How to Move to the UK from Nigeria on a Skilled Worker Visa (2026)

Nigeria is one of the largest sources of skilled migrants to the UK, but the UK route works very differently from Canada's. There is no points pool you can enter on your own: a UK Skilled Worker visa starts with a job offer from a licensed UK employer. And the rules tightened sharply in 2025 and 2026, with a higher salary floor, a higher skill bar, and tougher English. Here is what the route actually looks like from Nigeria today. This is general information to help you plan, not legal advice.

How the UK route differs from Canada

Canada ranks you and invites you. The UK does not. To get a Skilled Worker visa you first need a job offer from a UK employer that holds a sponsor licence, who then issues you a Certificate of Sponsorship. No sponsor, no visa. That single fact shapes everything: your first job is finding a licensed sponsor, not filing an application.

Step 1: Find a licensed sponsor

Your employer must be on the UK government's register of licensed sponsors and able to sponsor your specific role. You can search the public register before you apply. Many Nigerian applicants lose months applying to employers who cannot sponsor at all, so check the register first.

Step 2: Meet the 2026 salary rules

Since 22 July 2025 the standard minimum is the HIGHER of £41,700 a year or 100% of the going rate for your occupation code, with an hourly floor of £17.13 for most roles. Your offer has to clear all of these at once, so a salary that beats £41,700 can still fail if the going rate for your job is higher. A relevant PhD can lower the minimum to £37,500 for some roles.

Step 3: Your job must be graduate-level now

This is the change that catches people out. From 22 July 2025 the skill threshold rose from RQF Level 3 (A-level equivalent) to RQF Level 6 (graduate level). Many roles that qualified for sponsorship before that date no longer do, so confirm your occupation code is still eligible before you count on it.

Step 4: Prove your English at B2

From 8 January 2026, first-time Skilled Worker applicants must show English at CEFR level B2, up from B1. You can meet it with an approved Secure English Language Test, an eligible degree taught in English, or by being a national of an exempt country. A Nigerian degree taught in English may qualify, but confirm it meets the Home Office criteria rather than assuming it does.

The Health and Care Worker option (and what changed)

If you are a health professional, the Health and Care Worker visa is a cheaper version of the Skilled Worker route with two real advantages: a reduced application fee (£300 for up to three years, £590 for longer) and full exemption from the Immigration Health Surcharge, which on a standard Skilled Worker visa costs £1,035 per person per year. Over five years that exemption alone saves a single applicant more than £5,000.

But be careful about who still qualifies. Doctors, nurses and other eligible health professionals can still be sponsored by a licensed, CQC-registered employer. Care workers cannot: new overseas sponsorship of care workers and senior care workers ended on 22 July 2025, and since 11 March 2024 care and senior care workers already in the route cannot bring dependants. If your plan was the care-worker route from Nigeria, it is, for new overseas applicants, effectively closed.

What it costs

• Standard Skilled Worker: the visa application fee, plus the Immigration Health Surcharge at £1,035 per person per year (£5,175 over five years), plus your own English test and document costs.
• Health and Care Worker: £300 (up to three years) or £590 (over three years), and £0 Immigration Health Surcharge, a major saving.
• Confirm the current fees on GOV.UK before you budget, they change.

After you arrive

The Skilled Worker route can lead to settlement (indefinite leave to remain) after a qualifying period of continuous residence. The settlement rules are under reform, so check the current qualifying period on GOV.UK before relying on a specific number of years.

Your next step

Because the UK route depends on a sponsored job offer and a salary that clears both the threshold and the going rate, the smartest first move is to check the real salary you would need for your role, then map your options. Movepath builds you a personalised, step-by-step roadmap for the move, free to start.