For candidates applying for a UK work visa, the required documentation can vary depending on the specific visa route and individual circumstances. However, here's a general overview of the commonly required documents for candidates.
🛂 Core Documents
Valid Passport - Must be valid for the entire duration of your intended stay.
Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) - Issued by your sponsoring employer.
Proof of English Language Proficiency - Approved test results, qualifications, or exemptions.
Proof of Maintenance Funds (if applicable) - Evidence you can support yourself in the UK.
Tuberculosis (TB) Test Results (if applicable) - Required if you're from a listed country.
Academic or Professional Qualifications - Certificates or transcripts relevant to your role.
Criminal Record Certificate (if required) - For certain roles, particularly in health, care, and education.
🚩 Important: We cannot submit a visa application without a valid passport. A birth certificate cannot be used instead of a passport, as the Home Office requires passport details to process the application.
📌 Additional Documentation
Depending on your circumstances, you may also need to provide:
Marriage or civil partnership certificates
Evidence of dependent family members
Police certificates for time lived in other countries, or refusal letters from previous applications
Additional financial documents
🖥 Applying Through Borderless
When you apply through Borderless, you no longer need to work out this list yourself. The platform now shows you a personalised document checklist at the start of your application, based on your circumstances, and asks a few short questions so you are only asked for the documents that actually apply to you. As you upload, each document is checked straight away, and we only ask you to fill in details we could not read from them.
📋 We request the exact documents required for your specific application.
🔍 We ensure everything meets UK Home Office requirements.
🚀 We guide you through the process step-by-step.
For more on the new experience, see A simpler way to complete your visa application.