The Health and Care Worker visa is the main route for the UK's health and social care sector to hire from overseas and from within the UK. With a sponsor licence, eligible employers can recruit doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and some care roles, with lower fees than the standard Skilled Worker route. This guide covers who qualifies, the salary and costs, and the 2025 changes that reshaped care recruitment.
Important change for care roles: since 22 July 2025, care workers (SOC 6135) and senior care workers (SOC 6136) can no longer be sponsored from overseas. Those roles can only be sponsored for workers already in the UK who have been working legally for their sponsor for at least three months, and the application must be made no later than 22 July 2028. Clinical and professional roles, such as doctors, nurses and allied health professionals, are not affected.
Benefits of the Health and Care Worker visa
It costs less than the standard Skilled Worker route: applicants pay a reduced visa fee, they and their dependants are exempt from the Immigration Health Surcharge, and the Immigration Skills Charge does not apply to this route. A visa can be granted for up to five years, after which the worker may extend it or apply for indefinite leave to remain once eligible. The government has proposed changes to how settlement is earned, which we cover in our guide to earned settlement and the 10-year ILR rule.
Who qualifies
To qualify, an applicant must:
- be a qualified doctor, nurse, health professional or adult social care professional;
- have a job in an eligible occupation with a UK health or care employer approved by the Home Office;
- hold a valid Certificate of Sponsorship;
- be able to speak, read, write and understand English, and prove it when they apply;
- be paid the minimum salary for the role or the going rate, whichever is higher;
- provide the supporting documents the Home Office asks for, which can include a criminal record certificate or tuberculosis test results.
Salary
Most clinical and professional roles follow the relevant NHS national pay scale or the occupation's going rate. Care roles work differently, because they sit on the immigration salary list.
For care workers (SOC 6135), senior care workers (SOC 6136) and nursing auxiliaries and assistants (SOC 6131) on this visa, the minimum is £25,000 a year or £12.82 an hour. The annual figure assumes a 37.5-hour week and is pro-rated for other working patterns, so the hourly rate is the number to check when hours are part-time or variable, as they often are in care. Use our minimum salary calculator to check an offer.
What it costs
- Sponsor licence: £611 for small or charitable sponsors, £1,682 for medium or large.
- Certificate of Sponsorship: £525 per CoS.
- Health and Care Worker visa fee: £324 for up to three years, £628 for more than three years. The fee is the same whether the worker applies from inside or outside the UK.
- Immigration Skills Charge: does not apply to this route.
- Immigration Health Surcharge: not payable, for the worker or their partner and children.
The applicant also needs £1,270 in savings, held for 28 days in a row, unless they have been in the UK on a valid visa for at least 12 months or you certify maintenance on their Certificate of Sponsorship.
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Eligible occupations
This visa covers named occupation codes rather than job titles. They include health services managers, medical practitioners, nurses and midwives, therapy professionals, pharmacists, paramedics, biomedical scientists, social workers, laboratory technicians, and nursing auxiliaries and assistants. Codes are reviewed regularly, so check the current list in the Home Office Health and Care Worker visa guidance before you assign a Certificate of Sponsorship.
Three points matter for care providers in particular.
Care workers (SOC 6135) and senior care workers (SOC 6136) are closed to new overseas applicants. They remain eligible to extend, update or switch in country, and that transitional route runs to 22 July 2028.
Nursing auxiliaries and assistants (SOC 6131) can still be sponsored from overseas. For sponsorship purposes, the code only applies to roles in settings where registered nurse or other registered healthcare professional roles also exist, so it is not a route around the care worker closure.
If the role is in England and the code is 6135 or 6136, the sponsor must hold Care Quality Commission registration and be carrying on a regulated activity. Private households cannot sponsor at all.
How to apply
The worker is assigned a Certificate of Sponsorship by their sponsor, then applies online, pays the fee and provides biometrics and supporting documents. They can apply up to three months before the start date shown on the certificate, and a decision usually takes about three weeks. If you would rather not run it in-house, our team can handle the visa process end to end, and keep you on top of Home Office compliance afterwards.
How Borderless helps
Borderless Immigration is built for health and care employers. We handle the sponsor licence, Certificates of Sponsorship and ongoing compliance, so your team can focus on care. See our health and care page, or book a demo.
