UK immigration glossary

The terms that come up in applications, caseworker letters and our guides, in plain English.

Appendix FM: The part of the Immigration Rules that governs family members: partners, children and adult dependent relatives of British citizens and settled people. Appendix FM-SE lists the exact documents it requires.
ATAS: Academic Technology Approval Scheme. A certificate some postgraduate students and researchers in sensitive subjects need before a Student or work visa can be granted.
Biometric residence permit (BRP): The plastic card that used to prove immigration status. No longer issued since the end of 2024; replaced by the eVisa. Expired cards are still useful as ID for the Life in the UK test if in date.
CAS: Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies. The electronic reference a licensed university or college issues so you can apply for a Student visa.
CEFR: The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, whose levels A1 to C2 are used for every English requirement in UK immigration.
Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS): The electronic record a licensed employer assigns to a worker so they can apply for a Skilled Worker or similar visa. Not a paper document.
Continuous residence: Residence in the UK without absences of more than 180 days in any 12-month period. Required for settlement on work and business routes.
Curtailment: The Home Office cutting short a visa, for example to 60 days after a sponsored worker is made redundant.
Entry clearance: A visa granted before you travel to the UK, as opposed to leave to remain granted inside the UK.
eVisa: Your immigration status as a digital record in a UKVI account, proven to employers and landlords with a share code. Replaced BRPs and vignettes from 2024.
EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS): The scheme that gave EU, EEA and Swiss citizens living in the UK before 2021 settled or pre-settled status.
Further leave to remain (FLR): An extension of a visa from inside the UK. FLR(M) is the partner extension form.
General grounds for refusal: The rules (Part 9) under which any application can be refused for criminality, deception, debts to the NHS, breaches of conditions and similar.
Going rate: The minimum salary for a specific occupation code on the Skilled Worker route, set from official earnings data.
Hostile environment: The informal name for the policies requiring landlords, employers, banks and the NHS to check immigration status.
IAA: The Immigration Advice Authority, the regulator of immigration advisers who are not solicitors or barristers. Known as the OISC until January 2025.
Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS): The annual charge, paid up front with most visa applications, that gives access to NHS treatment.
Immigration Rules: The detailed rules, made by the Home Secretary under the Immigration Act 1971, that say who qualifies for each visa. Changed by Statements of Changes several times a year.
Immigration Salary List: The list of shortage occupations where a lower salary threshold applies on the Skilled Worker route. Replaced the Shortage Occupation List in April 2024.
Immigration Skills Charge: A charge employers pay per sponsored worker per year, which cannot be passed to the worker.
Indefinite leave to remain (ILR): Permanent residence: permission to stay without time limit or conditions. Also called settlement.
Leave to remain: Permission to stay in the UK for a period, with conditions. What most people mean by "a visa" once they are in the country.
Life in the UK test: The 24-question test on British history, society and government required for settlement and citizenship.
Naturalisation: The process by which an adult who was not born British becomes a British citizen.
New entrant: A Skilled Worker applicant under 26, a recent graduate, or someone in a postdoctoral role, who qualifies for a lower salary threshold for up to four years.
No recourse to public funds: The condition on almost every visa that bars the holder from most benefits and social housing. Lifted at settlement.
OISC: The former name of the Immigration Advice Authority.
Overstayer: Someone whose leave has expired and who has not applied to extend it. Overstaying breaks continuous residence and is a ground for refusing future applications.
Registration: The way a child, or an adult with certain connections, becomes British. Distinct from naturalisation.
RQF: The Regulated Qualifications Framework. Skilled Worker jobs must be at RQF level 6 (degree level) for new applicants since July 2025.
Section 3C leave: The automatic extension of your existing permission while an in-time application is pending, so you are not an overstayer while you wait.
SELT: Secure English Language Test: an English test from an approved provider at an approved centre, the only kind the Home Office accepts.
Settled status: Indefinite leave granted under the EU Settlement Scheme. Equivalent to ILR for most purposes.
Share code: A time-limited code from your UKVI account that lets an employer or landlord view your status online.
SOC code: The Standard Occupational Classification code that identifies a job on a Certificate of Sponsorship and sets its going rate.
Sponsor licence: The Home Office permission a UK organisation needs to employ workers on sponsored visas.
Statement of Changes: The document that amends the Immigration Rules, laid before Parliament with a date each change takes effect.
Switching: Applying for a different kind of visa from inside the UK without leaving.
Temporary Shortage List: A time-limited list of jobs below degree level that remain open on the Skilled Worker route after July 2025.
UKVCAS: UK Visa and Citizenship Application Services: the centres where in-country applicants give biometrics.
UKVI: UK Visas and Immigration, the part of the Home Office that decides applications.
Vignette: The sticker in a passport that used to show a visa. Now largely replaced by eVisas.