The headline application fee for a Skilled Worker visa is £819. In reality, a single applicant coming to the UK for three years will pay £3,924 to the Home Office, and a family of three will pay closer to £11,000.

The gap is the Immigration Health Surcharge, which is paid upfront for the whole visa period and is by far the largest cost for most applicants.

This guide sets out what the worker pays, what the employer pays, which costs cannot lawfully be passed on, and what the realistic total looks like for a typical hire. Every figure below is taken from GOV.UK.

At Kenton Solicitors, our immigration team advises applicants and sponsors on Skilled Worker matters from our office in Harrow.

Call us on 020 8907 2444 or request a free consultation.

Who Pays What

This is the first thing to understand, because the split is set by law rather than by negotiation.

The worker pays the visa application fee and the Immigration Health Surcharge. An employer can choose to cover these as part of a package, and many do, but the legal responsibility sits with the applicant.

The employer pays the sponsor licence fee, the Certificate of Sponsorship fee, and the Immigration Skills Charge. GOV.UK is explicit on this point: your licence may be revoked if you ask the sponsored worker to pay the fee or any costs linked to your application.

That applies to all three employer costs, and it means no clawback clause, no salary deduction, and no repayment agreement. This catches out a surprising number of smaller employers who assume an arrangement can be agreed between the parties.

What the Worker Pays

The Visa Application Fee

The fee depends on whether you apply from inside or outside the UK, and whether you will be in the UK for three years or less, or more than three years.

• From outside the UK, up to 3 years — £819 per person
• From outside the UK, more than 3 years — £1,618 per person
• From inside the UK, up to 3 years — £943 per person
• From inside the UK, more than 3 years — £1,865 per person

Where the role is on the immigration salary list, the fee is lower — £628 for up to three years and £1,235 for longer. Unusually, that reduced fee is the same whether you apply from inside or outside the UK.

Every dependant pays the same fee as the main applicant, for the same length of time. That applies even if they apply later. If your five-year certificate expires in 2027 and your child applies to join you in 2026, they still pay the “more than 3 years” fee.

The Immigration Health Surcharge

This is the cost that turns a four-figure application into something much larger.

• £1,035 per year for each adult applicant
• £776 per year for anyone under 18 at the date of application

It is paid in full at the point of application, covering the whole visa period. For a three-year visa that is £3,105 per adult. For five years it is £5,175.

Dependants aged 18 or over normally pay the same as the main applicant.

There are rules for part years. A visa of more than six months but less than a year attracts a full year’s charge. For 18 months or less you pay a year and a half. For more than 18 months but under two years you pay two full years.

If your application is refused or withdrawn before a decision, the surcharge is refunded in full. The application fee is not.

Money to Support Yourself

You must normally have £1,270 available. This is not a payment — it is evidence that you can support yourself, and you keep the money.

The requirements are specific and worth getting right:

• The money must have been held for 28 days in a row
• Day 28 must fall within 31 days of the date you apply
• The balance must not drop below £1,270 at any point during that period

You are exempt if you have been in the UK with a valid visa for at least 12 months, or if your employer certifies on your Certificate of Sponsorship that they will cover your costs during your first month, up to £1,270. Your dependants have their own separate amounts.

Other Costs

Depending on your circumstances you may also need an approved English language test, a tuberculosis test if you are applying from certain countries, and travel to a visa application centre. Optional priority services are available in some locations at additional cost.

What the Employer Pays

The Sponsor Licence

This is a one-off fee paid when the employer applies for the licence.

• £611 for small or charitable sponsors
• £1,682 for medium or large sponsors

You count as a small sponsor if at least two of the following apply: your annual turnover is £15 million or less, your total assets are worth £7.5 million or less, or you have 50 employees or fewer. Registered charities pay the small fee regardless of size.

Most licence applications are decided within eight weeks. A faster decision within 10 working days is available for an additional £750, though the service is limited to a small number of applications each working day and allocated first come, first served.

Checking your size classification carefully is worth doing. It affects both the licence fee and the Immigration Skills Charge, and the difference across a five-year hire runs to thousands of pounds. Our sponsor licence team advises employers on applications, compliance and licence management.

The Certificate of Sponsorship

A certificate must be assigned to each worker before they can apply. For a Skilled Worker the fee is £525 per certificate, and it does not change with the length of the visa.

Note that a new certificate is needed each time you sponsor or extend a worker, and also where an existing employee moves to a role with a different occupation code — so this cost recurs.

The Immigration Skills Charge

This is usually the employer’s largest cost. It is charged in blocks rather than as a flat annual figure:

Small or charitable sponsors pay £480 for the first 12 months, then £240 for each additional 6 months.

Medium or large sponsors pay £1,320 for the first 12 months, then £660 for each additional 6 months.

Since five years is the longest a worker can be sponsored for, the maximum is £2,400 for a small sponsor and £6,600 for a medium or large one. A three-year sponsorship works out at £1,440 for a small sponsor and £3,960 for a large one.

The whole amount is paid in one go when the certificate is assigned.

When the Skills Charge Is Not Payable

There are more exemptions than most employers realise:

• Certain occupation codes, including chemical, biological, physical and social scientists, biochemists and biomedical scientists, research and development managers, other researchers, and higher education teaching professionals
• Dependants — no charge is payable for a worker’s partner or children
• Switching from a study visa — where someone switches to a Skilled Worker visa from a visa allowing study, and then extends on the new visa
• Short assignments from abroad — where the worker is applying from outside the UK for less than 6 months

It is worth checking against the occupation code before budgeting for the full amount.

Refunds of the Skills Charge

This is not widely known and can be worth reclaiming. You get a full refund if the worker’s visa application is refused or withdrawn, or if it is granted but they never come to work for you.

You get a partial refund if the worker is given less time on their visa than you sponsored them for, if they start and then move to another sponsor, or if they leave before the end date on their certificate. There is also a partial refund if you paid the large sponsor rate after already notifying UKVI that you had become a small sponsor.

Refunds are usually paid within 90 days. If a refund does not arrive, contact UKVI.

Worked Examples

All figures are Home Office fees only.

Single applicant, 3-year visa, from outside the UK, small sponsor
The worker pays £819 plus £3,105 in health surcharge — £3,924. The employer pays £611 for the licence, £525 for the certificate and £1,440 in skills charge — £2,576. Combined: around £6,500.

Single applicant, 5-year visa, from outside the UK, medium or large sponsor
The worker pays £1,618 plus £5,175 — £6,793. The employer pays £1,682, £525 and £6,600 — £8,807. Combined: around £15,600.

Family of three, 3-year visa, from outside the UK
Two adults and one child: three application fees at £819 each is £2,457. Health surcharge is £3,105 for each adult and £2,328 for the child — £8,538. Total: £10,995, before any employer costs.

The family figure is the one that surprises people most, and it is worth raising early in any relocation conversation.

Costs Over the Longer Term

The first application is not the end of it. A worker on a three-year visa who extends, then applies for settlement and later citizenship, pays the application fee and health surcharge again on extension, then a settlement fee, then a naturalisation fee. Across the full journey the total in Home Office fees alone commonly runs well into five figures.

If settlement is part of your plan, our guides on when to apply for ILR and how long ILR takes set out the timings, and our ILR and settlement team can advise on your qualifying date.

Where People Lose Money

• Paying the wrong amount. If the health surcharge is underpaid, UKVI will email you and give 10 working days to pay. Miss that and the application is refused.
• Getting the salary wrong. Meeting the general threshold is not enough if the going rate for the occupation code is higher — see our guide to the 2026 salary thresholds and rules.
• Maintenance funds held incorrectly. The balance dipping below £1,270 during the 28 days is a common and entirely avoidable refusal.
• Not claiming a skills charge refund. Where a worker never starts, or leaves early, a refund is due.
• Employers recovering their own costs from workers. This risks the licence.

Where an application has been refused, take advice quickly — time limits are short. Our immigration appeals team can advise on the options.

Frequently Asked Questions

The figures in this article were checked against GOV.UK in September 2026. Home Office fees are reviewed periodically, so please confirm the current figures on GOV.UK before making any payment. For advice specific to your circumstances, please contact us directly.