Displaced Talent Visa Calculator

Quick start presets

Choose a preset to populate multiple assumptions at once (employer characteristics, processing time, visa-package generosity, and integration support). You can edit every setting afterwards.

Preset

Household composition varies only minimally across presets; the main variation is employer size, processing time, integration package and visa-package generosity.

What will this preset change?

Next steps

Use the tabs to refine assumptions.
Go to “Results” to view who pays, and switch between bars and a payer-focused waterfall.
Use “Zoom” in Results to focus on one payer and see its component cost items.

Employer and pathway

This slide covers how employer and pathway characteristics affect upfront and total costs, and the extent to which the employer assists with initial visa user costs.

Sponsor type (employer size)

Does the employer already hold a Worker sponsor license?

Should the sponsor license cost be spread across anticipated hires?

Expected international hires (next 12 months)

5

Is the job on the Immigration Salary List?

Used for (i) visa application fee levels and (ii) the indicative salary used in the visa-processing-time cost estimate.

How long is the initial visa grant, in years?

3 years

Timeline for Indefinite Leave to Remain status (years)

10

Set to 0 to model an immediate permanent-status outcome.

Assume Certificate of Sponsorship fee recurs on each extension?

Assume Immigration Skills Charge recurs on each extension?

Employer support for household visa-related fees (application fee + IHS)

0%

This applies after any fee reductions/waivers set in the “Visa package” slide.

Employer support provided in accessing initial accommodation

£3,000

Employer support provided for relocation

£2,000

Employer support provided for travel costs

£500

What proportion of initial employer assistance is a salary advance rather than grant?

0%

A higher salary-advance share lowers net employer cost and increases household cost (repayment).

How this is modelled

These are treated as upfront, “initial assistance” costs.
The salary-advance share is reallocated from employer → household in the Results charts.

Effects of visa processing times

Longer processing can create “vacancy costs” for employers if the role remains unfilled. This slide provides a simple, indicative estimate of the cost to employers if processing times run beyond a baseline of Skilled Worker visa processing times.

How is visa processing managed?

Processing timeframe (weeks)

12 weeks

Baseline assumed: 3 weeks. “Excess” time is costed in working days (5 per week).

While waiting, what share of the role’s output can be covered by existing staff?

40%

How easy is it to substitute/cover the work while waiting?

Is labour output time-sensitive?

Is the role a bottleneck for a wider team or project?

Vacancy cost factor

1.10

Indicative vacancy cost (employer)

£0

Salary assumption for this estimate: ISL job uses £33,400; non-ISL uses £39,039; plus 30% on-costs.

The vacancy cost factor scales the salary-day cost to reflect substitutability, time-sensitivity, and bottleneck effects.

Household composition

The number of dependants accompanying the main visa applicant will affect total costs.

Dependants travelling

0

Dependants are modelled as arriving with the worker.

Of which children under 18

0

Assumes under-18s pay the lower IHS rate.

Who is included?

Main applicant: 1 adult
Dependants: 0
Children under 18: 0

Are visa users treated more like refugees or like Skilled Worker visa users?

This slide sets how generous the visa package offered for visa users is: in other words, how much they are treated like refugees versus Skilled Worker visa users.

How to interpret the sliders

The master slider sets the overall generosity of the fee package (waivers/reductions). Individual fees can be tweaked below; the master slider will then reflect the combined settings. We loosely describe packages as follows:

0: Skilled Worker equivalent (default): no fee waivers are provided
1–25: Lean Hybrid package: some support to aid scaling
26–60: Hybrid package: significant support
61–100: Protection-like package: treated very similarly to refugees

Set the generosity of the visa package

0

Package label: Skilled Worker equivalent

See current fee levels (baseline → payable)

Visa application fee waived/reduced (%)

0%

Immigration Health Surcharge waived/reduced (%)

0%

Immigration Skills Charge waived/reduced (%)

0%

Certificate of Sponsorship fee waived/reduced (%)

0%

Sponsor licence fee waived/reduced (%)

0%

Dependant visa cost waived/reduced (%)

0%

Applies to the additional dependant visa cost (£1,938 per dependant, initial application only).

Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) fee waived/reduced (%)

0%

Applies to the ILR/settlement application stage: £3,029 per person (main applicant + dependants).

Integration support needs

This slide covers the integration support offered and the distribution of costs.

Cost of integration support needed

£2,000

Civil society ecosystem strength: to what extent are integration costs met by local civil society actors?

10%

Tag: Moderate (0–5% weak; 6–15% moderate; 16–50% strong)

How are remaining costs split between government services and employers?

Employer: 20%

This slider applies to the portion not met by civil society.

Integration cost (main applicant)

£2,000

Paid by civil society

£200

Paid by government

£1,440

Paid by employer

£360

Results

Upfront (year 1) costs Total costs (to ILR timeline)

Include Indefinite Leave to Remain fees for:

Applies to the settlement/ILR stage only.

Chart display

Chart type

Bars Waterfall

Tip: in Waterfall view, use “Zoom” to see the component items within a payer.

Zoom

Detail mode

Applies to Bars view. Waterfall detail is controlled by “Zoom”.

Enable chart pan/zoom

Scenario A

Scenario comparison

Add a second run-through and compare it alongside this scenario.

This locks the current settings as Scenario A, then lets you build a new Scenario B.

Scenario B

See summary of key parameters

Assumptions