Plumber or heating installer in the UK: your Skilled Worker visa, step by step

What you must be paid

A Skilled Worker salary has to clear two figures. The first is the salary threshold that applies to you. The general threshold is £41,700 (UK Home Office, effective July 22, 2025) a year. A reduced threshold of £33,400 applies only if the occupation is on the Immigration Salary List (ISL), or if another reduced-threshold rule covers you. The second figure is the going rate. The going rate is the minimum pay the Home Office sets for the occupation code. You must clear both. The higher figure governs.

Worked for a plumber: the standard going rate for code 5315 is £38,100 (UK Home Office, effective July 22, 2025). Plumbers and heating engineers are not on the ISL. So the general threshold of £41,700 applies. £41,700 is higher than £38,100. So a sponsored plumber must be paid at least £41,700, not £38,100.

The lower going rate for this code is £31,400 (UK Home Office, effective July 22, 2025). That figure only comes into play where a reduced-threshold rule covers you, for example the new entrant rule for early-career applicants or people switching from the Student or Graduate routes. Even then a reduced general threshold still has to be met. That reduced figure depends on your case, so we do not state it here.

Registration and licensing

Plumbing work that does not involve gas has no statutory registration or licence in the UK. Professional bodies exist, but membership is not a legal condition of working or an immigration requirement.

Gas work is different. Anyone working on gas appliances in domestic premises must be on the Gas Safe Register. The requirement comes from the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, enforced by the HSE. The requirement attaches to the business as well as the individual.

Which job titles this code covers

Code 5315 covers plumbers, heating and ventilation installers, and heating engineers. Your sponsor chooses the occupation code when they issue your Certificate of Sponsorship. The code must honestly reflect the work you will do. A role that is mostly electrical installation belongs under a different code with its own going rate.

Gas Safe: the line between plumbing and gas work

Whether you need Gas Safe registration depends on the work, not the job title. If the role includes working on gas appliances in domestic premises, Gas Safe registration is a legal requirement. If the role is water, heating pipework without gas, ventilation or drainage, no registration is required. Ask a prospective sponsor exactly what the job involves before you accept. If gas work is part of it, the employer's business must also be registered.

If this route does not fit: what else is open

• Canada Express Entry, category-based draws (2026). IRCC confirmed on 18 February 2026 that a trades category continues in 2026. IRCC names plumbers as one of its examples, alongside carpenters and machinists. Candidates in a category can be invited at lower scores than the general pool.
• Canada Provincial Nominee Programs. A provincial nomination adds 600 CRS (Comprehensive Ranking System) points. Many provinces run skilled-trades streams.
• In-country switching (UK). People already in the UK on another visa can often switch into Skilled Worker when a licensed sponsor hires them.

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