary threshold, which applies to almost everyone on the standard Skilled Worker route. Since the rules changed in July 2025 this has been £41,700 a year for most new applicants.

The second is the going rate for your specific occupation — a separate minimum set for each job type, based on what people in the UK typically earn in that role. A software developer, a civil engineer and a secondary school teacher all have different going rates.

You must meet whichever of the two is higher. If the general threshold is £41,700 but your occupation's going rate is £46,000, then £46,000 is your real target. Salary thresholds have been raised more than once in recent years, so always confirm the current figures on GOV.UK rather than trusting an agent or a TikTok clip.

Lower thresholds do exist — but only for specific situations

The rules allow reduced salary floors in defined cases, usually paired with a requirement to still earn a set percentage of the going rate. The common reduced floor sits around £33,400, and it can apply if you qualify as a new entrant (for example, you are under 26, switching from a Student or Graduate visa, or working towards a recognised professional qualification), or if your job is on the Immigration Salary List or Temporary Shortage List.

There is also a discount if you hold a PhD relevant to the job, with a deeper discount for a STEM PhD. These are not stackable — your sponsor picks the one option that fits your case.

Healthcare and education roles paid on national pay scales work differently again. For eligible health and care jobs the general threshold is far lower — around £25,000 — but your pay still has to match the relevant NHS or national pay band. Note that overseas applications for care worker and senior care worker roles were closed in July 2025, which affected a large number of Nigerian applicants, so check the current position before paying anyone for anything.

What counts as "salary" (and what quietly does not)

Only your guaranteed basic gross pay counts. Overtime, performance bonuses, tips, commission, shift premiums, accommodation, car allowances and other benefits in kind are excluded from the calculation.

Pay is also assessed on a maximum of 48 hours a week, even if the contract says 60. So an employer cannot reach the threshold by promising you long hours — the extra hours simply will not be counted.

Part-time work is where many offers fail. The going rate is pro-rated for the hours you work, but the general salary threshold normally has to be met in full in cash terms. A separate minimum hourly rate also applies, so a low hourly figure can sink an application even when the annual total looks acceptable.

How to check the going rate for your own job

Every sponsored job is matched to a four-digit SOC 2020 occupation code. That code — not the job title in the advert — decides your going rate and whether the role is skilled enough to qualify at all.

The full table lives in Appendix Skilled Occupations on GOV.UK. Search your occupation, read the code description carefully, and compare the listed going rate with the salary you have been offered.

Ask the employer directly which SOC code they intend to use and what salary they will enter on the Certificate of Sponsorship. A genuine licensed sponsor will know both answers. Vagueness here is a warning sign.

Do not judge the salary by converting it to naira

£41,700 looks enormous in naira, and that is exactly how people get caught out. UK gross salary is reduced by income tax, National Insurance and usually a workplace pension contribution before it reaches your account.

Then come UK costs: rent, council tax, utilities, transport and food, all priced in pounds. Rent alone can swallow a third or more of take-home pay in London and other expensive cities.

The point is not to discourage you — it is to help you plan realistically, especially if a partner and children are coming with you and may not be able to work immediately.

The other money the Home Office looks at

Salary is only one part of the financial picture. You will also pay the visa application fee and the Immigration Health Surcharge, which is charged per person per year of your visa and is commonly around £1,035 a year for adults — a significant upfront cost for a family.

You normally need to show maintenance funds of £1,270 held for 28 consecutive days, plus roughly £285 for a partner, £315 for a first child and £200 for each additional child. Many sponsors certify maintenance on your behalf, which removes this requirement.

Unlike the family visa route, Skilled Worker dependants are not assessed against a separate household income threshold. Your own qualifying salary is what matters.

If your offer is below the threshold

First, ask the employer whether the salary can be raised to the correct level, or whether the role can be advertised at the right grade. Some employers simply have not checked the current figures.

Second, check whether any legitimate discount applies to you — new entrant status, a relevant PhD, or a shortage list role. Your sponsor applies these, not you.

Third, consider other routes. The Global Talent visa has no salary threshold but requires endorsement in a recognised field. The Graduate route lets UK graduates work without sponsorship for a limited period, and many people use that window to find a sponsored role at a compliant salary.

Salary red flags Nigerian applicants should treat as a hard no

If anyone asks you to pay for a Certificate of Sponsorship or a "visa slot", walk away. Sponsors are not permitted to pass the sponsorship licence costs on to you, and charging for a CoS is a known abuse.

Be equally firm about any arrangement where your contract shows £41,700 but you are told you will actually receive less, refund part of it, or repay "training costs" from your wages. That is deception, and it can lead to refusal, curtailment of a visa already granted, and a re-entry ban.

Check the employer on the Home Office register of licensed sponsors, confirm the salary in writing before you resign from anything in Nigeria, and verify every threshold on GOV.UK. Official guidance changes, sometimes with only weeks of notice.

Common questions

This article is general information about UK immigration rules as understood at the time of writing, not legal advice; salary thresholds and routes change, so verify all requirements on GOV.UK or with a qualified immigration adviser before making decisions.