Skilled Worker Visa for Brazilian Professionals: UK Work Visa 2026

Skilled Worker Visa for Brazilian professionals: the basics

The Skilled Worker Visa is the main points-based route for overseas nationals who have a job offer from a UK employer holding a Home Office sponsor licence. It replaced the Tier 2 (General) route in December 2020. To qualify you need a valid Certificate of Sponsorship, a job at RQF level 6 or above that meets the salary threshold for the occupation, and English at B1 CEFR. Grants run for up to five years and are renewable, and after five years of continuous qualifying residence you can apply for settlement.

For Brazilian professionals, the route is increasingly used across engineering, information technology, healthcare and hospitality management. Glasgow’s engineering and energy firms, technology companies, NHS boards, and hotel and hospitality businesses all hold sponsor licences and recruit internationally. If you have a job offer from any of those employers, or from any UK employer with a valid licence, this page sets out what you need to do from eligibility through to application.

One practical point to lead with: Brazil is not on the gov.uk tuberculosis testing list. Brazilian applicants do not need a TB test certificate at any stage of the Skilled Worker application. That removes one requirement, one cost, and one appointment compared to applicants from countries such as India, Pakistan or China. Brazil is not included on the Home Office list of countries whose residents must provide a tuberculosis test certificate when applying for a UK visa of more than six months. In practical terms, no TB clinic, no chest X-ray, no TB-related appointment. We confirm the current position at every consultation, because the list can in principle change, but as of the date of this review Brazil remains off it. The core requirements that do apply to Brazilians are the Certificate of Sponsorship, the salary threshold, an English language demonstration at B1 CEFR, and certified translation of any Portuguese documents. For the full Skilled Worker route rules that apply to all nationalities, see our Skilled Worker Visa guide.

Who can apply from Brazil

You can apply for a Skilled Worker Visa from Brazil if you are aged 18 or over, you have a valid Certificate of Sponsorship from a UK employer that holds a Home Office sponsor licence, and your job meets the required skill level and salary threshold. The role must be listed in an eligible Standard Occupational Classification code. Most roles at RQF level 6 or above qualify, covering a wide range of professional, technical and specialist occupations.

Brazilian professionals most commonly use the Skilled Worker route in the following sectors:

• Engineering, including oil, gas and energy: Brazil has deep expertise in offshore oil and gas engineering through the Petrobras ecosystem and its supplier industries. UK and Scottish energy companies, including those operating in the North Sea and in renewable energy development, sponsor Brazilian engineers at senior and specialist levels. Glasgow has a significant presence in energy sector engineering.
• Information technology: Brazilian software developers, data engineers, and IT professionals are increasingly sponsored by UK technology companies. Glasgow’s growing technology sector includes both large employers and fast-scaling companies holding sponsor licences.
• Healthcare: NHS Scotland boards recruit internationally for clinical and support roles. Brazilian healthcare professionals applying through the Skilled Worker route include nurses, allied health professionals, and healthcare scientists. The route and fees for nurses and midwives are distinct from the standard Skilled Worker fees in some cases.
• Hospitality at the skilled level: Glasgow’s hotel and food and beverage industry sponsors senior hospitality roles including restaurant managers, executive chefs and head sommeliers. Roles must meet the RQF 6 skill floor and the salary threshold, and not all hospitality positions qualify. We confirm eligibility for hospitality roles at the first consultation.

The visa is employer-led: the process starts with your sponsor, not with you. If your employer does not yet hold a licence, they need to apply for one first. We cover that separately at Sponsor Licences.

How the points system works

The Skilled Worker route is points-based. You need 70 points to qualify. Some are mandatory and cannot be traded against others:

• Certificate of Sponsorship from an approved sponsor: 20 points
• Job at the required skill level of RQF 6 or above: 20 points
• English language at B1 CEFR: 10 points

The remaining 20 points come from salary. The general threshold is £41,700 a year or the going rate for your occupation code, whichever is higher. For roles on the Immigration Salary List and for new entrant applications, lower thresholds apply. The combination that gets you to 70 points depends on your specific circumstances, and we map it before you apply.

Brazilian nationals are not exempt from any of the mandatory criteria. The English requirement at B1 applies in full. The Certificate of Sponsorship and skill level requirements apply as for any other nationality. The only nationality-specific advantage is the absence of a TB test requirement, which simplifies preparation but does not affect the points assessment itself.

English language requirement for Brazilian applicants

Brazil is not a majority English-speaking country for the purposes of the Immigration Rules. Brazilian applicants are not exempt from the English language requirement and must demonstrate English at CEFR level B1 across speaking, listening, reading and writing.

There are two routes most commonly available to Brazilian professionals:

Degree taught in English, verified by Ecctis. If your Brazilian undergraduate or postgraduate degree was taught in English, Ecctis can verify this and confirm the degree’s UK equivalency level. A positive Ecctis statement satisfies the B1 English requirement without a language test. This route is available to Brazilian professionals who studied at institutions offering English-taught programmes, at internationally accredited courses, or at universities with significant English-medium instruction. Some of Brazil’s larger federal universities and private institutions offer English-taught courses, particularly at postgraduate level in engineering and technology. We confirm whether your specific degree qualifies for the Ecctis route before any test is booked.

Approved Secure English Language Test. If the Ecctis degree route is not available, or if your sponsor prefers a standalone test certificate, an approved Secure English Language Test at B1 level covers all four components. IELTS Academic is the most commonly taken test for UK immigration purposes in Brazil. The Pearson Test of English Academic is also approved. Tests must be taken at an approved centre in Brazil, and the certificate must be valid at the time of your application. We confirm the current approved test providers and centres in Brazil at the first consultation.

B1 is the level required at both the initial Skilled Worker application stage and at the extension stage. At the ILR stage you must meet the English requirement again, and the same routes are available. Brazilian professionals who met the requirement via an Ecctis degree verification at the visa stage often use the same route at ILR, provided the Ecctis statement and degree certificate are still available. We retain copies throughout the file so nothing needs to be reconstructed at the settlement stage.

Qualification recognition via Ecctis

Brazilian professional qualifications span a wide range of institutions, from the federal universities such as USP, UNICAMP, UFRJ and UFMG to state universities and private institutions accredited by the Ministry of Education. For most Skilled Worker roles, the Immigration Rules do not require a formal UK equivalency assessment, and Brazilian degrees from recognised institutions are accepted at face value where the role and sponsor do not call for one.

There are, however, situations where an Ecctis statement of comparability is either required or strongly worth obtaining:

• Meeting the English requirement via a degree: as described above, Ecctis verifies that a Brazilian degree was taught in English, satisfying the language requirement without a test. This is the most common reason Brazilian applicants use Ecctis.
• Engineering roles requiring a recognised qualification: some UK engineering sponsors, particularly in oil and gas or infrastructure, ask international applicants to confirm their degree meets RQF level 6. Ecctis provides this confirmation and can also indicate whether a Brazilian engineering qualification carries professional recognition equivalent to a Chartered Engineer pathway.
• Healthcare positions: Brazilian nurses seeking NMC registration and Brazilian allied health professionals applying for registration with their relevant regulatory body may need Ecctis as part of the broader accreditation process, depending on the route taken.
• Academic appointments: university sponsors sometimes require a formal RQF level confirmation for a Brazilian doctorate or master’s degree, and Ecctis provides this.

Ecctis takes time. The standard service can take several weeks, and a faster service costs more. We identify whether Ecctis is needed for your specific role before you apply, so the statement is available when the application is ready to submit. The Ecctis fee is separate from the Home Office application fee and is paid directly to Ecctis.

Portuguese-language documents and certified translation

All supporting documents not in English must be accompanied by a certified English translation. For Brazilian applicants, this is a practical requirement that affects most of the paperwork, because Brazilian academic certificates, professional registration documents, employment records, reference letters, and civil documents are issued in Portuguese.

Documents that commonly require certified translation in a Brazilian Skilled Worker application include:

• Academic degree certificates and transcripts from Brazilian universities
• Professional qualification certificates, such as engineering credentials issued by the CONFEA/CREA system or medical qualifications from CFM-registered institutions
• Employment records and reference letters from Brazilian employers, where relevant to the application
• Civil documents required for dependant applications, including the certidao de casamento (marriage certificate) and birth certificates for children

The certified translation must be provided by a qualified translator who certifies that it is accurate and complete. It does not need to be a court-sworn translation, but it must be signed by the translator and include their contact details and a statement of accuracy. We identify which documents need translation for each specific application and advise on translators with relevant Portuguese immigration document experience so the translation meets the Home Office standard.

The Certificate of Sponsorship and salary thresholds

The Certificate of Sponsorship is the reference number your UK employer assigns through the Home Office sponsor management system. It is not a physical document but a data record linking your application to your employer’s licence. Every field matters: the Standard Occupational Classification code, the salary declared, the start date, weekly hours, and whether the role is on the Immigration Salary List.

Certificate of Sponsorship errors are among the most common causes of Skilled Worker refusals for all nationalities, including Brazilians. Employers that are new to sponsoring international professionals, or that have changed the team managing their sponsor licence, sometimes issue certificates with the wrong SOC code or a salary figure that meets the general threshold but not the going rate for the specific occupation code. A Brazilian software developer sponsored on a code that carries a higher going rate than the employer anticipated may find the declared salary falls short. An engineer in an energy sector role listed under a slightly different SOC code may face the same problem.

We check every field of the Certificate of Sponsorship against the Immigration Rules and your employment contract before the application is submitted. Corrections after submission are difficult and sometimes impossible. A check before submission is straightforward by comparison.

The general minimum salary is £41,700 a year or the going rate for the Standard Occupational Classification code, whichever is higher. The going rate is set at the 25th percentile of earnings data for each SOC code, so it varies significantly between occupations. Lower thresholds apply in two situations relevant to Brazilian applicants:

• New entrants: if you are switching from a Student or Graduate visa in the UK, are within your first five years after graduating, or are under 26, you may qualify for the new entrant rate of £33,400 or 70 percent of the going rate, whichever is higher. This is directly relevant to Brazilian students at Glasgow’s universities who are moving into employment after completing a degree.
• Immigration Salary List roles: certain occupations on the Migration Advisory Committee’s list carry a lower salary floor. Some engineering, technology and healthcare roles appear on this list. The minimum is reduced but still occupation-specific.

For most experienced Brazilian engineers and IT professionals, salary is not the main challenge. The more common complications are the English route, the Ecctis position, and the Certificate of Sponsorship accuracy. We confirm the threshold for your specific occupation code at the first consultation and work through each element in turn.

Applying from Brazil or switching in-country

If you are applying from Brazil, you apply for entry clearance online and then attend a VFS Global UK visa application centre in Brazil to provide biometrics and submit your documents. VFS Global operates UK visa application centres in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia. The appointment is administrative: VFS collects your fingerprints and photograph and forwards the application to UK Visas and Immigration for the decision. VFS does not decide the visa.

Before you attend the VFS appointment you need to have your Certificate of Sponsorship reference number, your English language evidence, your certified translations of any Portuguese documents, and any other documents specific to your role. The Certificate of Sponsorship has an expiry date and you must apply before it expires. Employers sometimes issue certificates before the applicant is fully ready to apply, which creates timing pressure that is avoidable with advance planning. As a Brazilian applicant you do not need a TB certificate, which removes one preparatory step that affects many other nationalities using the same VFS appointments.

Standard processing from outside the UK is typically around three weeks from the biometrics appointment, though the Home Office’s published service standards allow longer and some centres run slower at peak periods. A priority service is available at many VFS locations in Brazil for a faster decision. In-country switching applications from inside the UK are typically decided within eight weeks on the standard service. We advise on whether the cost of priority is justified given your employer’s start date requirements. Glasgow sponsors and HR teams often ask whether they need to attend any appointment: they do not, but must ensure the Certificate of Sponsorship is accurate and issue any required employer-side documents on time. We coordinate between the Brazilian applicant and the Glasgow employer throughout so both sides prepare correctly.

A number of Skilled Worker applications from Brazilian nationals are made from inside the UK rather than from Brazil. Glasgow’s universities attract Brazilian postgraduate students, and many move from the Graduate route to the Skilled Worker route after completing their studies and finding employment. The in-country switch requires a valid Certificate of Sponsorship from a licensed sponsor and does not require a return trip to Brazil. Brazilian nationals apply for a Student visa, study at one of Glasgow’s universities, and after graduating receive a Graduate visa giving them two years to work or look for employment. When they secure a job offer from a licensed sponsor, they switch from the Graduate route to the Skilled Worker route from inside the UK. Applicants switching from a Student or Graduate visa within their first five years after graduation often qualify for the new entrant salary threshold of £33,400 or 70 percent of the going rate, whichever is higher. The University of Glasgow, the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow Caledonian University and the Glasgow School of Art all attract Brazilian students across engineering, computer science, data science and healthcare. We confirm at the first consultation whether your current leave permits switching and what the timeline looks like. For more on the Student visa itself, see our Student Visa page.

Documents for a Brazilian Skilled Worker application

A standard entry-clearance Skilled Worker application for a Brazilian professional requires the following core documents:

• Current Brazilian passport: valid for the intended duration of your visa, with blank pages for the visa vignette.
• Certificate of Sponsorship reference number: issued by your UK employer. The CoS must not have expired.
• English language evidence: either an Ecctis statement confirming your degree was taught in English and meets UK RQF level 6, or a valid approved Secure English Language Test certificate at B1 across all four components.
• Certified English translations: of all Brazilian documents submitted in Portuguese, including degree certificates, transcripts, professional qualification records and any employment references.
• Professional qualification or registration evidence: where required by the occupation, such as NMC registration for nurses, HCPC registration for applicable allied health professions, or an Ecctis statement of comparability for engineering and academic roles.
• Ecctis statement: where needed for the English route or for qualification equivalency, as described above.

If you are switching in-country from a Student or Graduate visa, your current Biometric Residence Permit and entry clearance history will also be reviewed. The exact document list depends on your occupation code, your sponsor’s sector, and whether any tradeable salary points are in play. We issue every Brazilian client a tailored document checklist for their specific application rather than a generic one, because a bundle that does not match the declared Certificate of Sponsorship is a preventable cause of refusal.

Fees and costs in 2026

The full cost of a Skilled Worker Visa application for a Brazilian professional includes several components. The Home Office application fee starts at £819 for entry clearance for up to three years and £1,618 for entry clearance over three years. In-country applications start at £943 for up to three years and £1,865 for over three years. These figures reflect the April 2026 fee increase.

The Immigration Health Surcharge is £1,035 per year of leave granted, paid in full at the time of application. A three-year grant adds around £3,105 in surcharge. Dependants pay the same surcharge per person. The Immigration Skills Charge is paid by the employer, not by the applicant.

Brazilian applicants should also budget for certified Portuguese-to-English translation of documents, which varies depending on the number and type of documents. If Ecctis verification is needed for the English route or for qualification equivalency, Ecctis charges a fee depending on the service level and turnaround time requested. An approved English language test, if the degree route is not available, adds a further cost. The VFS Global appointment in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro or Brasilia carries a service fee that varies by centre. Brazilian applicants do not need to budget for a TB test, which is an advantage compared to many other nationalities.

We give a full written cost breakdown at the initial assessment, covering every component and every applicant in the household, so there are no surprises. The Home Office fee and Immigration Health Surcharge are non-refundable on a refused application, which is exactly why we review the file thoroughly before submission.

Bringing your family to Glasgow

Your spouse or civil partner, unmarried partner of two years, and dependent children under 18 can apply as dependants on your Skilled Worker Visa. Each makes a separate application and pays their own Home Office fee and Immigration Health Surcharge. Dependants have unrestricted permission to work and study in the UK, with no separate work visa required.

Brazilian family members applying from Brazil will need to attend a VFS Global centre in Brazil for biometrics. Civil documents used in the dependant application, including the certidao de casamento for a spouse and birth certificates for children, are in Portuguese and need certified English translation. The TB test does not apply to Brazilian dependants any more than it applies to the main applicant. We prepare the family bundle alongside the main application so the translations and documents are coordinated from the start. If you are bringing a Brazilian spouse who is not yet in the UK, see also our Spouse Visa for Brazilian nationals guide for the full requirements under the partner route.

Extending your Skilled Worker Visa

You can extend your Skilled Worker Visa before it expires, provided your employer’s sponsor licence is still valid and they issue a new Certificate of Sponsorship. The salary and points requirements apply again at the extension stage, and the going rate for your occupation code is assessed at the time of the extension application, not at the time of your original visa. For Brazilian engineers and IT professionals whose earnings have grown with experience, the extension is usually straightforward. For those in roles where pay has not kept pace with changes in the going rate, the situation needs reviewing before the application is submitted.

We begin extension preparation around three months before your current visa expires to keep you in status and avoid any gap in leave. The English evidence from the original application often carries forward, but we confirm that the Ecctis statement or test certificate is still current at the extension stage. Any Glasgow employer is notified to issue the new Certificate of Sponsorship in good time, because a delay at the employer end creates unnecessary risk for the applicant’s leave. Certified translations prepared for the original application are retained so they do not need to be commissioned again unless documents have changed.

From Skilled Worker Visa to ILR

After five continuous years of qualifying residence on the Skilled Worker route, provided you have not exceeded 180 days’ absence from the UK in any rolling 12-month period, you can apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain. You also need to pass the Life in the UK Test and meet the English requirement at B1 or above at the time of the ILR application. ILR gives you full settlement with no time limit on your stay and unrestricted permission to work. Twelve months after ILR you can apply for British citizenship by naturalisation.

For Brazilian professionals in Glasgow reaching the five-year point, one consideration is worth flagging in advance. Brazil’s nationality law does not straightforwardly prohibit dual citizenship in all cases: Brazilians can retain Brazilian citizenship after naturalising as British where Brazilian law recognises an exception, including where the naturalisation is required to remain living in another country. The position on dual nationality for Brazilians naturalising as British is different from the position for Indian nationals, for example. We flag this at the appropriate point in the file so that Brazilian professionals on the Skilled Worker route understand the citizenship options before they reach that stage. Our ILR service continues the same file we built from your original Skilled Worker application, so nothing needs to be reconstructed.

If your Skilled Worker application is refused

A refusal on the Skilled Worker route for a Brazilian professional is usually caused by one of a manageable set of identifiable issues: a Certificate of Sponsorship declaring the wrong SOC code that puts the salary below the going rate for that code, an English language certificate from an unapproved provider or covering fewer than the four required components, a missing Ecctis statement for a qualification-dependent role, a Portuguese document submitted without a certified translation, or a professional registration that had not been confirmed before the application was submitted.

Many of those issues can be corrected for a fresh application. Where the refusal contains a caseworker error, administrative review is available and is faster and lower-cost than a formal appeal. Where a right of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal exists and that is the stronger route, we advise on the merits and refer you to a representative for the tribunal hearing. We review every refusal letter against the Immigration Rules and give a direct assessment of which route has the better prospect for Brazilian professionals in your specific situation.

Brazilian professionals and Glasgow

Glasgow has a growing Brazilian community, and the profile of that community has shifted in recent years toward skilled professionals and students as well as the longer-established hospitality and service workers. Brazilian professionals in Glasgow work across engineering and energy, technology, healthcare and hospitality, and many are connected to one of the city’s universities through their own studies or through their colleagues and networks.

The engineering and energy connection between Brazil and Glasgow reflects the broader relationship between the Brazilian oil and gas industry and the Scottish North Sea sector. Glasgow-area firms with offshore and energy engineering expertise have recruited Brazilian professionals over a number of years. As Scotland’s energy sector broadens into renewables, the skills overlap with Brazil’s offshore engineering industry creates a continuing basis for that recruitment.

For Brazilian IT professionals, Glasgow’s technology sector has grown substantially. The city hosts a range of technology employers from large global companies to high-growth Scottish firms, many of whom hold sponsor licences and recruit developers, engineers and data professionals internationally. Brazilian software developers and data engineers moving to Glasgow typically encounter the Certificate of Sponsorship and salary threshold questions rather than any Brazil-specific barrier, and most of the preparation work is around documents and English evidence rather than unusual route-specific requirements.

Most of the casework for Brazilian applicants is done by phone, video and secure document exchange. The applicant in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro or elsewhere in Brazil can prepare the full application without travelling, and the biometrics appointment at VFS Global in Brazil is typically the only in-person step. For Brazilian professionals already in the UK on a Student or Graduate visa, the process is done entirely from within the UK. We work with both the Brazilian professional and the Glasgow employer throughout, so the Certificate of Sponsorship and the supporting documents are prepared in alignment from the start.

How UK Visa Assistance helps Brazilian professionals

UK Visa Assistance is a Glasgow immigration practice. We prepare Skilled Worker Visa applications for Brazilian professionals end to end: verifying the Certificate of Sponsorship and SOC code, confirming the correct salary threshold for the occupation, managing the Ecctis qualification verification where needed, confirming the English language route, coordinating certified translations of Portuguese documents, assembling the full document bundle, completing the online form, and submitting on your behalf. We coordinate between the Brazilian applicant and the Glasgow employer throughout so neither side is waiting on the other and the Certificate of Sponsorship and the supporting documents are prepared in alignment.

If you are looking for country-specific guidance for another nationality on the Skilled Worker route, our sibling guide for American professionals covers the US-specific process including the English exemption that applies to US nationals. For Brazilian nationals on the partner route, see our Spouse Visa for Brazilian nationals guide. For those approaching settlement after five years on the Skilled Worker route, our Indefinite Leave to Remain page sets out the full ILR process and what to expect at the settlement application stage.

Fees are fixed and agreed before any work begins. To start, call 0141 496 0321 or request a callback for a free initial assessment of your Skilled Worker Visa situation from Brazil or from inside the UK.