The Skilled Worker visa: how the route to England works after Brexit

Since Brexit, England has become a real emigration country for Dutch citizens: there is no more free movement, and without a visa you cannot live or work there. The main route is called the Skilled Worker visa, and the most important thing to understand is the order. You don't apply for a visa first and then look for a job — it works the other way round. First the job, then the visa. GOV.UK says it in so many words: you must have a confirmed job offer before you apply.

The sponsor: your employer carries the visa

Not every British employer may hire you. The company must be a licensed sponsor — approved by the Home Office to sponsor foreign workers. The full list is public: the register of licensed sponsors is a free downloadable file with tens of thousands of companies, updated almost daily. If you're applying for jobs in England, check before you invest time whether the employer is on that list — or simply ask in the first conversation.

Once the sponsor has hired you, they assign you a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS): not a piece of paper but an electronic record with a number. With that number you apply for the visa, within three months of assignment.

The salary threshold: £41,700, or more

Your job has to meet two requirements at once. It must be on the list of eligible occupations (as a rule, work at degree level — RQF 6 or higher), and the salary must be at least the higher of two amounts: £41,700 a year, or the going rate for your occupation code — the usual pay for that occupation in the UK. For some occupations that going rate is above £41,700, and then that higher amount applies.

There are reduced thresholds — for instance £33,400 for new entrants (under 26, or recently graduated) and for occupations on the Immigration Salary List — but don't count your chickens: a going-rate test still applies even then. The thresholds were raised sharply in July 2025; sites that still quote £26,200 or £38,700 are out of date.

What it costs

The fees are per person: £819 for a visa of up to three years, £1,618 for longer, when applying from the Netherlands. On top of that comes the Immigration Health Surcharge — £1,035 per adult per year, £776 per child, to be paid up front for the whole visa period. A family of four coming for five years therefore already pays well over £18,000 in IHS alone. It is the largest amount in the whole process, and the least known.

You must also have £1,270 in your account, for at least 28 consecutive days — unless your employer certifies maintenance in the CoS, which larger employers usually do. Additional amounts apply for family members: £285 for your partner, £315 for the first child, £200 for each further child.

Family, decision time and the eVisa

Your partner and children under 18 can come along as dependants, each with their own fees and IHS. Your partner may work freely in the UK. The decision time from the Netherlands is usually three weeks; for a fee it can be faster (£500 for five working days, £1,000 for the next working day).

Paper residence documents no longer exist: you get an eVisa, a digital status in your UKVI account. Employers and landlords check it with a share code that you create yourself and that is valid for ninety days. So keep your login details the way you keep a passport.

Who this route doesn't suit

If you work in healthcare, look at the Health and Care Worker visa: lower fees (£324 or £628) and fully exempt from the IHS — but the route for care workers is in practice closed to new applicants from abroad; it remains open only to doctors, nurses and other qualified health professionals with a job at the NHS or in adult social care. For recognised leaders in science, culture or tech there is the Global Talent visa. And the working-holiday route you may have read about doesn't exist for Dutch citizens — the Youth Mobility Scheme is not open to EU citizens.

The language requirement deserves a story of its own: it was raised to B2 in January 2026, and many applicants underestimate that hurdle. More on that in the article about the language requirement.