Highly skilled workers
Previous earnings
This page explains the points we award for previous earnings under the highly skilled worker category (Tier 1 General) of the points-based system to work in the United Kingdom.
On this page
- The points awarded for previous earnings
- The period of earnings we will assess
- Assessment of previous earnings
- Earnings we include in the assessment
- Allowances
- How we convert your earnings into pounds sterling (GBP)
- The period of earnings assessment if you have been on maternity or adoption leave
- The period of earnings assessment if you have been a full-time student
- If you are switching from the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP)
Full details of these requirements are in the immigration rules at paragraph 245B of part 6 and Appendix A (Table 2), which you can find on the right of this page. You must read the policy guidance before you apply under this category. You can download the guidance and application form from the Applying section.
The points awarded for previous earnings
You can score up to 45 points for your earnings. The points awarded for salaried employment or self-employed earnings are:
| Previous earnings | Points |
|---|---|
| £16,000 - £17,000 | 5 |
| £18,000 - £19,999 | 10 |
| £20,000 - £22,999 | 15 |
| £23,000 - £25,999 | 20 |
| £26,000 - £28,999 | 25 |
| £29,000 - £31,999 | 30 |
| £32,000 - £34,999 | 35 |
| £35,000 - £39,999 | 40 |
| £40,000 + | 45 |
We only consider actual earnings, and will not consider earnings claimed on a pro rata basis. For example, if you have worked part-time you cannot try to claim for what you might have earned if it was full-time work.
Earnings will not be taken into account if you were in breach of the immigration laws when you made the earnings.
The period of earnings we will assess
Earnings must be made up of 12 consecutive months and must fall within the 15 months before your application.
You can claim points for a 12-month period outside of the 15-month period only in very limited circumstances. These are if you have been away from the workplace for a time during the last 12 months because of:
- full-time study; or
- a period of maternity or adoption-related absence.
You do not have to be in continuous employment during the 12-month period being assessed, so:
- you can claim for a period of earnings less than 12 months; and
- earnings do not have to be from a single employer and can be from full-time, part-time, temporary or short-term work.
If you claim for a period that is more than the 12 months, we will assess the most recent period of 12 months for which you have sent evidence.
Assessment of previous earnings
We assess your gross salary before tax. This also applies if you are self-employed and draw a salary from your business.
If you earned the money in a country with no tax system, we will consider your total earnings for the period. If you are self-employed, your earnings are assessed on the profits of your business before tax. If you have a share of a business, your earnings are assessed on your share of the business's net profits before tax.
Earnings we include in the assessment
We include previous earnings from:
- salaried employment; or
- self-employed activities.
Your overall total earnings can include those from several sources of work, including salaried employment and self-employed activities. Earnings do not need to have been with a single employer, and can be considered from full-time, part-time, temporary and short-term work.
Earnings may include, among other things:
- salaries (including full-time, part-time, and bonuses);
- earnings from self-employment;
- earnings from business activities;
- statutory maternity pay and contractual maternity pay;
- allowances (such as accommodation, schooling or car allowances) that form part of your remuneration package;
- dividends paid by a company, where it is a company in which you are active in the day-to-day management, or where you receive the dividend as part or all of your remuneration package;
- income from property rental, where this forms part of your business; and
- payment in lieu of notice (a payment made instead of requiring an employee to work the normal period of notice when leaving a job).
Unearned sources of income that we will not consider as previous earnings include:
- expenses (such as accommodation, schooling or car allowances) that reimburse you for money you have previously spent;
- dividends from investments, unless it is a company in which you are active in the day-to-day management, or unless you receive the dividend as part or all of your remuneration package;
- income from property rental, unless this forms part of your business;
- interest on savings;
- funds that were inherited;
- money paid to you as a pension;
- expenses where the payment reimburses you for money you have previously spent;
- statutory redundancy payment;
- sponsorship for periods of study; or
- state benefits.
Allowances
We will only include allowances (such as those for accommodation or schooling for your children) in the assessment of your previous earnings if they are part of your remuneration package and are not paid to reimburse you for money you have previously spent.
We will only accept allowances as earnings if they are declared in your payslips and your employment contract says that your employer must pay these allowances.
How we convert your earnings into pounds sterling (GBP)
Earnings made overseas must be converted into pounds sterling so that we can assess them. The exchange rate we use is the one produced by OANDA.
You should use the closing spot exchange rate on the OANDA website on the last day of the period for which you have claimed earnings in that currency. You can find a link to the website on the right side of this page. It is an independent website, for which we are not responsible.
How we adjust overseas earnings
To reflect differences in income levels across the world, the income level required to score points varies depending on where you were working at the time you earned the money. We use a series of calculations (known as uplift ratios) to bring overseas salaries in line with your United Kingdom equivalents. The level of uplift we give depends on the average income in the country in which the earnings were made. This calculation is made automatically using the points-based calculator, which you can find on the right of this page.
Table 2A of Appendix A (Attributes) of the immigration rules lists countries and the appropriate conversion rate, which you can find on the right of this page.
The country in which you have been working, rather than your nationality, determines the income bands against which we will assess the earnings.
Where you have earnings from more than one country, the points-based calculator will apply the appropriate uplift ratio for each country in which the relevant earnings were made, to provide a total that is equivalent to the United Kingdom value of earnings.
The period of earnings assessment if you have been on maternity or adoption leave
If you have been on maternity or adoption leave for up to 12 months of the most recent 15-month period in which you have worked, you can discount (do not need to count) the period of maternity or adoption-related absence, maximum absence period is not more than 12 months. This may apply, for example, if you have been working for four months, then take a period of maternity or adoption leave for up to 12 months, then return to work for eight months before applying. In these circumstances, we would consider the combined periods of four and eight months that you worked, and would not count the maternity or adoption-related absence.The maximum period of maternity or adoption-related absence that we will not count is 12 months.
You do not have to ask us not to count earnings during maternity or adoption-related absence, and can include maternity or adoption payments in the assessment of your previous earnings.
If you are still absent from work for maternity or adoption-related reasons at the time of your application, we will consider a period of 12 months taken from the 15 months immediately before the absence began.
The period of earnings assessment if you have been a full-time student
This option is only available for initial applications to the highly skilled worker category.
You may have difficulty obtaining points for earnings in the previous 15 months if you were studying during that time. You can, in certain circumstances, claim points for money earned before you started studying, even if that money was earned more than 15 months before your application under the highly skilled worker category. This is only for people entering the highly skilled worker category for the first time, and is not available if you are switching from the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme.
To qualify for the full-time study provision, you must:
- be currently in full-time study; or
- have finished a full-time course within the 12 months before your application.
If you are, or have been, a full-time student in those 12 months before your application, the time must:
- be 12 consecutive months; and
- in the 15 months immediately before you make the application or the start of your full-time studies.
If you have taken a number of full-time courses with gaps in between of less than 12 months, you can choose the start of the first full-time course and ask us to consider earnings from 12 of the 15 months immediately before the start of that course.
If you have not finished your studies yet, the date of application is considered to be the date on which your studies ended.
If you are switching from the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP)
If you have permission to stay in the United Kingdom (known as 'leave to remain') as a highly skilled migrant or worker, the period over which your earnings are to be assessed must:
- be no more than 12 consecutive months; and
- fall within the 15 months immediately before your application.
If you do not show the right period of assessment for earnings, we assess your earnings in the 12 months immediately before your application. If you do not show enough earnings, you may not have enough points to apply.
You must prove your previous earnings by sending the specifed evidence to support your application. If you do not, your application will be refused.
Terms explained
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Dividends
A share of a company's profits, paid to people who have invested in it (for example by buying shares).
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Remuneration
Payment you receive for work you have done or a service you have supplied. This includes salary as well as other types of benefit.
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Spot exchange rate
The price that a buyer expects to pay for one foreign currency when buying it in another currency for delivery immediately. The closing spot exchange rate is the rate that is current at the time the market stops trading for the day.