College lecturer in the UK: your Skilled Worker visa, step by step

What you must be paid

The Skilled Worker salary rule has two parts. Part one is the general threshold of £41,700 (UK Home Office, effective July 22, 2025), or £33,400 where a reduced rule such as the Immigration Salary List applies. Part two is the rate set for your occupation. For most codes that is a going rate figure. Code 2312 has none. Its rate is the national pay scale for further education lecturers published by gov.uk.

The scale applies in the public and private sector alike. A private training provider must meet the same point as a general further education college. The point you are paid at depends on the role you are hired into. This page cannot place you on the scale. Your sponsor does that in the offer.

The Immigration Salary List (ISL) allows certain occupations to use the reduced threshold. Code 2312 is not on it. The Health and Care Worker visa does not cover this code.

Further education lecturer pay scale, England (annual)

The scale in our data covers England. If your college is in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, ask the sponsor which published scale it is using. Test any offer with the salary checker linked above.

Registration and licensing

Further education is not the same as school teaching. College employers set their own qualification expectations for the lecturers they hire. Ask each college what it requires for your subject. Some will want a teaching qualification. Some will weight industry experience in the subject you teach. Check the job advert and the sponsor's own recruitment page rather than assuming one national rule.

Which job titles this code covers

The gov.uk related titles for code 2312 are further education lecturers and college lecturers. This covers teaching in colleges after compulsory school age. Your sponsor chooses the code on your Certificate of Sponsorship. The code must honestly reflect the work you will do. A lecturer at a university belongs under code 2311. A teacher in a secondary school belongs under code 2313.

The gap between the qualified point and the general threshold

The further education scale sits below the general threshold at its lower points. The qualified lecturer point is £27,786 (National pay scales for eligible teaching and education leadership occupation codes, effective April 9, 2025). The general threshold is £41,700 (UK Home Office, effective July 22, 2025). The advanced teaching point of £41,905 is the only point on the scale above £41,700. This matters because the salary rule has two parts. The pay scale replaces the going rate. It does not on its own tell you how the general threshold is tested in your case.

Two reduced-threshold rules are worth knowing. The new entrant rule can reduce the general threshold for early-career applicants. The PhD rule can reduce it for holders of a relevant PhD. Neither figure is stated here. Run your actual offer, your age, your qualifications and your current visa through the salary checker before you decide anything.

If this route does not fit: what else is open

• New entrant / PhD reduced thresholds. A reduced general threshold can apply to new entrants and to holders of a relevant PhD. Both are described qualitatively; the checker tests the figure for you.
• In-country switching. If you are already in the UK on another visa, a licensed college sponsor can often switch you into Skilled Worker.
• Global Talent visa. No sponsor and no job offer are needed. Endorsement routes cover academia and research, digital technology, and arts and culture. It suits lecturers with a research record more than classroom-only teachers.

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 →