Can the salary threshold for the work permit ILR be discounted? Part-time and residence requirements

Check the work permit and permanent residency salary, annual salary, hourly wage, and full-time equivalent salary are all mixed together, really complicated.

Especially when preparing to work one day less, take maternity leave, or return home to be with family: the contract benefits have been negotiated, but whether the permanent residency application can proceed as planned still depends on verifying another set of conditions. This article answers four questions based on the current rules found on October 3, 2026, focusing on how salary and continuous residence should be checked together after changes in work arrangements.

Work visa transfer to ILR, what salary level is the annual salary based on?

The standard rate requires both an annual salary of £41,700 and the going rate for the relevant occupation (as specified by the occupation), with the higher of the two being applied in practice.

The UK government's work visa settlement salary guidance gave an example: an annual salary of £42,000, with a profession-specific salary of £45,000, was still insufficient. Check your own figures, you need to find the SOC occupation code from the sponsorship certificate CoS, then check the applicable occupation salary table and weekly working hours. Positions with similar names may not use the same code; even if the code is the same, it is necessary to confirm whether you are subject to the standard salary table or the lower salary table. Here, what is being verified is the pre-tax annual salary that meets the rules, the after-tax income received monthly by the bank cannot be directly multiplied by twelve for comparison. When checking the table, it is also necessary to keep the table name and verification date, to avoid directly copying the old amount used for the current work visa application into this settlement application materials.

For those approaching five years, another key document is the version of the rules applicable to the first work permit. Keeping old CoS and approval records is more useful than just remembering the year of entry.

Applicants who obtained a work visa under the rules prior to April 4, 2024, have continuously held a work visa permit and apply before April 4, 2030, may use the transitional route: general threshold of £31,300, and meet the applicable lower going rate. The basis is SW 4.2(b) and SW 24.3 of the current Immigration Rules Appendix Skilled Worker. The continuity here refers to the work visa permit; changing employers does not by itself mean losing the transitional eligibility; the permit records and other conditions still need to be verified.

特定医疗岗位也可能适用£31,300档，不能只凭进入英国的年份决定自己属于哪组。

其余常见分支可以这样定位：最近一次许可的担保岗位属于Immigration Salary List（移民薪资清单），且不适用更具体分支的，表中有£33,400档；符合表列条件的医疗、教育及部分其他岗位，可到£25,000档。每档还要同时达到相应职业工资。少数旧Tier 2科研等岗位另有过渡条款，需要核对SW 24.3的具体行。医疗教育的职业工资还可能按国家工资等级、地区和岗位级别确定，公立与私立雇主都可能适用，行业名称不能替代职业代码核对。

改成四天工作，门槛也能打折吗？

普通减工时安排下，通用年薪门槛不随工时降低；going rate则按适用规则折算。这两项要分别计算。

Guidelines for Tier 2 Visa Applications, Section 13, and the Sponsor Guidance SK7.11 clearly state that part-time positions are assessed based on actual pre-tax annual income, not by converting it back to full-time income to determine if the threshold is met. For a pure calculation example, suppose a particular occupation has a general threshold of £41,700. The occupational salary is £45,000 for 37.5 hours per week. If it is changed to 30 hours per week, the occupational salary is converted to £36,000, while the general threshold remains £41,700. If the actual annual salary also drops to £36,000, the salary condition will not be met.

My judgment is: those who are planning to switch to part-time before obtaining permanent residency should first obtain a written salary calculation under the new working hours, and then sign the reduced hours agreement.

When accounting, the human resources department should clearly state the actual weekly working hours, actual annual salary, occupation code, and applicable threshold. It should not just leave a single column for "full-time equivalent annual salary." If the so-called four-day workweek simply compresses the original working hours into four days, with the same salary amount, it should be re-examined based on the actual arrangement; the result may differ from that of working one day less per week and receiving a reduced salary. Whether the arrangement can maintain the guarantee conditions also needs the employer's simultaneous confirmation.

Temporary lower salary due to maternity leave, and there are specific provisions.

A detail that is easy to overlook in SW 24.4(b): For those who are absent due to specified reasons such as statutory maternity leave, or have just returned from such absence within the month prior to the application, the salary upon return as stated by the guarantor shall be assessed. This means that individuals who meet the criteria do not need to determine their ineligibility based solely on the lower maternity leave salary of that month. The nature of the leave, start and end dates, and the terms of return should be clearly explained; if after returning to work, they are subsequently reassigned to a long-term part-time position, the actual arrangement should be calculated, and the full-time salary that is no longer applicable should not continue to be used. Personnel certification should clearly indicate which day's work arrangement corresponds to the stated salary, and it should be consistent with the records of contract changes.

Have you lived here for five years, is the leave in between considered continuous?

As of the date of this article's verification, the current work visa appendix SW 21.1 still stipulates a five-year eligibility period. A qualified permit is required to cover the corresponding period and meet the continuous residence requirements; the five-year work experience record itself cannot replace these two checks.

Changing employers does not automatically recalculate the five years.

Continuous residence also requires separate verification of time spent outside the country. Under the current "Immigration Rules" Appendix Continuous Residence, CR 3.1 generally requires that time spent outside the country in any twelve-month period does not exceed 180 days. For those preparing to return to their home country for maternity leave, salary will be assessed according to the return-to-work entitlement and will not automatically exempt this period of absence from calculation. Approval of leave by the employer can explain the work arrangement, but it still requires separate review of the absence rules; if the person remains in the UK during the maternity leave, no additional days outside the country will be added. Leave for work and leaving the UK should be clearly stated separately in the documents.

If a serious illness or other special circumstances occur during the overseas period, it can be verified according to CR 3.4 whether it meets the criteria for deductible absence, and corresponding evidence should be prepared.

When organizing the records, you can list the leave start and end dates together with the actual departure and return dates to the UK: the holiday may start before the departure, or may be after returning to work. The two sets of dates do not have to be exactly the same. Continuous residence review focuses on the time spent overseas and applicable exceptions, while salary review focuses on work arrangements and eligible salary. By organizing in this way, the application explanation can specifically state which period was just absence from work, and which period involved leaving the country, avoiding using a single leave approval to cover the entire experience.

The package has been delivered, what should be confirmed by the personnel department?

According to SW 24.1 to SW 24.2, the most recent sponsor who was granted a license must have had work permit sponsorship qualifications at the time the decision was made, and confirm that the applicant's work and the salary meeting the requirements will be needed in the foreseeable future.

You can concentrate the pending matters in one email: current and planned working hours, salary and occupation codes; if on maternity leave or other specified absence, the return date and benefits; continued employment arrangements. According to Guideline Home Office section 22.4, there is no need to issue a separate CoS for permanent residency confirmation, an email or letter that can be verified is sufficient. Check the visa transition and travel records yourself, then verify the English, Life in the UK and other application requirements as applicable; the salary and residence verification in this document cannot replace the entire qualification review. If the reduced hours, salary adjustment or return date is still not confirmed, the existing calculation can only be considered as a plan, and cannot be directly regarded as proof of meeting the requirements at the time of submission.

If working hours, salary, or return date to the UK change before submission, the original application date needs to be re-verified.

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