Architect in the UK: your Skilled Worker visa, step by step

What you must be paid

The Skilled Worker visa has a two-part salary test. You must clear the salary threshold that applies to you. You must also clear the going rate for your occupation code. The going rate is the minimum annual pay the Home Office sets for that specific job. The higher of the two figures governs.

For code 2451 the standard going rate is £47,600 (UK Home Office, effective July 22, 2025). The general threshold is £41,700. The going rate is higher, so £47,600 binds.

This occupation is not on the Immigration Salary List (ISL). The ISL is the list of occupations allowed to use the reduced £33,400 (UK Home Office, effective July 22, 2025) threshold. Code 2451 is not on it, so the reduced threshold does not apply through the ISL.

The lower going rate of £37,800 (UK Home Office, effective July 22, 2025) is used only where a reduced-threshold rule covers you, such as the new entrant rule. Most applicants use the standard rate.

Registration and licensing

"Architect" is a protected title under the Architects Act 1997. Only people registered with the Architects Registration Board (ARB) may use it. Unregistered people may do architectural work under another title.

For architects qualified abroad, the ARB has mutual recognition arrangements with the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. It has a memorandum with Hong Kong. Applicants from those places take the UK Adaptation Assessment. Applicants qualified elsewhere take the Examination for Equivalence to Prescribed Qualifications. The ARB charges for its assessments and prices them on its own site.

Which job titles this code covers

Code 2451 covers architects, and landscape architects and designers. Your sponsor chooses the occupation code on your Certificate of Sponsorship. The code must honestly reflect the work you will do. Architectural technologists, town planners and urban designers sit under a different code with its own going rate.

The title is protected, the work is not

This is the nuance that sets architects apart from lawyers. For lawyers, doing the work without authorisation is a criminal offence. For architects, the law protects the word "architect". It does not stop an unregistered person from doing architectural work under another title.

That opens a practical path. A UK practice can sponsor you into a role titled, for example, "architectural designer" or "design lead" while you work towards ARB registration. The work can be architectural. The title cannot be "architect" until you are on the register. Whether the sponsor uses code 2451 or a different code for that role is the sponsor's decision, and it must be honest about the work. The salary must still meet the going rate for whichever code is used.

If you qualified in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, India, Pakistan or the Philippines, the ARB route for you is the Examination for Equivalence to Prescribed Qualifications.

If this route does not fit: what else is open

New entrant reduced threshold. If you are early in your career, or switching from a Student or Graduate visa, a reduced general threshold can apply. The lower going rate of £37,800 (UK Home Office, effective July 22, 2025) is the figure used for this code in that case.

In-country switching. If you are already in the UK on another visa, a licensed sponsor can often hire you into Skilled Worker without you leaving the country.

Global Talent visa. This route needs no sponsor and no job offer. It has endorsement routes for arts and culture, academia and research, and digital technology.

Our assessment checks you against every open UK and Canadian route in about three minutes and shows your score, where you stand and the first thing that would raise it. No card needed for that. Seeing every route in full needs a plan. See where you stand →