Skilled Worker Visa Documents UK: What Needs a Certified Translation for You, Your Family and Your Employer

One sentence in the Home Office's Skilled Worker caseworker guidance decides the fate of an untranslated document. If the translation is not supplied after a request, or cannot be verified, "the document will not be accepted. You must continue to process the application as if the applicant had not provided the document." For a criminal record certificate, a document treated as missing means refusal.

Most of the application is already in English: the certificate of sponsorship (CoS), the job details, the salary. The translation work sits in a few personal documents, covered below with the employer's file and the 2025 and 2026 rule changes.

Which Skilled Worker documents need a certified translation?

Any document you rely on that is not in English or Welsh. GOV.UK's Skilled Worker documents page says: "If your documents are not in English or Welsh you'll also need to provide a certified translation."

The Health and Care Worker visa is part of the same route, so the same documents and translation rules apply.

What does the Home Office require from the translation?

Section 2.5 of the Skilled Worker caseworker guidance (version 20.0, published 3 August 2026) requires "a fully certified translation from a professional translator or translation company that can be independently verified by the Home Office". It must include confirmation that it is accurate, the date of translation, the full name and signature of the translator or a company official, and their contact details.

Paragraph 39B(f) of the Immigration Rules adds that you must provide "the version in the original language", and for applications for leave to remain, "certification by a qualified translator and details of the translator or translation company's credentials." Switching from a Student or Graduate visa, changing employer and extending are all made in the UK, so this element matters to many Skilled Workers. Every Official Translations certificate covers it, stating the company's membership of the Association of Translation Companies (ATC).

No notarisation or apostille is needed. The UK has no sworn translators and the Home Office approves none. See what a certification statement must include.

Which jobs need a criminal record certificate, and how should it be translated?

Jobs in the occupation codes listed in paragraph SW 16.1 of Appendix Skilled Worker, when you apply for entry clearance. The list covers doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, paramedics, therapists, psychologists, teachers, teaching assistants, social workers and childcare staff, plus some roles applicants do not expect: housing officers, fitness and wellbeing instructors, and human resources officers (code 3571).

You need a certificate from every country outside the UK where you spent 12 months or more, "whether continuously or in total", in the 10 years before applying, counting only time after your 18th birthday. Under SW 34.1 your partner needs the same if they apply for entry clearance. Applications made inside the UK, including switching and extending, do not need one.

The Home Office's criminal record certificate guidance (version 4.0) sets three rules worth knowing:

• Validity. For your latest country of residence, a certificate is normally valid if issued no earlier than six months before you apply. For a country you have left, it should be issued no earlier than six months before your last stay there ended.
• Regional certificates. Where a country keeps records only by region, you need one for each region you lived in, with an explanation of your attempts to get a national certificate and evidence that you lived there.
• Translation. "If the certificate is not in English, a translated copy of the certificate must be provided which meets the requirements of paragraph 39B(f)."

If a certificate is impossible to get, for example where no procedure exists or because of armed conflict, you must explain your attempts with the application, and UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) decides whether to waive it. The translation should cover the certificate number, any period or records it covers, the "no record" wording, every stamp and any QR or verification code. Our police certificate translation guide goes country by country.

What do you need to show for money and family?

You need £1,270, held for 28 days in a row, with day 28 within 31 days of applying (SW 15.2 and 15.3). You are exempt if you have been in the UK with permission for 12 months, or if an A-rated sponsor certifies maintenance on your CoS. Dependants need £285 for a partner, £315 for the first child and £200 for each other child, on the same terms. Statements stay in their original currency; see our bank statement translation guide.

Partners must be married or in a civil partnership recognised in the UK, or show at least two years together. If you do not live together, GOV.UK asks for evidence of ongoing commitment, such as regular communication, financial support and time spent together. Marriage certificates are translated in full, marginal notes included; see marriage certificate translation.

Children need birth certificates naming the parents. Under Appendix Children (CHI 3.2), both parents must be applying or already have permission unless the parent coming is the sole surviving parent or has sole responsibility, the other parent is British or settled and lives in the UK, or there are "serious and compelling reasons". That is where foreign death certificates and custody judgments come in, and each needs a full translation.

Dependants are now restricted for some roles. Since 22 July 2025, workers sponsored for medium-skilled jobs (RQF levels 3 to 5) cannot bring new dependants unless they were already in such a job on a Skilled Worker visa before that date, with narrow exceptions such as a child born in the UK. Care workers have been under a similar restriction since 11 March 2024.

Do you need Ecctis, and does Ecctis need translations?

Only if you prove English with an overseas degree taught in English, or claim points for a relevant PhD. Ecctis runs the Qualification and Language Service for the Home Office. Both its services ask you to upload final certificates, "official transcripts... showing all subjects and grades", and "certified translations, if your documents are not in English", plus a passport and evidence of any name change; the English service also needs a medium of instruction letter.

Each service costs £210, and Ecctis aims to decide within 20 working days. It also needs your university to confirm the qualification is genuine; without that, the outcome is "Unable to verify". Start early, and see our academic transcript translation guide for grading scales and course titles.

What goes in the employer's sponsorship file?

Appendix D of the sponsor guidance (version 10/26, valid from 8 October 2026) requires sponsors to keep a job description, "copies of any relevant qualifications the worker holds to confirm skill level", references showing experience, and any registration the job needs, such as with the General Medical Council. It does not say these must be translated, but an English translation filed with a foreign diploma makes the record readable at a compliance visit. See sponsor licence compliance and translated records.

What changed for Skilled Workers in 2025 and 2026?

Why Skilled Worker applications get delayed or refused over documents

• A forgotten country: no certificate for 12 months spent abroad.
• An old certificate: current-country certificate issued more than six months before the application.
• The partner's certificate missing when the worker is in a listed occupation.
• An untranslated document: requested once, then treated as not provided.
• Names that do not connect: a certificate in a maiden name with no marriage certificate linking it to the passport.
• Bank statements outside the window, or short of the 28 days.
• An Ecctis "Unable to verify" because the university never replied.

Checklist: Skilled Worker translations

Questions people ask