Can kitchen assistants get a Skilled Worker visa? (SOC 9263)

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.

• Catering assistant
• Crew member (fast food outlet)
• Kitchen assistant
• Kitchen porter
• Sandwich artist
• Kitchen and catering assistants

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 9263, 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.

• 9261 Bar and catering supervisorsNot eligible
• 9262 Hospital portersNot eligible
• 9264 Waiters and waitressesNot eligible
• 9265 Bar staffNot eligible
• 9266 Coffee shop workersNot eligible
• 9267 Leisure and theme park attendantsNot eligible
• 9269 Other elementary services occupations not elsewhere classifiedNot eligible

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
• Restaurants, hotels and food businesses with a licence in London (2,584)
• Restaurants, hotels and food businesses with a licence in Birmingham (316)
• Restaurants, hotels and food businesses with a licence in Manchester (234)
• Restaurants, hotels and food businesses with a licence in Leicester (201)

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