The single most important change to this route in years took effect on 22 July 2025: the required skill level jumped from RQF 3 (A-level) to RQF 6 (degree level). If you researched this visa before mid-2025, much of what you read is now wrong.

What actually changed

To be eligible for new sponsorship, an occupation's skill level must be graduate-level (RQF 6+) — the kind of role that normally needs a degree.
Over 180 occupations that used to qualify at A-level standard — much of hospitality, retail management, many technician, care and administrative roles — are no longer eligible for new Skilled Worker sponsorship.
The general salary floor rose to £41,700 in the same reform (the median of graduate-level occupations).

The one bridge for some sub-degree roles is the Temporary Shortage List — but it's exactly that, temporary (phased out by 31 December 2026), and it carries the family trap in Part 2. So the honest headline for 2026: this is now a graduate route. If your occupation isn't genuinely degree-level, the first question isn't ‘what salary?’ — it's ‘is my occupation code even still eligible?’

For a Nigerian professional with a real degree-level job — software, engineering, finance, science — nothing here shuts your door; it mainly clears out the lower-skilled roles that were never a good fit for the cost anyway. But you must confirm your specific occupation code is still on the eligible list under the new rules before you count on this route.