Your employer wants you to stay, your job is continuing and your Skilled Worker visa is approaching its expiry date. An extension may seem straightforward. The difficulty is that the salary rules, occupation requirements or concessions supporting your current permission may have changed since your last application.
You can usually extend your Skilled Worker visa while continuing with the same employer in the same job and occupation code, provided you meet the applicable requirements. You must apply before your current permission expires. An employer’s agreement to continue sponsoring you does not extend your immigration permission by itself.
A well-prepared extension starts with your immigration history, current employment and the period of sponsorship being proposed. Those three things determine what needs checking before the application is submitted.
Our Skilled Worker visa guidance explains the wider route. This article focuses on renewing existing sponsored permission and keeping your work and family plans aligned with the application.
Establish whether this is a straightforward extension
Begin by comparing your current sponsored role with the role your employer intends to sponsor next.
If you are continuing with the same employer and occupation code, the application will commonly be an extension. If you are moving to a different employer or into a different occupation code, a change-of-employment application may be required.
A promotion does not automatically require a new immigration application. What matters includes whether the duties place the new role in a different occupation code. Equally, keeping the same job title does not establish that the immigration position is unchanged.
Ask your employer to confirm the actual duties, salary, weekly hours and work location for the next period of sponsorship. Compare these with the employment you are currently authorised to undertake.
This review is particularly useful where your responsibilities have developed gradually. A role can change substantially over several years without anyone making a single formal decision to replace it.
If the proposed work requires a change-of-employment application, address that before starting the new role. Our guidance on changing a sponsored worker’s job or occupation code explains the distinction in more detail.
Your employer needs to prepare new sponsorship
An extension requires sponsorship for the next period of employment. The Certificate of Sponsorship used for your previous successful application cannot simply be reused.
For an application made inside the UK, the employer normally assigns an Undefined Certificate of Sponsorship. The business therefore needs the appropriate allocation available, as well as authority to continue sponsoring the role. If additional certificates are needed, obtaining them can introduce a separate waiting period before your own application is ready.
This is one reason to start discussions before the final few weeks of your visa.
A useful conversation with HR should establish who will arrange the certificate, whether the allocation is available, what salary has been approved and when the information will be ready for review. “We will renew it” should lead to named responsibilities and dates.
Before applying, check the certificate against your passport details, occupation code, salary, hours and proposed sponsorship dates. An error may affect more than presentation. It can change the salary assessment, application cost or period of permission being requested.
Our Certificate of Sponsorship guide explains the certificate’s role in the application.
Recalculate the salary requirement for this application
The salary accepted for your current visa is not necessarily sufficient for your extension.
Under the standard salary option, the worker must generally receive at least £41,700 a year and the applicable going rate for the occupation, whichever is higher. Other salary options apply to qualifying applicants and jobs.
For some workers covered by the pre-4 April 2024 transitional arrangements, the usual comparison is currently £31,300 against the relevant lower going rate. Eligibility depends on the earlier permission and continuity requirements. These arrangements currently apply to qualifying applications made before 4 April 2030.
The transitional provisions do not freeze your salary requirement at the amount accepted years ago. The relevant thresholds and going rates can change, and the current figures must be checked when you apply.
Your employer should therefore confirm more than whether your salary has increased. The assessment needs to identify the applicable salary option, the correct occupation rate and the hours against which that rate must be assessed.
A modest annual pay rise may still leave a shortfall if the applicable going rate has increased more quickly. Conversely, applying the standard threshold without checking your history may overlook a transitional provision that remains available.
Resolve the required salary before the certificate is assigned. If an increase is needed, establish its amount, effective date and supporting employment documentation.
Check whether a new-entrant discount is ending
An extension can expose a problem that was not apparent when the first Skilled Worker application was made: the worker’s new-entrant concession may be running out.
The new-entrant provisions have a four-year limit covering relevant permission as a Skilled Worker, Graduate or Tier 2 migrant. The proposed grant must fit within that limit. You must also still satisfy a qualifying new-entrant criterion; having received the discount previously is not enough.
For example, someone who has already used two years of Graduate permission and two years of Skilled Worker permission cannot assume that another discounted period is available.
The concession also cannot simply be applied to the first part of a longer application, with a promise to meet a higher salary later.
Review this before agreeing the next sponsorship period. If a different salary option will be needed, the employer needs time to assess whether it can support the required pay.
A shorter sponsorship period should only be considered after checking eligibility and the overall immigration plan. It may bring another application and further costs closer.
Confirm that your occupation remains eligible
Salary eligibility and occupation eligibility are separate questions.
Some workers with continuous Skilled Worker permission under the rules in force before 22 July 2025 can continue relying on transitional occupation provisions. Other applications depend on the current eligible occupation tables, shortage-list provisions and any conditions attached to them.
Care workers and senior care workers also have specific rules for in-country applications. Restrictions on new overseas recruitment do not mean that every existing sponsored care worker is prevented from extending.
The practical task is to identify the provision that makes your particular job eligible for the next application.
Do not rely solely on an occupation code appearing on an old certificate or an employer’s previous successful sponsorship of another worker. The relevant history may differ.
Where the role, code or sponsor has changed, check whether that affects the transitional protection being relied on. A salary concession and an occupation concession should each be established on their own terms.
Set the timetable around the certificate and your expiry date
Preparation can begin well before the application window.
For an extension, sponsor guidance says the new certificate’s start date should normally be the day after your current permission expires. The application must not be made more than three months before the start date recorded on the certificate. The certificate also has its own deadline for use.
This means the timetable should work backwards from your permission’s expiry date, allowing time for salary approval, sponsorship allocation, document preparation and a final check.
Do not confuse preparing an online form with submitting an application. Saving a draft, obtaining a certificate or booking time with an adviser does not itself protect your immigration position.
Check the expiry date recorded in your current immigration status and decision documents. If the Home Office has issued a cancellation decision, that may create a different deadline requiring immediate attention.
Where something essential is missing close to expiry, obtain advice promptly. An incomplete plan does not become a valid application merely because the employer intends to resolve the outstanding issue.
The objective should be a properly prepared application submitted with enough time to address foreseeable problems.
Prepare evidence for the extension you are making
The starting information includes your identity document, new Certificate of Sponsorship reference, occupation code, salary and sponsor details. Other evidence depends on the requirements relevant to your circumstances.
This may include an ATAS certificate where required, qualification evidence supporting a salary option, or certified translations. Family members applying with you will need evidence relevant to their own applications.
For preparation purposes, it is also useful to have your previous immigration decisions, earlier certificates, current contract and recent pay information available. These help establish the history and identify differences between what was sponsored and what has happened in practice.
That does not mean every extension requires the same bundle of payslips and bank statements. Distinguish documents needed to assess the case from documents required for submission.
If your pay has changed, your hours have reduced or you have had an extended absence from work, review the explanation and supporting records before applying. A period of statutory leave or another permitted absence needs to be understood in its proper context.
The application should present a coherent account of your current employment and proposed sponsorship. Where records appear inconsistent, resolve the discrepancy rather than assuming the previous visa approval answers it.
English and maintenance may be simpler for existing holders
Many existing Skilled Workers do not need to take another English test for an extension.
Current guidance preserves the B1 position for qualifying existing holders extending or updating their permission after the introduction of B2 for new applicants. Previous evidence can establish the requirement without another test. Check the basis of your existing grant before booking anything.
Maintenance is a separate issue. If you have been in the UK with permission for at least 12 months when applying, you normally meet the Skilled Worker financial requirement without showing maintenance funds.
Where that exemption does not apply, the usual alternatives are qualifying funds of £1,270 held for the required period or appropriate maintenance certification by the sponsor.
Meeting the maintenance requirement does not establish that your employment meets the salary rules. One concerns support funds; the other concerns the pay for the sponsored job.
Checking both requirements individually helps avoid gathering unnecessary evidence while overlooking the issue that actually determines eligibility.
Understand your position while the application is pending
A valid application made before your permission expires can engage section 3C if the existing permission expires while the application remains undecided.
Section 3C extends the existing permission and its conditions. In a straightforward extension, this can allow you to continue the same permitted employment while waiting for the decision. It does not grant unrestricted work rights or permission to begin a different role requiring approval.
An invalid application may not provide that protection.
Your employer should also complete the appropriate right-to-work checks. Keep the application acknowledgement and respond promptly to requests concerning identity, biometrics or supporting evidence.
Travel needs separate planning. Leaving the Common Travel Area while an application for permission to stay is pending normally causes the application to be treated as withdrawn. If you are relying on section 3C, leaving the UK also ends that leave.
Avoid arranging travel around an assumed decision date. A pending extension is part of your immigration position until it has been resolved.
Allow for processing time after submission
The published standard processing time for an in-country Skilled Worker application is usually eight weeks. Health and Care Worker applications normally have a three-week standard.
The processing period generally starts after the relevant identity and evidence steps have been completed, through the app or a biometric appointment. It is not always measured simply from the day you first paid or submitted the form.
Further checks or requests for evidence can make an application take longer. A faster service may be available, but availability and eligibility must be checked when applying.
Processing time and lawful status are different questions. An application can remain pending beyond the old visa’s expiry date while section 3C applies, provided the necessary conditions are met.
Build the timetable around both issues: what must happen before expiry and what may remain outstanding afterwards.
Budget for the application and the sponsorship period
At the rates checked for this article, the application fees for an in-country extension are:
| Application category | Up to three years | More than three years |
|---|---|---|
| Standard Skilled Worker | £943 | £1,865 |
| Qualifying Immigration Salary List application | £628 | £1,235 |
| Health and Care Worker | £324 | £628 |
The applicable category must be established from the job and application circumstances.
For ordinary Skilled Worker applications, the Immigration Health Surcharge is usually £1,035 per adult per year. The amount charged depends on the period covered by the application and the applicable calculation rules. Eligible Health and Care Worker applicants and qualifying dependants are exempt from the surcharge.
Allow separately for any dependant applications, optional priority service and professional fees. Avoid budgeting only for the main applicant’s visa fee.
Employer sponsorship costs also need to be allocated correctly. For example, the Skilled Worker Certificate of Sponsorship fee must be paid by the sponsor and cannot simply be passed to the worker.
Before payment, agree who is responsible for each permitted cost and check the proposed grant period against your employment and settlement plans.
Your family needs its own extension plan
Your partner’s or child’s permission does not extend automatically when yours does. Their existing permission normally remains valid until its own expiry date, and each person who needs further permission must make an application.
They can generally apply alongside you or before their own permission expires. Eligibility must still be checked, including occupation-specific restrictions and transitional provisions affecting some care and medium-skilled roles.
Prepare a household timetable showing each person’s current route, expiry date and intended next application.
This is particularly useful where a dependant joined later, a child has turned 18 or a child was born in the UK. Those circumstances should be assessed before assuming that one set of application dates and documents works for everyone.
Our dependant visa guidance explains the wider considerations.
A successful extension for the main worker is only one part of protecting the household’s immigration position.
Check whether settlement is the more appropriate next application
Before committing to another extension, establish whether you are approaching eligibility for indefinite leave to remain.
Under the current Skilled Worker settlement rules, five years of qualifying residence may support an application, but residence alone is insufficient. The employment, salary, continuous residence and other requirements must also be met. Your sponsor must confirm that you remain needed for the job.
A further extension does not normally restart qualifying Skilled Worker residence. It may be necessary where settlement eligibility has not yet been reached or another requirement remains outstanding.
The decision should follow a checked timeline. Calculate the qualifying period, review absences and establish the settlement requirements before deciding how much additional sponsorship is needed.
Our indefinite leave to remain guidance provides the wider starting point.
Make the extension a clear plan
The strongest starting point is a confirmed role, the correct salary assessment, a new sponsorship certificate and a realistic submission date.
Your previous approval helps establish your history. The extension must still work under the requirements applicable to the next application.
Knightsbridge can assess the proposed extension, identify which provisions apply to your circumstances and help organise the evidence and timing. Where employment changes, family applications or settlement affect the decision, those issues can be considered together.
