UK Skilled Worker visa for business, finance and law jobs

The salary rates, by role

Chief executives carry the highest going rate on the entire route at £88,100 (UK Home Office, effective July 22, 2025), more than double the general threshold. At the other end, human resources officers have a going rate of £33,400 and are not on the Immigration Salary List, so for them the £41,700 general threshold binds.

The gated professions

Solicitors and barristers: criminal offence without authorisation

Solicitors need a practising certificate. Practising without one is a criminal offence under the Solicitors Act 1974. Qualified foreign lawyers use the SQE route, which exempts them from the two years of qualifying work experience that domestic candidates need, and may exempt them from part of the assessment.

Barristers need authorisation to practise. The Bar Standards Board states plainly that carrying on reserved legal activities without a practising certificate is a criminal offence under the Legal Services Act 2007. Qualified foreign lawyers use the Transferring Qualified Lawyer route and the Bar Transfer Test. Practising certificate fees are banded by income, so what you pay depends on what you earn. The Bar Standards Board publishes the bands.

Architects: the title, not the work

"Architect" is protected under Section 20 of the Architects Act 1997. Only people on the Architects Registration Board register may use it.

The work itself is not restricted. An unregistered person may do architectural work under another title: "architectural assistant" and "architectural consultant" are not protected. But you cannot be employed as an architect, and a sponsor filling an architect role will require registration.

Mutual recognition agreements exist with the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, plus a memorandum with Hong Kong. Those applicants take the UK Adaptation Assessment, which the ARB charges for and prices on its own site. Everyone else takes the Examination for Equivalence to Prescribed Qualifications.

The professions with no gate at all

Accountants, actuaries, economists, management consultants, marketing managers, HR professionals and chief executives face no statutory registration requirement in the UK.

Chartered status (ACCA, ICAEW, CIPD, CIM) is valued by employers and sometimes required for a specific job. None of it is a legal condition of working, and none of it is an immigration requirement.

If a sponsored post is not the right fit

• Global Talent visa does not cover finance, law or management. For these professions the realistic alternatives are a higher-paying sponsored role, or Canada.
• Canada's Express Entry needs no job offer and scores age, education, language and experience. Senior managers with Canadian work experience form one of the new 2026 categories. A provincial nomination adds 600 points.
• Already in the UK? People on Graduate or Student visas can switch in-country to a sponsored role, and the new entrant reduced threshold may apply to them.

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 →