Can metal making and treating process operatives get a Skilled Worker visa? (SOC 8115)

Appendix Skilled Occupations lists this code in Tables 2a and 6, and the gov.uk eligible occupations table labels it “Medium Skilled– extending in same occupation only”.

Table 2a is for codes reassessed as below RQF level 3. Sponsors may only use them when the application is made before 4 April 2030, the applicant was granted Skilled Worker permission under the rules in place before 4 April 2024 and has held it continuously since, and they are applying to work for the same sponsor as in their most recent permission. The code is also in Table 6, the list of occupations that are otherwise not eligible.

Appendix Skilled Occupations gives a lower going rate of £31,300, with a £31,300 floor, for people first granted Skilled Worker permission under the rules before 4 April 2024 who apply before 4 April 2030. Which of these applies depends on the person's own visa history.

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.

• Galvanisers and platers
• Metal sprayers and powder coaters
• Metal making and treating process operatives not elsewhere classified
• Degreaser (metal trades)
• Electroplater
• Furnaceman (metal trades)
• Process worker (nickel mfr)
• Wire drawer

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 8115, 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
• 8114 Plastics process operativesNot eligible
• 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.

We found these differences between gov.uk pages for this code. Where the Immigration Rules and a guidance page differ, this page follows the rules.

• The going-rates guidance table gives a lower going rate of £25,000, but Appendix Skilled Occupations Table 2a gives £31,300. The Immigration Rules are the legal source. Source.