This page is informational only.
Lifeset Overseas does NOT process work permits. Work permits require a separate MEA Recruiting Agent (RA) licence under the Emigration Act, which we do not hold. Our Licence (No. 849/DC/PTA/PLA/LC-3/2024) covers visa consultancy and travel services — study, permanent residency, visitor, family, and CAIPS/GCMS support. This page exists so you understand the work-permit pathway, not because we can apply for it on your behalf.
United Kingdom · Visa guide
United Kingdom · Visa guideUnited Kingdom Work Permit (Information Only)
Information about work-permit pathways across countries. Lifeset Overseas does NOT process work permits — work permits require a separate MEA Recruiting Agent (RA) licence under the Emigration Act. These pages exist for applicant awareness only; we cannot assist with these applications.
- ProcessingVaries by case
- Visa categoryWork Permit (Information Only)
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United Kingdom Work Permit (Information Only) — overview
What this page is, and what it is not
This is an informational reference to the United Kingdom's main work-permit pathways: the Skilled Worker visa, the Health and Care Worker visa, Global Talent and the Graduate route. Lifeset Overseas does not process work permits — see the disclaimer at the top of this page. We hold a Punjab travel-professional consultancy licence, not an MEA Recruiting Agent licence under the Emigration Act, and arranging overseas employment requires the latter.
We publish this because half the harm done to families in Punjab comes from not understanding how these systems work. If you can read the structure below, you can tell a genuine offer from a fraud.
The single most important thing to understand
In the United Kingdom, a work permit is not something you buy and not something an agent can hand you. It starts with an employer, and the employer carries most of the process. Anyone who offers to sell you a job, a sponsorship, a nomination or a permit for a fee is describing something that does not legally exist in the way they are presenting it.
If someone asks you for money to "arrange" employment abroad, ask them for their MEA Recruiting Agent registration number and verify it before you part with anything. We do not hold one, which is precisely why we will not take this work.
How the pathway actually runs
The steps below are the real sequence. Note how much of it happens before you personally apply for anything — that shape is the tell. A process that starts with you paying a fee is not this process.
What we can help with instead
We cannot help you with a work permit. We can help you with:
- Study routes to the United Kingdom and elsewhere, which in several countries lead to post-study work rights in their own right
- Visitor and family visas
- Permanent-residence routes that are points-based rather than employer-sponsored
- Refusal recovery — CAIPS/GCMS notes, understanding what actually went wrong, and rebuilding a file
If a work permit is genuinely your goal, take this page as background and speak to a firm that holds the right licence.
Before you trust any figure
Salary thresholds, fees, occupation lists and quotas in this area change at least annually, and often mid-year. This page deliberately describes the structure rather than printing numbers that would quietly go stale. For current figures, always read gov.uk directly — not an agent's screenshot, and not this page.
7 items
Documents you need
A licensed sponsor
The employer must appear on the Home Office register of licensed sponsors. You can search that register yourself — do it before believing any offer.
A Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS)
An electronic reference number issued by the sponsor for your specific role. Without one there is no application.
An eligible occupation and salary
The job must be on the eligible occupation list and pay at or above both the general salary floor and the going rate for that occupation code.
English language at B1 or above
Proven by an approved test, a degree taught in English, or nationality exemption.
Maintenance funds
Held for a set period before applying, unless your sponsor certifies maintenance on the CoS.
Tuberculosis test certificate
Required for applicants resident in India.
Immigration Health Surcharge
Paid up front for the full length of the visa, on top of the application fee. It is substantial — budget for it.
5 steps
How the process works
Step 1
Secure a job with a licensed sponsor
Verify the sponsor on the public register first.
Step 2
Sponsor assigns a Certificate of Sponsorship
It carries a unique reference number and the role details.
Step 3
Apply online and pay the fee plus the health surcharge
The surcharge is often the largest single cost.
Step 4
Biometrics at a VFS centre in India
Book after starting the online form.
Step 5
Decision, then collect your BRP or activate your eVisa
The UK has moved to digital status — follow the instruction in your decision letter.
4 answers
Frequently asked questions
No. Arranging overseas employment requires an MEA Recruiting Agent licence, which we do not hold. We do not offer job placement of any kind.
No. A Certificate of Sponsorship comes from a licensed employer for a real job. Paying a third party for one is a well-documented fraud, and it can get you banned from the UK.
It is an unsponsored post-study permission to work, which follows from completing a UK degree. It starts with a student visa — a route we can help with.
It can count towards settlement after a qualifying period, subject to the rules in force at that time. Rules change; no one can promise you an outcome.
A real way forward
Work visas aren’t our licence — a real route to United Kingdom is.
Employer-driven work visas need a separate licence we don't hold — so this page is information only. But if your real goal is to build a future in United Kingdom, we can help with a study route, a family route, or permanent residency where it exists. Talk to us and we'll map the honest path that actually works for you.
Honest route mapping
We assess your profile and show you which United Kingdom pathway can realistically work for you.
A file built to win
Study, family or PR — whichever route fits, we build and stress-test the documents properly.
One consultant, end to end
The same person stays with your case from the first call to the decision.
Licensed & honest
A Government-of-Punjab licensed consultancy. We never take a case we believe will fail.
licensed (No. 849/DC/PTA/PLA/LC-3/2024)Fixed fees agreed upfrontWe won’t take a case we believe will fail
Other United Kingdom visas
UK Standard Visitor Visa
The Standard Visitor visa — to visit the UK for tourism, holidays and visiting family or friends, for up to 6 months.
UK Business Visitor Visa
The Standard Visitor visa used for business — meetings, conferences, negotiations and trade fairs in the UK.
UK Short-Term Study Visit
The Standard Visitor visa used to study a short course of up to 6 months at an accredited UK institution.
UK Medical Visitor Visa
The Standard Visitor visa used to receive private medical treatment in the United Kingdom.
Before you pay anyone for a United Kingdom work permit
Only a firm holding an MEA Recruiting Agent licence may recruit you for overseas employment. That register is public, and checking it takes about a minute — it is the single thing that separates a legitimate agent from the people this route is famous for.
- Ask for the RA licence number and look it up on the Ministry of External Affairs’ own eMigrate portal. A genuine agent will give it without being pushed.
- A licensed agent’s fee is capped by law and receipted. Nobody legitimate asks for cash with no paperwork.
- No agent can promise you a job offer, and an offer letter that arrives before any interview is the oldest warning sign there is.
- Never hand over your original passport. Not to them, and not to us.
For information only — we do not handle work permits. Lifeset Overseas does not process work permits for United Kingdom or any other country: that requires an MEA Recruiting Agent licence under the Emigration Act, which we do not hold. Our licence (No. 849/DC/PTA/PLA/LC-3/2024) covers visa consultancy and travel services. We can explain how this route works and how to check somebody who says they can do it — we cannot apply for it on your behalf, and we will not take a fee for trying.
Most people who ask us about work permits are really asking about something else.
A course with a post-study work route often reaches the same place, legally, through a door we can open for you — and it is a route nobody can take your money for and disappear. If you tell us what you are actually trying to achieve, we will tell you honestly whether that fits, including when it does not.
Or read the study visa route first — no phone number required.