UK eVisa 2025 & Skilled-Worker Salary Hike: 7 Must-Know Rule Changes for Nigerians

1. Digital eVisa roll-out (15 July 2025)

• What changed?
  Most new study- and work-visa applicants no longer receive a passport sticker; instead they are issued an electronic visa that is viewed and “shared” online through a UKVI account.
• Who is affected?
  Nigerians applying for a Student, Skilled-Worker, Health & Care, Graduate, etc. visa on or after 15 July 2025.
• Practical to-dos
  – Create a UKVI account as soon as you receive the “set-up” e-mail.
  – Carry the same passport you used in the application when you travel; e-gates scan the chip and match it to your eVisa record.
  – Employers, landlords and banks can check your status instantly if you give them the share code generated in your UKVI dashboard.
  – Biometric enrolment is still compulsory; you will still visit a VAC for fingerprints/photo.
  – Visit visas are not in scope yet; tourists still get a vignette.

2. Tougher Skilled-Worker rules (22 July 2025)

• Salary thresholds jumped
  – General minimum: £38,700 → £41,700.
  – “New entrant” discount: £30,960 → £33,400.
  – Anyone who already held a Skilled-Worker visa before 4 April 2024 keeps a lower extension floor (£31,300) until they settle or break continuity.
• Skill level raised
  – Eligible jobs must now be graduate-level (RQF 6); roughly 110 medium-skilled codes (care workers, many construction & hospitality roles, etc.) are out unless they appear on the new Temporary Shortage List (TSL).
• Dependants restricted
  – If the job is sponsored through the TSL (or was formerly on the old Immigration Salary List), you cannot bring dependants unless they are already in the UK with you.
• Social Care Worker route closed to overseas applicants from 22 July 2025; existing visa holders can switch/extend only until 22 July 2028.
• Action checklist
  – Check that any new job offer is SOC-coded at RQF 6+ and that the offered salary beats both the £41,700 general floor and the occupation-specific “going rate”.
  – If you are on a pre-April 2024 visa and plan to extend, make sure your salary will meet the £31,300 transitional threshold (or the going rate if higher).
  – If your role is now excluded, explore alternative visas (Graduate, Scale-up, Global Business Mobility, Health & Care if you are a clinical care worker meeting the £25 k minimum).
  – Employers must assign the Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) before 22 July 2025 and ensure the salary stated is net of any claw-back clauses; otherwise the application will be refused.