Tracking Your Skilled Worker Visa Application: Status Updates
Waiting for a decision is the part of the process with the least information in it. This guide sets out what is actually published: how long it should take, what nobody at the Home Office is permitted to tell you, and what arrives when the decision is made.
- Section
- Skilled Worker Visa
- Reading time
- 7 min
- Last checked
- 3 September 2026
- Source
- The published Immigration Rules and GOV.UK guidance, linked throughout this guide.
- Rowan does not
- Look at your own case, tell you which route to choose, or say what the Home Office will decide. This guide shows the published rules and where to read them.
In short
- 3 weeks for a decision from outside the UK; 8 weeks from inside it.
- Contact centre staff cannot tell you when a decision will come, or whether it will be granted.
- If you applied from inside the UK, travelling withdraws your application.
- Biometric residence permits ended in 2024. Your status is an eVisa, proved with a share code that lasts 90 days.
- There is no paid enquiry service that buys you an update.
There is no progress tracker for a Skilled Worker application. What exists is a published decision time — 3 weeks from outside the UK, 8 weeks from inside — an email when the decision is made, and a clear statement that contact centre staff cannot tell you when that will be.
What there is to track
Your UK Visas and Immigration account
You create an account when you apply online, and you sign back into it to continue or check the application. GOV.UK's sign-in page explains how. It is the record of the application, not a live progress bar.
GOV.UK says you will get an email containing the decision on your application, and that it will explain what you need to do next. It also suggests checking your spam folder if you are having problems getting messages from the Home Office. Keep the email address on the application working.
The visa application centre
If you applied from outside the UK through a centre run by TLScontact or VFS Global, that company may have its own tracking page. It shows where your documents and passport are. It does not show where the decision is.
The published decision times
- Outside the UK: usually 3 weeks. GOV.UK says the time runs from once you have applied online, proved your identity and provided your documents.
- Inside the UK: usually 8 weeks from your application date, whether you are extending or switching.
- Priority service: £500 on top of the application fee, usually a decision within 5 working days.
- Super priority service: £1,000 on top of the application fee, usually a decision by the end of the next working day if you prove your identity on a weekday, or 2 working days after if at a weekend or on a bank holiday.
GOV.UK says you will be contacted if the application will take longer, giving as examples documents that need verifying, an interview, or personal circumstances such as a criminal conviction. More detail is in our Skilled Worker processing time guide and our priority and super priority comparison.
What nobody is allowed to tell you
This is published, and it saves a lot of wasted effort. The GOV.UK page for contacting UK Visas and Immigration says contact centre staff cannot give you advice about your personal circumstances, and names three things they cannot tell you:
- which visas you can apply for
- whether your application will be successful
- when you will get a decision
So an enquiry inside the published time cannot produce the answer most people want from it. There is also no paid enquiry service that buys an update. If you need to reach them for another reason, start at GOV.UK, contact UK Visas and Immigration or our Home Office contact guide. Have your application reference number and the date you applied.
While you wait
- Do not leave the country if you applied from inside the UK. GOV.UK says you must not travel outside the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man until you get a decision, and that your application will be withdrawn if you do.
- If your permission expired after you applied, section 3C leave continues your existing conditions until the application is decided.
- Answer any request for more information quickly. GOV.UK says that once the information has been received, the application will be prioritised.
- Keep your contact details current.
What arrives at the end
Not a card. Biometric residence permits stopped being issued in 2024 and have all expired; GOV.UK now says they "were cards that were used to prove immigration status". Your permission is held as an eVisa in your UK Visas and Immigration account.
To prove it to an employer, a landlord or at a border, you generate a share code. GOV.UK says a share code lasts for 90 days, can be used as many times as you need before it expires, and that you can get a new one whenever you need it. The person you give it to also needs your date of birth, and does not see your eVisa itself. See GOV.UK, view your eVisa and get a share code.
If the published time has passed
Once you are past the 3 or 8 weeks, there are a few channels, none of which promises a decision:
- Contact UK Visas and Immigration through the routes on GOV.UK, with your reference number and application date.
- Ask your sponsoring employer what it can see. Its view is of the certificate of sponsorship, not of your personal application.
- Write to your Member of Parliament, who can put an enquiry to the Home Office team that handles them.
- Take advice from a solicitor or a regulated immigration adviser about the options that exist for a delayed decision. That is legal advice, and this guide is not it.
If the decision, when it comes, is a refusal, our visa refusal guide sets out what the letter should contain.
Related guides:
Questions and answers
How can I check my Skilled Worker visa application status?
There is no public progress tracker. You sign in to your UK Visas and Immigration account for the application itself, and the Home Office emails you when a decision has been made. A visa application centre outside the UK may show where your documents are, which is not the same as where the decision is.
How long does a Skilled Worker visa take?
GOV.UK publishes 3 weeks if you apply from outside the UK and 8 weeks if you apply from inside it. The priority service usually gives a decision within 5 working days for £500, and the super priority service by the end of the next working day for £1,000, where you are offered them.
Can anyone tell me when my decision will come?
No. GOV.UK says contact centre staff cannot give you advice about your personal circumstances, and names three things they cannot tell you: which visas you can apply for, whether your application will be successful, and when you will get a decision. You are contacted if the application will take longer than the published time.
Can I travel while I am waiting?
Not if you applied from inside the UK. GOV.UK says you must not travel outside the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man until you get a decision, and that your application will be withdrawn if you do.
Can my employer track my application?
Your sponsor can see the certificate of sponsorship it assigned you through the sponsorship management system, and it will see when that certificate has been used. It is not given a running status on your personal application.
This guide is general information about published immigration rules. It is not advice about an individual application under s.82 Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, and Rowan is not regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority. Immigration rules change several times a year. For advice on a particular situation, contact an adviser authorised by the Immigration Advice Authority or an immigration solicitor. Always check GOV.UK for the authoritative current rules.