UK Health and Care Worker Visa: Application Guide

The UK Health and Care Worker visa is a sponsored work route for eligible medical professionals and adult social care professionals working for an approved UK health or care employer. It is related to, but not identical to, the wider Skilled Worker route: it has its own occupation list, salary instructions, application fees, Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) exemption and dependant rules.

This guide explains how to check the route before applying, what the sponsor and applicant each need to provide, and where an applicant inside the UK follows a different process. It is not a job-code checker or personal eligibility decision. Always confirm the current GOV.UK page and Immigration Rules against the exact job offer and application date.

Start with the actual job and occupation code

A job title such as “care assistant”, “nurse” or “laboratory scientist” is not enough to establish that the route applies. First ask the employer for the four-digit occupation code and compare the sponsored job description with the work you will actually do. GOV.UK warns that similar job titles can map to different codes and some occupations are eligible for this route only when extending, updating or switching an existing permission.

As checked on 28 October 2026, GOV.UK lists professional and health-sector occupations such as medical practitioners, registered nurses, midwives, pharmacists, radiographers, paramedics, physiotherapists, psychologists and social workers, plus specified management, science, technical and nursing-assistant codes. The full list is maintained on the live “Your job” page and in the Immigration Rules; use those tables rather than copying a shortened list into an application.

Care worker and senior care worker codes 6135 and 6136 need particular care. The current GOV.UK route says they may be eligible for an extension, update or switch in specified circumstances, but they are not simply open to every new overseas applicant. An in-country switch also has a specific prior-work condition. Do not infer eligibility from a vacancy being described as care work or from an older advert.

The employer must be an approved sponsor in an eligible health and care sector. GOV.UK describes NHS employers, organisations providing NHS medical services, and adult social care organisations. If the role is code 6135 or 6136 in England, the sponsor must be registered with the Care Quality Commission. A job offer is required before applying, and the sponsor issues an electronic Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) with the role and reference number.

If your code or role does not meet the Health and Care Worker route, compare the current Skilled Worker requirements. The separate Skilled Worker salary guide explains that route’s general threshold and going-rate structure; it does not make an ineligible Health and Care job eligible.

Check salary against the right branch

The salary test depends on the occupation code. The general GOV.UK route says the applicant must meet the minimum salary for the work and the applicable going rate. Some occupation codes use a separate salary page. At the date checked, that page says the usual amount for its listed codes is £31,300 a year or the applicable lower going rate, whichever is higher. Other codes use the salary instructions on the “Your job” page and the relevant going-rate table.

Some applicants may qualify under a defined lower-salary option, including specified new-entrant, relevant PhD or postdoctoral cases, or an occupation on the Immigration Salary List. Each exception has its own salary floor, evidence and, in some cases, a maximum total-stay period. An applicant should not select the lowest figure found online without first matching the exact occupation code, qualification and application basis to the current rule.

The sponsor’s offer and CoS should be consistent about occupation code, hours, salary and duties. Ask the sponsor to explain any difference between the advertised salary, contracted hours, annualised pay and the figure entered on the CoS before submitting the application. The employer must also meet applicable minimum-wage and working-time rules; an immigration salary threshold does not replace employment-law requirements.

For current salary bands and exceptions, use the official Health and Care Worker salary instructions, the eligible-job page and Appendix Skilled Occupations. They can change between application dates.

Apply from outside the UK, switch, extend or update

The route uses an online application, but the correct form depends on where you are and what permission you hold:

• Applying from outside the UK: use the entry-clearance application route for the job and sponsor shown on your CoS.
• Switching inside the UK: check that your current permission permits switching and that you meet the Health and Care route conditions. Student visa holders have additional course-completion or PhD-study timing conditions. Care worker/senior care worker switches also have a specific lawful-work period with the sponsor.
• Extending: the extension page asks whether you still have the same job and occupation code, work for the sponsor who issued your current CoS, and meet the salary requirements. A dependant’s permission does not extend automatically with yours.
• Changing job or employer: a new role or sponsor may require an application to update the visa. Do not start relying on a new sponsored job until you have checked the route’s current conditions and application instructions.

GOV.UK says an application may be made up to three months before the job start date shown on the CoS. For a switch or extension, the page warns applicants not to travel outside the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man before a decision; travel can cause the application to be treated as withdrawn. Read the page for the specific application type before booking travel.

Prepare identity, sponsor and route evidence

The standard document list includes the CoS reference number, proof of English, a valid passport or identity document, the job title and salary, the occupation code, and the employer name and sponsor licence number. Depending on the case, the application may also require:

1. Maintenance evidence: bank records showing the required funds for the stated period, unless the applicant has held valid UK permission for the qualifying time or the sponsor certifies maintenance on the CoS.
2. Family evidence: documents showing the relationship to a partner or child applying as a dependant.
3. Role-specific evidence: a criminal record certificate for specified roles, overseas PhD equivalency through Ecctis where relevant, or evidence for a salary exception.
4. Country and health evidence: a tuberculosis test where the applicant is from a listed country and the route requires one.
5. Translations: certified translations for documents that are not in English or Welsh.

The applicant should check the exact list shown by the live application because evidence varies by occupation, country, application location and personal history. If the sponsor’s records contain a different code, salary or employer name from the applicant’s documents, resolve the mismatch before submitting rather than hoping the caseworker will infer the intended answer.

Fees, maintenance and healthcare surcharge

As checked on 28 October 2026, GOV.UK lists a Health and Care Worker application fee of £324 per person for permission up to three years and £628 per person for more than three years. The main applicant and each applying family member pay an application fee. These amounts are time-sensitive; confirm the current figure in the online application before paying.

The applicant usually needs to show at least £1,270 available for support, held for 28 consecutive days, with day 28 within 31 days before applying. There are stated exemptions, including some applicants already lawfully in the UK for at least 12 months and cases where the sponsor certifies maintenance on the CoS. Dependants have separate maintenance requirements. Check the current official funds instructions and any sponsor certification rather than assuming one household balance covers everyone.

The Health and Care Worker route exempts the main applicant and eligible dependants from paying the IHS. This does not remove the visa application fee, maintenance requirement or charges for some NHS services such as prescriptions, dental treatment and eye tests. If you paid IHS under an earlier visa and want to check a reimbursement, use the separate UK IHS refund and reimbursement guide; switching to an exempt route does not by itself mean the ordinary refund rules return every unused month.

Dependants: check the occupation-specific restriction

“Partner and children may apply” is not a universal rule for every sponsored care role. GOV.UK has separate restrictions for care workers/senior care workers and for other jobs classified as medium-skilled.

For care-worker and senior-care-worker codes, family applications may be limited to specific transition and child-related circumstances—for example, continuous sponsored employment in the UK on the relevant route from before 11 March 2024, or specified applications for a child born in the UK or where the applicant is the only living parent responsible. The current page gives the exact conditions.

For other medium-skilled occupation codes, the route has a separate transition date of 22 July 2025 and related child exceptions. The date, continuous employment history and occupation code matter. Do not apply the care-worker transition date to every Health and Care occupation, or assume that a newly sponsored medium-skilled worker can bring a partner under the older rules.

Where dependants are permitted, they make their own applications and provide evidence of the relationship. A family linking code may connect applications. A child’s permission may end with the parent’s, and a dependant’s application or extension is not automatically approved because the lead applicant qualifies.

After a decision and future changes

GOV.UK says applicants usually receive a decision within three weeks after applying online, proving identity and providing documents, although appointments and case circumstances can change the timeline. The decision email explains how to prove status and what to do next. Do not treat the published service time as a guaranteed date.

The route can lead to settlement after five years for applicants who meet all the current requirements, but the route history and qualifying periods matter. The Skilled Worker settlement guide explains the broader sponsored-worker settlement framework; verify the exact Health and Care rule and current salary/absence evidence before relying on it.

If the role, employer, occupation code or family circumstances change, check the relevant update, extension and dependant pages promptly. A visa route’s IHS exemption or current job offer does not itself authorize work for a different sponsor or in a different occupation.

FAQs

Official sources

• GOV.UK — Health and Care Worker visa overview
• GOV.UK — eligible jobs, occupation codes and sponsors
• GOV.UK — salary requirements
• GOV.UK — fees and maintenance funds
• GOV.UK — documents for applicants
• GOV.UK — English-language evidence
• GOV.UK — partner and child dependants
• GOV.UK — switching to this visa
• GOV.UK — extending this visa
• GOV.UK — updating after a job or employer change
• Home Office — Immigration Rules Appendix Skilled Worker
• Home Office — Immigration Rules Appendix Skilled Occupations

Occupation eligibility, salary schedules, fees and dependant rules may change. These pages were checked on 28 October 2026; verify the current route and your CoS before applying.