Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the minimum salary required of a Tier 2 (General) visa applicant in order to be allocated a Certificate of Sponsorship in each of the last 24 months.

The minimum salary threshold for Tier 2 (General) rises annually in line with UK wage inflation. It was £20,300 from 2013/14, £20,500 in 2014/15 and £20,800 in 2015/16. Additionally, for a Certificate of Sponsorship to be allocated, the employer (the sponsor) must be paying the appropriate salary rate for the occupation in question. These rates are set out in Appendix J of the Immigration Rules: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-appendix-j-codes-of-practice-for-skilled-work.

Restricted Certificates of Sponsorship are subject to an annual limit and are allocated to sponsoring employers each month. The limit was undersubscribed until June 2015 and so all valid applications for Restricted Certificates of Sponsorship were granted, where the salary was at least equal to the minimum thresholds above.

If the limit is oversubscribed, as it has been since June, applications for Restricted Certificates of Sponsorship are prioritised using a points table. Points are awarded for shortage occupations, PhD-level occupations, and salary. The minimum salaries for successful applications since June are shown in the table below: