A US passport lets an American visit the United Kingdom without a visa. It does not give the right to work there or to make the UK home, so a move needs a visa that fits its purpose.
The visa also decides how soon settlement (the right to live in the UK permanently) becomes possible. As of October 2026, those waiting periods are under review, because the government has consulted on a new “earned settlement” model and has not yet published its decision.
Key takeaways
- To live or work in the UK, Americans need a visa matched to the reason for the move: a sponsored job, recognized talent, a new business, a partner or study.
- A visit of up to six months usually needs only an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA), but a visitor cannot work and cannot switch to a work visa from inside the UK.
- US nationals do not have to prove their English for the Skilled Worker, Innovator Founder, partner or Student visas, and the Global Talent visa has no English requirement.
- Under the current rules, most work routes lead to settlement after five years, and the Global Talent and Innovator Founder routes can lead there after three when their conditions are met. A proposal to raise the usual wait to 10 years had no outcome as of October 2026.
What US citizens can do in the UK without a visa
US citizens can visit the UK for up to six months without a visa, but a visit does not allow them to work or to live there. For travel since January 8, 2025, a visitor from the US usually needs an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) instead. This digital permission is linked to the passport used to apply. It costs £20, lasts two years or until that passport expires, and covers any number of visits in that time, though it does not guarantee entry at the border.
During a visit, an American can attend meetings, interviews and conferences, negotiate and sign contracts, and see family or friends. Paid or unpaid work for a UK company is not allowed, and neither is self-employment. Frequent or back-to-back visits cannot be used to live in the UK either.
A visitor also cannot switch to a Skilled Worker, Global Talent or Innovator Founder visa from inside the UK, and has to leave and apply from abroad. The same rule covers short-term students and seasonal workers. An American who wants to work in the UK therefore applies before the move, usually from the US.
How can you move to the UK from the US?
An American can move to the UK on one of five main visas. Three are for work (Skilled Worker, Global Talent and Innovator Founder), one is for joining a partner, and one is for study. The job-offer and partner routes are open to the widest range of people. Global Talent and Innovator Founder usually need an outside body’s endorsement before the visa application, and winning that endorsement is the main hurdle on both routes.
US nationality helps with English. The Skilled Worker, Innovator Founder, partner, and Student visas each require English, and US nationals don’t have to prove it for any of them. The Global Talent visa has no English requirement at all.
Families can move together on the three work and business routes. A spouse, a civil partner or an unmarried partner of at least two years can come as a dependent, and so can children under 18. Dependents can work and study in the UK. The exception is a Skilled Worker whose job is below graduate level, who usually cannot bring new dependents.
Skilled Worker visa for a sponsored job
The Skilled Worker visa is the route for an American with a job offer from a UK employer. The employer must be approved as a sponsor by the Home Office (the UK government department that runs immigration). The employer then assigns the worker a certificate of sponsorship (CoS). This is an electronic record with a reference number, and the worker enters it in the visa application.
Since July 22, 2025, the job itself must normally be skilled at graduate level (RQF level 6, the level of a bachelor’s degree). It must also pay at least £41,700 a year or the going rate for the occupation (the pay the rules set for each type of job), whichever is higher. Lower salary rules apply in some cases, for example to applicants under 26 and recent UK graduates. Jobs on two shortage lists are exempt from the graduate-level rule for now, but Home Office guidance says they are due to come off those lists by the end of 2026.
The visa ties the worker to the sponsored job. A Skilled Worker can take only limited extra work, and a change of employer needs a new certificate of sponsorship and an updated visa. Our guide to the Skilled Worker visa walks through its requirements and the application process.
Global Talent visa for leaders in a field
Global Talent is open to people who are leaders or potential leaders in academia or research, arts and culture, or digital technology. Most applicants first need an endorsement (formal backing from a body the Home Office has approved for the field). The Royal Society, the British Academy, Arts Council England and Tech Nation are among these bodies. Winners of a prize on the Home Office’s list of prestigious prizes can apply without one.
The route needs no job offer and sets no salary requirement. A Global Talent visa holder can be an employee, a self-employed person or a company director, and can change jobs without telling the Home Office. Our guide to the Global Talent visa explains the endorsement stage and the visa stage in turn.
Innovator Founder visa for a new business
An American who wants to set up and run a new business in the UK applies for the Innovator Founder visa. An approved endorsing body must first confirm that the idea is new, innovative, viable and scalable (able to grow, create jobs and reach national and international markets). The founder cannot join a business that is already trading, and must have a day-to-day role in the one they start.
The rules set no minimum investment. Instead, the business plan has to be realistic for the money the founder has, and the founder must show the endorsing body where that money comes from. The endorsing body meets the founder again after 12 and 24 months to check progress, and the visa can be cut short if the body withdraws its endorsement. Our guide to the Innovator Founder visa covers its requirements and the application process.
Family visa for a partner in the UK
An American whose partner is a British or Irish citizen, or is settled in the UK, can apply for a family visa as a partner. A few other UK partners also qualify, such as a person with protection status. Both partners must be 18 or over. A UK partner on a temporary work or student visa cannot sponsor this route. In that case, the American may be able to join them as a dependent instead, if the partner’s own visa allows dependents.
The partner route has four requirements: the couple’s finances, adequate accommodation, a genuine and continuing relationship, and English, which US nationals do not have to prove. The couple usually has to show a combined income of at least £29,000 a year. The rules set which income counts, and savings can be used instead in some cases. A first partner visa from outside the UK lasts up to two years and nine months and can then be extended. An applicant whose household income falls short can sometimes stay on other grounds, such as having a British child, but then waits at least 10 years for settlement.
Student visa for university study
People aged 16 or over with a place on a further or higher education course in the UK apply for the Student visa. The university or college issues a Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS), which must be no more than six months old when the student applies. Since January 1, 2024, most students cannot bring a partner or children. Only students on a PhD or other research degree, and some government-sponsored students, still can.
Neither the Student visa nor the Graduate visa leads to settlement. To stay after the course, a Student visa holder can switch to a Skilled Worker visa inside the UK. A student who completes a UK degree can instead take the Graduate visa, which allows work without a sponsor for two years, or 18 months for applications made from January 1, 2027.
Other visas Americans ask about
An employer with a UK branch can move an existing employee there on the Senior or Specialist Worker visa, which replaced the Intra-company Transfer visa. The job must pay at least £52,500 a year, and the visa does not lead to settlement. Recent graduates of universities on the High Potential Individual list can come for two years without a job offer. That visa cannot be extended and does not lead to settlement either. Two other routes are closed to most US citizens. The Youth Mobility Scheme is not open to US nationals, and the UK Ancestry visa is open only to Commonwealth citizens and a few other listed groups.
What each route costs and how long it takes
Each route has its own application fee, and most applicants also pay a yearly health surcharge on top. The table gives the fee for one person applying from outside the UK, the usual decision time and the earliest point at which each route can lead to settlement. Fees follow the Home Office fees table effective October 8, 2026.
| Route | Visa fee per person, from outside the UK | Usual decision time | Earliest settlement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skilled Worker | £819 for up to three years, £1,618 for more than three years (up to five) | three weeks | five years |
| Global Talent | £766 in total (£561 for the endorsement, £205 for the visa) | two to eight weeks for the endorsement, then three weeks | three or five years |
| Innovator Founder | £1,357, plus £1,000 and VAT for the endorsement and £500 and VAT for each check-in meeting | three weeks | three years, if the business meets the growth tests |
| Partner | £2,064 | 12 weeks | five years |
| Student | £558 | three weeks | not a route to settlement |
The immigration health surcharge
The immigration health surcharge (IHS) is a payment for UK healthcare, made in full as part of the visa application for the whole length of the visa. For most work and family visas it costs £1,035 per person for each year, and for students and applicants under 18 it costs £776 a year. A Skilled Worker on a three-year visa therefore pays £3,105 in surcharge on top of the £819 visa fee. The worker’s spouse or partner pays the same fee and surcharge again, and each child under 18 pays the surcharge at the lower rate. Eligible doctors, nurses and some other health professionals are an exception. Their Health and Care Worker visa (a version of the Skilled Worker route) costs less and carries no surcharge.
Savings to show before applying
Skilled Worker and Innovator Founder applicants must hold £1,270 in savings for 28 days in a row before applying. A Skilled Worker does not need the savings when the sponsor confirms that it will cover the worker’s costs for the first month.
Applying from the US
Every application from the US is made online. The applicant then proves their identity with the UK Immigration: ID Check app where the application allows it. Otherwise they give fingerprints and a photograph at a visa application centre. Applicants living in the US do not need a tuberculosis test, unless they have recently lived for six months or more in a country on the GOV.UK list. A successful applicant receives an eVisa (a digital record of immigration status, viewed through an online account) instead of a physical document.
From a visa to settlement in the UK
Settlement in the UK is called indefinite leave to remain (ILR). It gives the right to live, work and study in the UK without a time limit, and after a further period it can lead to British citizenship. Most work routes lead to ILR after five years, and the Global Talent and Innovator Founder routes can lead there sooner.
When the three-year routes reach settlement
Global Talent holders can settle after three years, except those endorsed as potential leaders by Arts Council England or Tech Nation, who need five. An Innovator Founder can settle after three years only if the endorsing body confirms that the business is active and trading and has met at least two of seven growth tests, such as creating jobs. A founder whose business has not met them yet can extend the visa for further three-year periods and apply to settle later.
What settlement on a work route needs
Settlement applicants aged 18 to 64 on the three work routes must pass the Life in the UK Test (a test on British traditions and customs). Time abroad also counts against settlement, which matters for Americans who travel home often. On the work routes, an applicant must not spend more than 180 days outside the UK in any 12 months of the qualifying period. Once granted, ILR can be lost by staying outside the UK for more than two years at a time.
The earned settlement proposal
The waiting periods above may change. In November 2025 the Home Office opened a consultation on earned settlement, which proposes raising the usual wait for settlement from five years to 10. Skilled Workers would move to 10 years unless they earned a reduction, for example through a high taxable income. Global Talent and Innovator Founder holders are expected to keep three years, and partners of British citizens five.
The consultation closed on February 12, 2026, and as of October 2026 the government had not published an outcome or said how people already on a route would be treated. Until it does, the five-year and three-year periods in the current Immigration Rules apply.
Choosing where to start
An American who could use more than one route can compare what each depends on and how soon it can lead to settlement. The Skilled Worker visa depends on a sponsoring employer for five years, while Global Talent and Innovator Founder depend on an endorsement first and can lead to settlement sooner. Time on the Global Talent and Innovator Founder visas also counts toward the five years a Skilled Worker needs for settlement.
Before the move, an American with a job offer in hand can start on the Skilled Worker visa while an endorsement for one of the other routes is still being prepared. Unlike a visitor, a Skilled Worker can later apply for Global Talent or Innovator Founder from inside the UK.
The figures above were checked against GOV.UK records as of October 2026.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Every immigration case depends on its own facts. For an assessment of your specific situation, consult an immigration attorney.
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