I have filed UK Skilled Worker visas at £38,700 for Pakistani engineers, Health and Care Worker visas for NHS nurses, German Opportunity Cards for IT specialists, Dutch Highly Skilled Migrant permits for embedded systems engineers, Australia Subclass 189/190 SkillSelect applications for ICT professionals, Canada Express Entry profiles for STEM applicants, US H-1B petitions and EB-2 NIW self-petitions for researchers, South Korea E-7 transfers for IT specialists, Hungary EU Blue Card at €21,000 for early-career engineers, and Lithuania Blue Card + Startup Visa for Vilnius-bound tech founders. I read every UKVI Statement of Changes, every German Bundesgesetzblatt amendment, every IRCC Ministerial Instruction, every Australian Migration Programme update and every USCIS policy memo the week it publishes. Before you spend a rupee, I'll tell you which route your profile actually clears today, not last year.
If your profile lines up with one of these, the route is realistic. If it does not, we will say so on the first call.
Once the CoS, Zustimmung or Nulla Osta is issued
Priority service 5 working days for £500 extra
Dutch HSM 2–4 wks with IND-recognised sponsor; Australia 189/190 ~5–8 months from invitation
Almost every route; spouse income or accommodation proof required
This isn't every work route in Europe. It's the routes I have filed enough times to know exactly where they fail and what to fix before they do. If your case fits a route that isn't on this list, I'll tell you on the first call and either refer you out or take the case on the basis I have to do extra homework first.
For applicants with a job offer from a Home Office-licensed sponsor at or above the role's going rate.
For doctors, nurses, paramedics and eligible care workers with NHS or registered-provider offers.
Points-based job-search visa launched June 2024. For applicants with a recognised qualification or two years of vocational training.
For graduates with a recognised university degree and a German job offer in their field.
Multi-year residence permit for qualified employees, researchers, founders and EU Blue Card holders in France.
For professionals with an offer from an IND-recognised sponsor. The most common route into Dutch tech, finance and engineering.
Points-based route for skilled professionals in occupations on the MLTSSL or STSOL. Subclass 189 is independent (no sponsor); 190 is state-nominated; 491 is regional state-nominated with a pathway to 191 PR.
For roles on the Critical Skills Occupation List, mostly IT, engineering and healthcare.
Under the Startups Law, for senior or specialist hires at Spanish companies above the salary threshold.
Italy's annual quota system for non-EU workers, plus the EU Blue Card for graduate-level hires.
For applicants with a signed contract from a Swedish employer at or above collectively-bargained wage levels.
Points-tested skilled workers under Federal Skilled Worker, Canadian Experience Class or Federal Skilled Trades Programme — managed via the SkillSelect-style Express Entry pool.
Applicants with a US bachelor's-equivalent degree and an employer-sponsored specialty occupation role. Annual lottery — about 85,000 visas issued each fiscal year.
Skilled workers in 86 designated occupations (IT, engineering, finance, design, R&D, healthcare). D-10 Job Seeker gives a 6–24 month window to find E-7 sponsorship.
Skilled workers with a Hungarian job offer at or above 1.5× the Hungarian average gross salary. Lowest EU Blue Card threshold in the European Union.
Skilled workers with a Vilnius/Kaunas employer; or tech founders applying through Startup Lithuania for an innovative business idea.
The list below is comprehensive. We tailor it to your destination country and route on the first call.
We compare your CV against the published thresholds of each route. You receive a written assessment within 48 hours stating which routes you qualify for today and what gaps stand in the way of higher-paying routes.
If you do not have an offer, we coach the EU CV format, target the Bundesagentur and Jobs Ireland portals, and prep you for technical interviews on the country's terms.
Contract review, salary cross-check against the official threshold, document apostille, translation, IHS or insurance payment, embassy submission with priority where available.
Visa decision in three to twelve weeks depending on country. We provide on-arrival checklists for biometric residence cards, town hall registration, social security number, and bank account opening.
Refusals follow patterns. Here are the patterns we see most often, and the steps we take to head them off.
Common refusal reason
Salary in the contract was below the route's going rate, not the headline £38,700
How we prevent it
I cross-check the offered salary against the latest published going rate for the SOC 2020 code on GOV.UK, not against the general £38,700 floor. If the going rate for the role is £44,000 and the offer is £40,000, we go back to the employer and request a written re-offer at the right number before the CoS is issued. Sponsors are usually willing to fix it; they'd rather adjust the contract than face refusal.
Common refusal reason
Job duties didn't match the SOC or ISCO code the employer claimed
How we prevent it
The visa officer compares the job description against the official occupation code definition. If the JD says 'IT Support' but the SOC code is for a Senior Systems Engineer at RQF 6+, the file flags. I map your day-to-day duties to the correct code, then ask the employer to align the job title and JD to match. This is the most common silent refusal driver in 2025 UK Skilled Worker filings.
Common refusal reason
Pakistani qualification wasn't recognised in the destination country
How we prevent it
For Germany we pre-file anabin or ZAB equivalence before the visa goes in. For the UK we order an Ecctis (formerly UK NARIC) statement of comparability. For the Netherlands we use Nuffic or IDW. For Australia we lodge the skills assessment with the relevant authority — ACS for ICT, Engineers Australia for engineering, VETASSESS for general professional, AHPRA for healthcare — before submitting the Expression of Interest. Pre-recognition takes four to twelve weeks. We start it the day you sign the engagement letter, so it's done before the rest of the file is ready to submit.
Common refusal reason
Employer's sponsor licence was on the suspended list
How we prevent it
Before recommending any UK Skilled Worker role, we check the sponsor on the public Register of Worker and Temporary Worker sponsor licences. If they're suspended, downgraded, or recently added (less than 6 months old), we flag it. We keep a back-up shortlist of sponsors in your sector so if the primary falls through, we can redeploy without restarting the search.
Each country page below covers the same service under the destination's own law, thresholds and timelines.
Questions we hear from new clients almost every week.
Not always. Four routes let you arrive without a contract. Germany's Opportunity Card (Chancenkarte) is the cleanest: 6 points across qualification, work experience, German level, English level, age and ties; 12 months to find work; trial employment of 20 hours per week allowed during the search. Sweden has a job-seeker permit for skilled workers, capped at three months. The Netherlands has the Orientation Year for graduates of Dutch universities or top-200 ranked universities globally, with full work rights for 12 months. Australia's Subclass 189 (Skilled Independent) lets you apply without any sponsor at all — pure points-based, you arrive with permanent residence in hand if your EOI is invited. UK, Ireland, France and Italy all require an employer to be involved before any application goes in.
Yes, on every route on this page. Spouse and minor children apply as dependants. The Netherlands, Germany and Australia all give partners unrestricted work rights from arrival — Australia includes the partner on the same Subclass 189/190 grant with full work and study rights from day one, and the Netherlands and Germany are the dual-income family standards in the EU. The UK Skilled Worker route allows partner work too, but the partner's visa is filed as a separate application with proof of the relationship (marriage certificate apostilled, joint financials, cohabitation evidence). For unmarried partners, the bar is two years of documented cohabitation.
For the UK Skilled Worker route the floor is CEFR B1 on a UKVI-approved test. If you score below B1, I'd rather delay your application than file a weak case. We've waited four months for clients to retake IELTS and clear B1, and the visa came through three weeks after submission. For German routes, A1 German is enough for the Opportunity Card and Blue Card; B1 unlocks the faster 21-month settlement track. For Dutch HSM there's no language requirement at all because Dutch employers operate in English. For Australia Skilled Migration, Competent English (IELTS 6.0 each band) is the floor for points; Proficient (7.0) earns +10 and Superior (8.0) earns +20 — pushing you above the effective 80-point invitation cut-off.
UK Skilled Worker for a five-year visa: £719 application fee + £1,055 IHS per year (so £5,275 for five years) + £19.20 biometric. Family adds the same IHS per dependant. Germany National visa: €100-€140 per applicant. EU Blue Card: same range. Netherlands HSM: €380 IND fee plus the employer's sponsor recognition fee. Australia Subclass 189/190: AUD 4,640 main applicant + AUD 2,320 partner + AUD 1,160 per child (16+ pays AUD 2,320). Skills assessment runs AUD 500–1,000 separately. Our service fees are quoted separately in writing in the engagement letter before any file work begins. No mark-ups on government fees, ever.
Yes, in most cases. The first thing we need is a copy of the previous refusal letter. The reason for refusal determines the path forward. If it was a financial-evidence issue we fix the seasoning. If it was a credibility interview gone wrong, we run mock interviews. If it was misrepresentation (false documents), there is usually a 10-year re-entry ban on the country, which kills that route but not other countries. We disclose the prior refusal honestly in the new application's cover letter; trying to hide it is how applicants get permanent bans.
Send me your CV, your salary expectation, your IELTS or German score, and your target country. Within 48 hours I'll reply with the route I'd file for you, a realistic salary band to negotiate against, and an honest probability rating for visa approval. The first consultation is free and there is no obligation after.
