Can clergy get a Skilled Worker visa? (SOC 2463)

Appendix Skilled Occupations lists this code in Table 6, and the gov.uk eligible occupations table labels it “Ineligible”.

Table 6 lists the occupations that cannot be sponsored on the Skilled Worker, Global Business Mobility or Scale-up routes. The rules give three reasons and do not say which applies to each code: the job does not meet the required skill level, it has to be sponsored on a different route, or people subject to immigration control cannot apply for it.

No salary, however high, makes a Table 6 job eligible, and a sponsor cannot choose a different code to get round it (SW 6.2, below).

Gov.uk runs separate visas for some of this work: Minister of Religion visa (T2) and Temporary Work - Religious Worker visa. Each has its own rules; whether one fits is a question for gov.uk or a regulated adviser.

Examples from the Immigration Rules and the gov.uk eligible occupations table. They are examples, not the full list: a job belongs in this code because of its duties, whatever it is called.

• Chaplain
• Clergyman
• Minister of religion
• Nun
• Pastor
• Priest
• Vicar
• Clergy

The employer does, not you and not GoRizzume. The sponsor picks the code when it assigns the Certificate of Sponsorship, and Appendix Skilled Worker (SW 6.2) lets the Home Office refuse the application if it has reasonable grounds to believe a less appropriate code was chosen because the right one is not eligible, has a higher going rate, or is not on the Immigration Salary List. The duties decide the code, not the job title.

So treat this page as the rules for code 2463, not a verdict on any particular offer. Ask the employer which code they will use, then check that code. If you are unsure, the CASCOT coding tool suggests codes for a job title, and gov.uk says to make sure the description matches what you will actually do.

• 2461 Social workersEligible
• 2462 Probation officersEligible
• 2464 Youth work professionalsEligible
• 2469 Welfare professionals not elsewhere classifiedEligible

Codes in the same part of the classification that a new applicant can be sponsored in today. They are only relevant if the actual job fits one of them: re-labelling a job does not work (see above).

• 2455 Construction project managers and related professionalsEligible
• 2471 LibrariansEligible
• 2454 Chartered surveyorsEligible
• 2472 Archivists, conservators and curatorsEligible
• 2453 Quantity surveyorsEligible
• 2452 Chartered architectural technologists, planning officers and consultantsEligible

Only an employer on the Home Office register of licensed sponsors can sponsor a Skilled Worker visa, and a licence means they can sponsor eligible roles, not that every job comes with sponsorship.

• Search the register of licensed sponsors
• Check one employer's licence, free
• Work out the salary for a specific offer
• Every occupation code and its answer
• Churches, mosques and religious organisations with a licence in London (490)
• Churches, mosques and religious organisations with a licence in Birmingham (74)
• Churches, mosques and religious organisations with a licence in Manchester (70)
• Churches, mosques and religious organisations with a licence in Glasgow (40)

These employers hold licences for the roles they can sponsor. A licence does not make this occupation eligible.