What to expect from the Home Office during the Skilled Worker interview

October 23, 2025
|In Property
|By admin

With the increase in the number of Licensed sponsors and subsequently in the number of work visa applications, the Home Office interviews became more common.

 

The purpose of the interview is to assess the applicant’s eligibility for the role on offer, including their education, relevant qualifications and work experience and that the role that the applicant is being sponsored to do genuinely exists, not s sham and has not been created mainly to gain entry to the United Kingdom.

 

For the entry clearance application, the Home Office interview is conducted virtually, with the applicant being seated in front of a computer at the VAC in the country of nationality. The legal representative can be present and provided with a link to the conference call upon request. The interpreter can be requested if the applicant prefers to be interviewed in their native language.

 

In this article, we would like to list the questions for a Full Stack Software Developer role:

  • Q1: The applicant is asked to confirm their full name, date of birth and nationality;
  • Q2: The applicant is asked whether they hear the interviewer clearly and can understand what is being said;
  • Q3: The applicant is asked whether they are happy with the interview being recorded;
  • Q4: The applicant is asked whether they are fit and well enough to be interviewed;
  • Q5: The applicant is asked to answer questions slowly and clearly because the questions and answers are being typed;
  • Q6: The applicant is informed that they can ask for the questions to be repeated or rephrased;
  • Q7: The applicant is asked not to take pictures, and whether anyone was with them in the interview room;
  • Q8: The applicant is asked not to speak to anyone during the interview, including their legal representative. The legal representative can comment at the end of the interview;
  • Q9: The applicant is asked whether anyone assisted them with the documents for the visa application;
  • Q10: The applicant is asked whether they want to provide any information they forgot to include in their application;
  • Q11: The applicant is asked whether their Sponsor asked them to pay any fees;
  • Q12: The applicant is asked what relevant training or education they have to take on the sponsored role;
  • Q13: The applicant is asked to provide details of the sponsor in the UK, including their name, office address and the nature of business;
  • Q14: The applicant is asked to name a line manager for the sponsored role;
  • Q15: The applicant is asked to provide job duties on a day-to-day basis;
  • Q16: The applicant is asked to clarify why they were chosen for the role;
  • Q17: The applicant is asked what are key considerations are when designing a scalable system;
  • Q18: The applicant is asked to define “arise”;
  • Q19: The applicant is asked how they approach debugging;
  • Q20: The applicant is asked how they write code that is sustainable and reusable;
  • Q21: The applicant is asked to define “Test-driven development”;
  • Q22: The applicant is asked to define “Integrated development environment”;
  • Q23: The applicant is asked what a computer programmer does;
  • Q24: The applicant is asked what programming language they use in their work;
  • Q25: The applicant is asked to define “Agile methodology”;
  • Q26: The applicant is asked what Front End and Back End mean in relation to programming;
  • Q27: The applicant is asked what considerations should be made to ensure a functional and responsible interface;
  • Q28: The applicant is asked when the code is clear and testable, and when it is badly written;
  • Q29: The applicant is asked to describe what happens in a code review;
  • Q30: The applicant is asked what steps they take to ensure the data they work on can be relied upon;
  • Q31: The applicant is asked how they collaborate with other developers to deliver features;
  • Q32: The applicant is asked how they found out about the job in the UK and whether they were interviewed for the job;
  • Q33: The applicant is asked about their prospective weekly working hours and salary;
  • Q34: The applicant is asked whether they have applied for any other jobs in the UK;
  • Q35: The applicant is asked to confirm their work address in the UK, including post code;
  • Q36: The applicant is asked where they will reside in the UK and how they will get to work from their residential address;
  • Q37: The applicant is asked about their current job, namely the name of the company they work for, their duties and salary, the company’s size and the names of their line managers, the company’s address;
  • Q38: The applicant is asked whether they have any relatives in the sponsoring company;
  • Q39: The applicant is asked about any relatives living in the UK, including their full names and residential addresses;
  • Q40: The applicant is asked about the highest level of education, where they studies and what grade they achieved.

 

It is evident that the Home Office goes into great detail to ask the applicant very specific questions about the sector knowledge, and the applicant should look out for tricky questions. If the question is too generic, the applicant should ask the interviewer to narrow it to ensure an accurate answer. If the question does not directly relate to the applicant’s experience, this should be explained to the interviewer rather than trying to come up with an answer which may not be accurate.

 

We hope that this article will assist prospective applicants and their legal representatives in their preparation for the Home Office interview.

 

At Chan Neill Solicitors, we provide a wide range of corporate services to prospective sponsors, Licensed sponsors, as well as assistance with visa applications under the work routes, including the preparation for the Home Office interview. Our immigration team has over a decade of practical experience in Immigration Law, and we take on cases with a high degree of complexity. Do not hesitate to reach out for advice or assistance.

 

This article is provided  for general information only. It is not intended to be and cannot be relied upon as legal advice or otherwise. If you would like to discuss any of the matters covered in this article, please contact us using the contact form or email us on reception@cnsolicitors.com