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

Stonemasons, wallers and monumental masons

Code 5312 carries three related titles on the Home Office list. Stonemasons are the core of the code. Dry stone wallers build without mortar, often in rural areas. Monumental masons cut and letter headstones and memorials. Each is a distinct craft with its own customers. The visa treats all three identically. The sponsor writes the job description and chooses the code. The code has to be an honest fit for the day-to-day work. A monumental mason who mainly sells and installs rather than cuts stone should ask the sponsor to think carefully about the code.

Registration: none

UK law does not regulate stonemasonry. There is no statutory register, no licence and no protected title. Craft guilds and trade bodies exist, and heritage employers may value their qualifications. That is an employer preference. It is not a legal condition of working and it plays no part in the visa application.

Canada: not on the 2026 trades list

IRCC's 2026 trades category, last modified on 22 June 2026, names 25 occupations. Bricklayers, carpenters, roofers and concrete finishers are on it. Stonemasons are not named. The list includes an entry for "other technical trades and related occupations" (NOC 72999). This page does not claim stonemasons fall under that entry. If Canada is your preference, check the current category list on canada.ca before you plan. Category lists are revised, and a trade absent this year is not ruled out for future years. A Provincial Nominee Program remains a possible route regardless of the federal category list.

Pay: how £33,400 (UK Home Office, effective July 22, 2025) is arrived at

Every Skilled Worker application has to clear a threshold and a going rate. For most applicants the threshold is £41,700 (UK Home Office, effective July 22, 2025). It drops to £33,400 when the occupation is on the Immigration Salary List. The going rate is the minimum the Home Office attaches to the specific occupation code. Whichever figure is higher is the one the offer must meet.

Worked for a stonemason: the going rate is £33,400 (UK Home Office, effective July 22, 2025). Because of the ISL listing, the threshold is £33,400. The two figures match, so £33,400 is the minimum salary.

The lower going rate of £28,500 (UK Home Office, effective July 22, 2025) is only used when a reduced-threshold rule, such as new entrant, applies to the applicant. On its own it does not lower the £33,400 minimum.

Routes beyond the standard visa

• Canada Provincial Nominee Programs. A provincial nomination adds 600 CRS (Comprehensive Ranking System) points to an Express Entry profile. Provinces run skilled-trades streams that are separate from the federal category list.
• In-country switching. Someone already in the UK on another visa can usually switch to Skilled Worker when a licensed sponsor hires them.
• New entrant reduced threshold. An early-career applicant, or someone switching from the Student or Graduate routes, may qualify for a reduced general threshold. The reduced amount is left off this page.

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 →