Health and Care Worker Visa

What is the Health and Care Worker visa?

The Health and Care visa is for overseas workers with specialist skills to come to the UK to work for licensed employers in eligible roles. The visa is open to specific healthcare professionals including doctors, registered nurses, caregivers, midwives, pharmacists, as well as adult social care workers.

The visa is designed to help address the skills crisis within the UK healthcare sector, by offering an attractive route for foreign nationals to come to the UK for work and to be joined by close family members, potentially settling in the UK permanently.

Successful applicants can work in the UK for a period of up to five years and can apply to extend their visa as many times as they like, provided they remain eligible.

Health and Care visa holders can also become eligible to apply for UK indefinite leave to remain after five years. With ILR status, you are no longer subject to UK immigration control, and you are no longer restricted by visa sponsorship rules, meaning you can change employers and jobs without the need to apply for additional visas.

Who is eligible for the Health and Care Worker visa?

Qualified doctors, nurses, caregivers, midwives, health professionals and adult social care professionals are eligible to apply for the Health and Care Worker visa.

It is open to individuals applying under the skilled worker route for entry clearance or leave to remain who will be taking up a job offer in one of the occupations specified within a prescribed list of Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) codes.

Before determining if your occupation is eligible, you must have its four-digit occupation code.

If you already have a job offer, you should ask your employer for the occupation code.

The list of eligible professions is subject to change, and at present includes the following:

4-digit SOC code

Eligible job roles

1181

Health services and public health managers and directors

1242

Residential, day and domiciliary care managers and proprietors

2112

Biological scientists and biochemists

2113

Physical scientists

2211

Medical practitioners

2212

Psychologists

2213

Pharmacists

2214

Ophthalmic opticians

2215

Dental practitioners

2217

Medical radiographers

2218

Podiatrists

2219

Health professionals not elsewhere classified eg audiologists and occupational health advisers

2221

Physiotherapists

2222

Occupational therapists

2223

Speech and language therapists

2229

Therapy professionals not elsewhere classified eg osteopaths and psychotherapists

2231

Nurses

2232

Midwives

2442

Social workers

3111

Laboratory technicians

3213

Paramedics

3216

Dispensing opticians

3217

Pharmaceutical technicians

3218

Medical and dental technicians

3219

Health associate professionals not elsewhere classified

6141

Nursing auxiliaries and assistants

6143

Dental nurses

6145

Care workers & home carers

6146

Senior care workers

What are the Health and Care Worker visa requirements?

The Health and Care visa applicants have to meet all the relevant criteria under the Skilled Worker visa route, which are:

  • Have a valid Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) from a UK licensed sponsor
  • Have the offer of a qualifying job that meets the relevant salary threshold
  • In some cases, to have sufficient personal savings so that you can support yourself on arrival in the UK
  • Have a good working knowledge of the English language
  • Be able to show that you can travel, as well as providing your travel history over the preceding 5 years
  • Have valid tuberculosis test results, if you are from a listed country
  • Be able to provide a criminal record certificate from any country where you have lived for 12 months or more within the last 10 years, if you will be working with vulnerable people as a healthcare professional.

As a prospective employee, your new employer will be responsible for informing you that you are eligible for the Health and Care Worker visa. In this way, you will be able to complete the visa application form correctly. Your employer will also need to provide a brief explanation in the note field of the CoS setting out how you will meet the eligible visa role requirement in your new job.

Health and care worker visa minimum salary 

As part of the eligibility criteria, you must meet the salary requirement. This means you must be paid either at least the minimum salary threshold or the appropriate ‘going rate’ for the job you have been offered, whichever is higher. The Home Office assigns every eligible role a going rate.

Typically, you will be required to earn at least £26,200 per year or £10.75 per hour. If the going rate for your role is greater than both of these, you will be required to be paid at least the going rate.

Maintenance requirement 

Some applicants will also have to evidence that they can financially support themselves. If you are applying from overseas, you must prove you have had £1,270 in your bank account for at least 28 consecutive days. Day 28 must be within 31 days of the date you applied for your visa.

You will be exempt from this financial requirement if you are applying from within the UK and have held a valid visa for at least 12 months, or, if your sponsor is A-rated, it may submit a letter of support confirming they can cover your costs for the first month you are in the country.

How to apply for the Health and Care Worker visa

To apply for the Health and Care visa you will first need to be assigned a CoS by your UK sponsor. This is a unique reference number which you use to apply online on the Home Office website.

Once you have completed all the relevant information, the next stage of the application process is to pay the appropriate fee (see below). You will also need to provide various documents in support of your application.

On receipt of the application, the Home Office will assess the information and documents and you may be offered to either:

  1. book a biometrics appointment if is not possible to reuse any biometrics supplied with a previous application, or
  2. you will be advised how to enrol biometrics using an ID app.
Health and Care Worker visa supporting documents

As with any UK visa application, you will need to provide various documents and information in support including, where relevant, the following:

  • A current, valid passport or travel document to prove you can travel
  • Any expired passports or travel documents to show your travel history
  • Your Certificate of Sponsorship (reference number) from your employer
  • Your employer’s name and sponsor licence reference number
  • Job details including job title, SOC code and salary
  • A statement or letter from your bank or building society showing you have enough personal savings, unless your CoS shows your A-rated sponsor can support you instead
  • Proof of your knowledge of English
  • Your tuberculosis test results if you are from a listed country
  • A criminal record certificate, unless your role is exempt
  • If you are applying with dependants, proof of your relationship such as your marriage certificate for your spouse and birth certificates for your children
Can my partner or dependants join me in the UK?

When applying for a Health and Care visa, immediate family members will be eligible to accompany or join you in the UK on this route. This includes your spouse or partner, and any dependent children.

If you are already in the UK and would like your dependants to join you, your UK sponsor will need to provide written confirmation that your family member is eligible to do so based on your occupation. This should be in the form of a letter or email from the sponsor, setting out the organisation for which you work, and, if not an NHS body, how the organisation qualifies.

Read our “VISA PROCESS” and “FAQ“ sections for precise information on how we get your Visa.