Sponsoring overseas deep-tech hires

The short answer

Most deep-tech roles can be sponsored on a Skilled Worker visa. The job has to be at degree level and pay at least £41,700 or the going rate for its occupation, whichever is higher. For a medium or large employer, sponsoring one person for three years costs about £6,167 in Home Office fees and charges, before the worker’s own visa costs.

Some specialists don’t need a sponsor at all. The Global Talent, High Potential Individual and Scale-up routes let people work for you without one.

Does the role qualify?

Three things decide it:

• You hold a sponsor licence. You apply for it once, and it covers every worker you sponsor.
• The job is at RQF level 6 or above, which is degree level. The software, data, security, science and engineering occupations our boards hire for are on that list.
• The pay is high enough: at least £41,700 a year, or the going rate for the occupation if that is higher. Going rates assume a 37.5-hour week and are pro-rated for other hours.

Going rates for deep-tech roles

Each occupation has a code, and each code has a going rate. Pick the code that matches the job’s duties, not its title. These are the codes most of our boards’ roles fall under:

Code	Occupation	Going rate
2133	IT business analysts, architects and systems designers Cloud and solutions architects	£54,900
2134	Programmers and software development professionals Software, ML and data engineers	£54,700
2135	Cyber security professionals Security engineers, penetration testers	£48,500
2136	IT quality and testing professionals Test and QA engineers	£41,200
2137	IT network professionals Network engineers	£45,600
2139	Information technology professionals n.e.c. Other specialist IT roles	£52,300
2433	Actuaries, economists and statisticians Statisticians, some data scientists	£55,100
2114	Physical scientists Quantum and materials physicists	£54,600
2124	Electronics engineers Semiconductor and FPGA engineers	£52,000
2126	Aerospace engineers Satellite and drone engineers	£52,400
2122	Mechanical engineers Robotics hardware engineers	£46,800
2129	Engineering professionals n.e.c. Other specialist engineers	£46,100

Where the going rate is below £41,700, as it is for cyber security, testing, network and mechanical engineering roles, the £41,700 threshold is what you have to pay.

“Data scientist” has no code of its own. Depending on the work, it is usually coded as a statistician (2433) or an IT professional (2139), so check the duties against each code’s description.

When a lower salary is allowed

Some people can be paid less than the usual threshold, though never less than £33,400:

• New entrants: 70% of the going rate. That covers people under 26, those switching from a Student visa or a recent Graduate visa, postdoctoral researchers and people working towards professional registration. It lasts four years in total.
• A PhD in a STEM subject relevant to the job: 80% of the going rate.
• A PhD in another subject relevant to the job: 90% of the going rate, and at least £37,500.

For a graduate software engineer, for example, the new-entrant rate is £38,300 rather than £54,700.

What sponsoring costs

The employer pays for the licence, the certificate and the Immigration Skills Charge. The charge can’t be passed on to the worker.

Fee	Small or charitable sponsor	Medium or large sponsor
Sponsor licence (once)	£611	£1,682
Certificate of sponsorship (each hire)	£525	£525
Immigration Skills Charge, first 12 months	£480	£1,320
Immigration Skills Charge, each 6 months after	£240	£660

So a medium or large employer sponsoring one person for three years pays about £6,167: £1,682 for the licence, £525 for the certificate and £3,960 in skills charge.

Physical scientists (code 2114, including quantum physicists) are among the research occupations exempt from the skills charge.

The worker pays for their visa (£819 from outside the UK for up to three years) and the Immigration Health Surcharge of £1,035 a year. Some employers cover these too, to make the offer more competitive.

How long it takes

• Sponsor licence: usually under eight weeks. A £750 priority service gives a decision in ten working days, with a limited number of places each day.
• The visa: once you assign the certificate, the worker applies. Paid priority services are available for the visa too.

Apply for the licence before you need it. Without one, you can’t make a sponsored offer, however good the candidate.

Routes that need no sponsor

• Global Talent: for leaders and potential leaders in digital technology, endorsed by Tech Nation, and in research, endorsed by bodies such as UK Research and Innovation. The person applies on their own and can work for anyone.
• High Potential Individual: for graduates of eligible universities from the last five years. It lasts two years (three with a PhD) and can’t be extended, so it suits a first role that you may sponsor later.
• Scale-up: for a job of at least six months with an approved scale-up business, paying at least £39,100 or the going rate. You need approval as a scale-up, but not a sponsor licence.
• Graduate visa: people who studied in the UK can work for two years after graduating (three after a PhD) without sponsorship.

What’s changing

• 1 January 2027: new Graduate visas drop to 18 months, except for PhD graduates.
• 31 December 2026: the Temporary Shortage List closes and most Immigration Salary List entries are removed. None of the codes above is on either list, so this doesn’t change their rules.
• Going rates: the Migration Advisory Committee has recommended basing going rates on the 25th percentile of pay rather than the median, and keeping the £41,700 threshold. No rules have been laid yet.

We review this guide whenever the rules move. If you’d rather hire someone already in the UK, our boards put your role in front of specialists who chose its field: find your board.