Can plastics process operatives get a Skilled Worker visa? (SOC 8114)

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).

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.

• Extrusion operator (plastics mfr)
• Fabricator (plastics mfr)
• Injection moulder
• Laminator (fibreglass)
• Process worker (plastic goods mfr)
• Plastic fabricators
• Plastics process operatives not elsewhere classified

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 8114, 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.

• 8111 Food, drink and tobacco process operativesNot eligible
• 8112 Textile process operativesNot eligible
• 8113 Chemical and related process operativesExisting visa holders only
• 8115 Metal making and treating process operativesExisting visa holders only
• 8119 Process operatives not elsewhere classifiedNot eligible

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).

• 8133 Energy plant operativesShortage list to 31 December 2026

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
• Manufacturing and engineering companies with a licence in London (597)
• Manufacturing and engineering companies with a licence in Birmingham (109)
• Manufacturing and engineering companies with a licence in Manchester (97)
• Manufacturing and engineering companies with a licence in Leicester (56)

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