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🇬🇧 Work visa guide

UK Work Visa from Pakistan: From Certificate of Sponsorship to eVisa

UK Skilled Worker visa from Pakistan: sponsor licences, the July 2025 skill rules, B2 English, costs, each step to your eVisa and what gets refused.

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Last checked against official sources on 25 September 2026

QUICK ANSWER

How much does a UK Skilled Worker visa cost from Pakistan, and how long does it take?

A Skilled Worker visa costs £819 from outside the UK for up to 3 years, less for jobs on the immigration salary list, plus the Immigration Health Surcharge of £1,035 for each year of the visa. The employer pays the certificate of sponsorship fee and the Immigration Skills Charge. UK Visas and Immigration usually decides within 3 weeks, so allow 2–4 months from offer to arrival.

Checked on the official sites on 13 October 2026. Fees and times change, so confirm them on the linked page before you pay. Visa centre charges and any consultant's fee are extra.

Visa fee
£819
from outside the UK, for up to 3 years
GOV.UK ↗
Health surcharge
£1,035 a year
standard rate, paid upfront for the whole visa
GOV.UK ↗
Processing time
3 weeks
usual decision time once you have applied and proved your identity
GOV.UK ↗

At a glance

What you are applying for

The UK's main work visa is the Skilled Worker visa. It starts with an employer that holds a Home Office sponsor licence: the employer assigns you a certificate of sponsorship for a specific job, and you then apply online and give biometrics in Pakistan. Doctors, nurses and other health professionals use the Health and Care Worker version of the same route.

What decides it is the job, not your CV. Since 22 July 2025 the job must usually be at graduate level, and it must pay at least the salary set for its occupation. Overseas recruitment of care workers closed on the same day. A certificate of sponsorship for a job that does not exist is worthless, and nobody legitimate sells a job offer or a visa.

Most refusals come down to one of four

  1. A genuine sponsor and job
  2. Graduate-level work
  3. The right salary
  4. English at B2
Tower Bridge, London
United Kingdom · Work visa
Visa
Skilled Worker — or Health and Care Worker for eligible health and care jobs
Who starts it
A UK employer with a sponsor licence, by assigning you a certificate of sponsorship
Skill level
Graduate level since 22 July 2025, with a temporary list of exceptions
English
Level B2 for first applications since 8 January 2026
Decision
UKVI's published processing time is three weeks from outside the UK
Before you fly
Protector of Emigrants registration in Pakistan

Is this the right guide?

Who it is for

Applying on the wrong visa is one of the quickest ways to a refusal, so read both lists before anything else.

You’re in the right place if you are

  • A graduate with a sponsored job offer

    Graduates and professionals with a job offer from a UK employer that holds a sponsor licence — IT, engineering, finance, accountancy, teaching and similar roles.

  • A doctor, nurse or health professional

    Doctors, nurses and other health professionals, who apply for the Health and Care Worker visa and pay no Immigration Health Surcharge.

  • Offered a job on the shortage list

    Workers offered a job below degree level that is on the Temporary Shortage List, for as long as that list lasts.

  • Checking whether an offer is real

    Anyone who has been offered a certificate of sponsorship and wants to know whether it is real.

Wrong visa — take this route instead

Document checklist

Documents you will need

The base list for this visa. Your own checklist is built around your case — a salaried applicant and a business owner do not submit the same file.

0 / 10ready in your file

Tick as you gather — saved on this device.

Get my checklist on WhatsApp

For the visa application

If your family is coming

Before you leave Pakistan

Step by step · with timings

How to apply, and how long it takes

In the order it happens. Each stage waits on the one before it, so the date you start decides the date you finish. Ranges, not promises — the mission owns the clock.

OFFER TO ARRIVAL2–4 monthsusually
  1. First

    Check the employer and the job

    Your employer must appear on the Home Office's public register of licensed sponsors, and the job must be at graduate level or on the Temporary Shortage List. Ask for the occupation code and the salary in writing. A genuine sponsor pays its own sponsorship costs; it does not sell you the certificate.

  2. 2–4 weeks

    Get your English to B2

    Book an approved Secure English Language Test at a centre in Pakistan, or, if your degree was taught in English, have it confirmed by Ecctis. Pakistan is not on the list of countries whose citizens are exempt, and B1 no longer passes for a first application.

  3. Apply within 3 months

    Your employer assigns the certificate of sponsorship

    The certificate is an electronic record with a reference number, not a paper document. You must apply within three months of receiving it, and you can apply up to three months before the job starts.

  4. 1–2 weeks

    TB test and supporting documents

    Take the TB test at a Home Office-approved clinic in Pakistan, and get a police certificate if the job is in health, education or social care. UKVI's document list does not include HEC degree attestation, though your employer or a professional regulator may want your degree verified.

  5. One visit

    Apply online and give biometrics

    Apply and pay on GOV.UK, including the Immigration Health Surcharge unless you are on the Health and Care Worker visa. Then give your fingerprints and photograph at a visa application centre in Pakistan.

  6. 3 wks · plan 3–6

    The decision and your eVisa

    UKVI's published processing time is three weeks from outside the UK. If you are approved you get an eVisa rather than a sticker; check it in your UKVI account and make sure it is linked to the passport you will travel on.

  7. Days to 2 weeks

    Protector, then travel

    Register with the Bureau of Emigration before you fly — FIA checks it at the airport. In the UK the visa ties you to your sponsor and the job on your certificate, and changing either needs a new application.

Rather have it handled?Employment abroad, filed on a real offer and nothing else.Our Work Visa service

Money

What it costs

The official figures are in the quick answer at the top, as checked on 13 October 2026. They change without notice, so each line here says what a cost depends on and where the current figure is published.

  • Paid by the employer

    Sponsorship costs

    Your employer pays for the certificate of sponsorship and the Immigration Skills Charge. The Home Office can revoke a sponsor's licence for asking the worker to pay either, or any other cost of the sponsorship.

    FIGUREGOV.UK
  • Paid with the application

    Visa fee and health surcharge

    The visa fee depends on whether your certificate runs for up to three years or longer, and it is lower for jobs on the Immigration Salary List. The Immigration Health Surcharge is charged for each year of the visa, upfront; Health and Care Worker applicants and their families do not pay it. Current amounts are on GOV.UK.

    FIGUREGOV.UK
  • Shown, not paid

    Savings held 28 days

    Unless your sponsor certifies maintenance, you need a set amount of savings held for 28 days; the figure is on GOV.UK.

    FIGUREGOV.UK
  • Paid to third parties

    Tests, certificates and Protector

    The English test, TB test, police certificate and translations are each paid to the provider, and Protector registration to the Bureau of Emigration at its published rates.

    FIGUREEach provider

Where the current rules and figures are published

LAST CHECKED 25 SEP 2026

This is general guidance. Rules change, sometimes without notice, and your case will have specifics this page cannot know about. Check anything decisive on the official pages, or send us your situation and we will tell you where you actually stand.

Read before you apply

Why UK work visa applications are refused

The grounds that come up most on files from Pakistan. Most of them can be dealt with before you submit.

  • A bought or fake sponsorship

    A certificate of sponsorship bought through an agent, or a job the Home Office decides is not genuine. Deception can also bring a ban of up to ten years.

  • A job below graduate level

    A job below graduate level that is not on the Temporary Shortage List — including care work, which closed to applicants from outside the UK on 22 July 2025.

  • The wrong salary or occupation code

    A salary below the level set for the occupation code, or an occupation code that does not match the duties of the job.

  • English evidence not accepted

    English evidence that is not accepted — a test from an unapproved provider or at the wrong level, or an English-taught degree without Ecctis confirmation.

  • A missing TB or police certificate

    A missing TB certificate from an approved clinic, or a missing police certificate for a health, education or social care job.

  • Savings not held 28 days

    Savings not held for the full 28 days, when the sponsor has not certified maintenance.

  • An undeclared refusal or overstay

    A previous refusal or overstay in any country left undeclared.

  • Already been refused?

    Send us the refusal letter before you do anything else. It states the grounds, and they decide whether applying again is worth it or would just cost you the fee a second time.

    Send the letter

Start here

Ask us about your case

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YOUR MESSAGE PREVIEW

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Assalam-o-Alaikum! I'd like a free assessment. Service: Work Visa Destination: United Kingdom (ref: form-guide-work-visa-uk)

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Straight answers

UK work visa questions

What people ask us before they apply.

Ask us something else

No. Since 22 July 2025 care workers and senior care workers cannot apply from outside the UK. People already in the UK can switch into these jobs until 22 July 2028, under conditions. Anyone in Pakistan selling a care worker visa now is selling something that no longer exists.

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