Health and Care Worker Visa

• Eligible health or social care jobThe applicant must be a qualified doctor, nurse, health professional or adult social care professional, doing a job in one of the published eligible occupation codes for this visa.
• Approved UK health and care sector employerThe job offer must be from a UK employer approved by the Home Office as a sponsor. Examples include the NHS, an organisation providing medical services to the NHS, or an organisation providing adult social care.
• Certificate of sponsorshipThe employer issues an electronic certificate of sponsorship confirming the role, and the applicant must apply for the visa within a published period of receiving it.
• Salary requirementThe applicant is usually paid at least the published minimum salary or the 'going rate' for the job, whichever is higher; some occupation codes have a different, published salary threshold.
• Knowledge of EnglishThe applicant usually needs to prove knowledge of English to the published standard, either through a qualification or an approved English test, unless a published exemption applies.
• Minimum wage and working hoursThe employer must ensure the job pays at least the National Minimum Wage and follows the published UK rules on working hours.
• Care Quality Commission registration for care workersAn employer sponsoring a care worker or senior care worker working in England must be registered with the Care Quality Commission.
• Partner and child restrictions for care and senior care workersWhere the applicant is sponsored as a care worker or senior care worker, a partner or child can only join or stay as a dependant in specific published circumstances. Examples include continuous employment in that role on a Health and Care Worker or Skilled Worker visa since before 11 March 2024, or where the dependant is a child born in the UK, or the applicant is the child's sole responsible parent, or the child's other parent is also sponsored as a care worker or senior care worker.
• No travel while an in-country decision is pendingAn applicant extending, updating or switching to this visa from inside the UK must not travel outside the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man until a decision is made; the application is withdrawn if they do.

• Certificate of sponsorship reference numberProvided by the employer.
• Valid passport or other identity documentShowing identity and nationality.
• Proof of knowledge of EnglishUnless a published exemption applies.
• Job title, annual salary and occupation code
• Employer's name and sponsor licence numberShown on the certificate of sponsorship.
• Evidence of personal savingsUnless the certificate of sponsorship shows the employer will cover these costs, or the applicant has held a valid UK visa for at least 12 months.
• Tuberculosis test resultsIf applying from a country where the test is required.
• Criminal record certificateIf applying from outside the UK, unless the applicant's occupation code is one of the published exemptions.
• Certified translationFor any document not in English or Welsh.

Application fee, up to 3 years

£324 per person

Application fee, more than 3 years

£628 per person

Each partner or child (dependant) added, up to 3 years

£324 per person

Each partner or child (dependant) added, more than 3 years

£628 per person

Personal savings required, main applicant

£1,270

Personal savings, partner

£285

Personal savings, one child

£315

Personal savings, each additional child

£200

Fees are set by the Home Office and can change; the fee is the same whether applying from inside or outside the UK. Health and Care Worker visa applicants, and their partner or children, do not pay the Immigration Health Surcharge. Source: GOV.UK https://www.gov.uk/health-care-worker-visa/how-much-it-costs

Decision after proving identity and providing documents (main applicant)

Usually within 3 weeks

Decision: partner or child applying from outside the UK

Usually within 3 weeks

Decision: partner or child applying from inside the UK (extend or switch)

Usually within 8 weeks

Standard service times published by the Home Office; a faster decision may be available for an extra fee. Source: GOV.UK https://www.gov.uk/health-care-worker-visa

• Hold a Skilled Worker licence, and check that you qualify as a sponsorThere is no separate Health and Care Worker licence. The route sits inside Skilled Worker, so a Skilled Worker sponsor licence covers it. Who may sponsor is restricted. You need to be an NHS body, an organisation providing services commissioned by the NHS, or a provider registered with the Care Quality Commission or its equivalent in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.
• Register with the CQC if you sponsor care roles in EnglandThis applies if you sponsor a care worker or senior care worker and any part of the job is in England. You must be currently carrying on a regulated activity and hold active CQC registration. The registration number goes on the certificate and has to show as active. If you stop holding a registration you are required to hold, the Home Office will revoke your licence.
• Recruit care workers from inside the UK onlySince 22 July 2025 you cannot sponsor a care worker or senior care worker who is applying from outside the UK. They must already be here and applying for permission to stay. Either they have been working legally in the job for you for at least 3 months, or they already hold permission in one of those two occupation codes. The 3-month route closes to applications made after 22 July 2028.
• Explain on the certificate how the job qualifiesYou include a brief explanation in the certificate of how the worker meets the Health and Care criteria. You are also responsible for telling them they are eligible, so they complete the right application form. If you are a private provider working under an NHS contract, you may need to evidence that contract to UKVI. Where you have not confirmed eligibility, the worker's application can be rejected, because the wrong fee will have been paid.
• Sponsor only a genuine roleThe role must be real. The Home Office refuses the sponsorship points where it has reasonable grounds to believe the role does not exist. The same applies to a sham role, or one created mainly so the worker could apply. Assigning a certificate for a role that is not genuine means refusal for the worker and revocation for you.
• Check the right to work before the job startsYou check that the worker has permission to work in the UK, and to do that job, before they start. As a licensed sponsor you carry this duty for every worker you sponsor, whatever the employment relationship. The civil penalty is up to £60,000 for each illegal worker.
• Report worker changes in 10 working days, organisation changes in 20You report a change in a sponsored worker's circumstances no later than 10 working days after it happens. Examples are a worker who does not start, absence without your permission, a drop in pay, and stopping sponsorship. Where you sponsor an overseas qualified nurse or midwife, you also report the date they complete their Nursing and Midwifery Council registration, or that they did not achieve it within the 8-month window. Changes to your own organisation go to UKVI within 20 working days, and a change in your size or type alters the skills charge you pay.
• Keep the sponsorship recordsAppendix D of the sponsor guidance lists the documents you keep for each sponsored worker. Keep them throughout the sponsorship and for a year after it ends. For a care worker sponsored on the 3-month route, keep evidence that they were working for you during that period, such as payslips or a contract.
• Do not recover sponsorship costs from the workerYou must not recoup the licence fee, the certificate fee, the immigration skills charge, or the associated administrative costs from a worker you sponsor. The Home Office will normally revoke the licence of a sponsor that does.

Certificate of sponsorship, Health and Care Worker

£525

Immigration skills charge, small or charitable sponsor, period up to 12 months

£480

Immigration skills charge, small or charitable sponsor, each further 6 months

£240

Immigration skills charge, any other sponsor, period up to 12 months

£1,320

Immigration skills charge, any other sponsor, each further 6 months

£660

You pay both of these yourself and must not recover them from the worker. The skills charge is set by the size and type of your organisation on the date you assign the certificate. Neither figure is reduced for this route, even though the worker's own visa fee is. Sources: GOV.UK https://www.gov.uk/uk-visa-sponsorship-employers/certificates-of-sponsorship and https://www.gov.uk/uk-visa-sponsorship-employers/immigration-skills-charge