🇬🇧 UK Health & Care Worker Visa 2026
The Health and Care Worker visa route changed significantly in 2025-2026 — the care worker route closed to new overseas applicants, while nursing, medical, and allied health roles remain open. Here's what's actually still available.
Worked example
| Scenario | Outcome |
|---|---|
| An Indian nurse with NMC registration takes a Band 5 NHS job on a 3-year Health and Care Worker visa. | Government cost is the £324 visa fee with no health surcharge, compared with £819 plus £3,105 of surcharge on a standard 3-year Skilled Worker visa. |
Care Worker Route: Closed to New Overseas Applicants
The Health and Care Worker visa is a sub-type of the Skilled Worker visa. Since 22 July 2025, the Home Office has refused new applications from abroad for care workers (SOC 6135) and senior care workers (SOC 6136). A transition period until 22 July 2028, which the government says it will keep under review, lets people already in the UK with the right to work extend their stay or switch into these roles from other routes. After that, the roles come off the Immigration Salary List and Temporary Shortage List. If you're switching from another route such as the Graduate visa, you must have been legally employed by your sponsor for at least three months before applying (NHS Employers). New care workers and senior care workers also haven't been able to bring dependants since 11 March 2024.
NHS Employers' latest guidance (reviewed 23 September 2026) lists two other care-sector occupations as still eligible: SOC 1232 (residential, day and domiciliary care managers) and SOC 6131 (nursing auxiliaries and assistants). It says 6131 applies only to roles in environments where registered nurses or other registered healthcare professionals also work. Both occupations sit on the Immigration Salary List, which NHS Employers says will be phased out but remain in place until December 2026, so check how that affects the salary threshold for your role rather than assuming either role is being removed. Six occupations are no longer eligible for sponsorship under this route: healthcare practice managers (1231), dispensing opticians (3211), medical and dental technicians (3213), health associate professionals not elsewhere classified (3219), ambulance staff excluding paramedics (6132) and dental nurses (6133).
What's Still Open, and What It Costs
Nurses, midwives, doctors, pharmacists, physiotherapists, radiographers, paramedics, social workers and other regulated professional roles on the eligible list remain open. Compared with the standard Skilled Worker route, the Health and Care Worker visa has lower fees and no Immigration Health Surcharge.
- Application fee: NHS Employers lists £324 for up to three years and £628 for three years or more, after fees rose 6.5% on 8 April 2026. Confirm the current figure on GOV.UK before paying.
- Immigration Health Surcharge: you and your dependants pay nothing if the application is made under the Health and Care Worker route. The standard rate was £1,035 per adult per year as of mid-2026, so a five-year standard Skilled Worker visa would cost £5,175 in surcharge. The exemption applies only where the application and certificate of sponsorship are for the Health and Care route, so an NHS worker sponsored as a standard Skilled Worker can still owe it. Check the visa type on your certificate before you pay anything.
- Savings: £1,270 held for 28 days before you apply, unless your sponsor certifies that it will cover your maintenance (NHS Employers).
- Speed: applications are fast-tracked, and successful ones are decided within about three weeks.
What You Must Be Paid to Qualify
The general salary threshold is £31,300 a year. It falls to £25,000 for occupations on the national pay scales, for roles on the Immigration Salary List, and for new entrants to a health and care role, and a relevant PhD lowers it to £26,100 (NHS Employers). Only guaranteed basic gross pay counts: overtime, bonuses and one-off payments don't, although the High-Cost Area Supplement can count if it is treated as basic pay for tax and pension purposes. NHS Employers also notes that deductions from a sponsored worker's salary for business or immigration costs have to be taken into account, which is one more reason to watch for unlawful deductions (see below). The exact figure for your job depends on its occupation code and pay band, so check it on GOV.UK rather than relying on a general range.
Who Can Sponsor You
Sponsorship has to come from an approved sponsor holding a licence. NHS Employers states that only CQC-registered providers in England can sponsor Health and Care Worker applicants in adult social care, and NHS bodies and organisations providing NHS services also sponsor. Adult social care is devolved, so if you're looking at a care job in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, confirm the position with the relevant regulator and GOV.UK. A private employer outside healthcare can't use this route even for work that involves care. Before accepting any offer, look the employer up on the register of licensed sponsors: a sponsor that isn't listed has lost its licence or is suspended.
When a Care Sponsor Fails or Exploits You
This sector has seen the most sponsor failures. More than 470 sponsor licences were revoked from care-sector employers between July 2022 and December 2024 (Community Care), and the government told Parliament in January 2026 that overseas care-worker recruitment closed because of the abuse workers suffered (Hansard). Many of the people affected were workers who had done nothing wrong, though anyone involved in the wrongdoing can have their visa withdrawn. There is real help, but you need to act quickly.
If your sponsor's licence is revoked
UKVI writes to affected workers. One local-authority hub reports that if the revocation is upheld, a second letter follows about a month later confirming that your certificate of sponsorship is cancelled, after which you have 60 days (see our work visa page for how the 60 days work and what your options are). In England, the Department of Health and Social Care funds regional support for Health and Care Worker visa holders affected by a revocation: help understanding your visa status and employment rights, finding a new sponsoring employer, getting financial support if you're struggling after job loss or unpaid wages, and wellbeing support. To use it, email the regional partnership for the area where you live with your name, current address, contact details and the name of your sponsor; the contact list is on the DHSC support offer page. The scheme was set up under a £16 million fund for 2024 to 2025 and that page was last revised in May 2025, so confirm your regional contact is still active.
Where to report exploitation
- Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA): investigates worker exploitation, modern slavery, forced labour and National Minimum Wage offences. Phone 0800 432 0804 or email contact@gla.gov.uk.
- Acas: free, confidential advice on any work problem on 0300 123 1100, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
- Modern Slavery Helpline (run by the charity Unseen): 08000 121 700, and you can report anonymously.
- Care Quality Commission: for concerns about the safety and quality of care where you work, including as a whistleblower.
- Home Office: to report abuse of the immigration system by an employer, anonymously if you prefer.
Things worth reporting include wages withheld or short-paid, deductions you didn't agree to, fees for the job or a repayment clause in your contract, and threats about your visa. GOV.UK states that a sponsor must pay the immigration skills charge itself and risks losing its licence if it asks workers to cover application costs. Your employer doesn't decide your visa status; the Home Office does. And before you accept an offer from abroad, GOV.UK has guidance on avoiding scams when looking for social care jobs, plus a place to report visa and immigration scams.
Nurses and Other Regulated Roles: Registration Comes First
For nurses, the visa isn't the first hurdle. You need to be on the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) register, and most nurses trained outside the UK get there through the NMC's two-part Test of Competence: a computer-based test, then a practical exam (OSCE) at a UK test centre. The NMC's published costs for that route are £140 for the qualification evaluation (non-refundable), £83 for the computer-based test, £794 for the OSCE and £153 for registration, £1,170 in total. The NMC says that total doesn't include the cost of resits, so budget for that possibility on top of English-language testing and the visa itself, and check the NMC's current rules on attempts and timeframes before you book. Doctors, pharmacists and other regulated professions have their own regulators and routes, so confirm yours before accepting an offer that depends on registration.
Where Applicants Lose Time and Money
- Applying from abroad for a care worker role. It has been closed since 22 July 2025, and only in-country extensions and switching continue under the transition.
- Assuming the surcharge exemption follows the employer. It depends on the visa type on your certificate of sponsorship, not on where you work.
- Reading the Immigration Salary List phase-out as an occupation ban. It changes the salary route for some roles, but care managers and nursing auxiliaries remain eligible.
- Paying anyone for a job offer. Sponsors must cover the sponsorship costs themselves, and fees for jobs are a recognised warning sign of exploitation.
- Starting the nurse route without budgeting for the NMC test and possible resits.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I still apply for a UK care worker visa in 2026?
Not from abroad. New overseas applications for care workers and senior care workers (SOC 6135 and 6136) have been closed since 22 July 2025. People already in the UK with the right to work can extend or switch into these roles until 22 July 2028, which the government says it will keep under review, and switchers need at least three months' legal employment with their sponsor.
Do Health and Care Worker visa holders pay the Immigration Health Surcharge?
No, if the application is made under the Health and Care Worker route, and the same applies to dependants. The standard rate is £1,035 per adult per year, and the exemption doesn't carry over if you're sponsored under the standard Skilled Worker route, so check the visa type on your certificate of sponsorship.
Which healthcare roles are still open under this visa?
Nurses, midwives, doctors, pharmacists, physiotherapists, radiographers, paramedics, social workers and other regulated professionals on the eligible list, plus care managers (SOC 1232) and nursing auxiliaries (SOC 6131, only where registered healthcare professionals also work). Six occupations, including dental nurses and ambulance staff other than paramedics, are no longer eligible.
Are care managers and nursing auxiliaries being removed in December 2026?
Not according to NHS Employers' latest guidance. Both remain eligible, but they are on the Immigration Salary List, which is being phased out but kept in place until December 2026, so check how the salary threshold for your role changes.
What should I do if my care sponsor loses its licence?
Your certificate of sponsorship is cancelled and you generally have 60 days to find a new sponsor or leave. In England, email your regional partnership under the Department of Health and Social Care's support offer, and report unpaid wages, unlawful deductions or fees to the GLAA, Acas or the Modern Slavery Helpline.
How much does it cost to register as a nurse with the NMC from overseas?
The NMC's published total is £1,170: £140 evaluation, £83 computer-based test, £794 OSCE and £153 registration. That total excludes the cost of resits.