• The UK Health and Care Worker visa is for applicants who are overseas medical professionals, seeking work opportunities in the UK. These overseas workers can apply to stay in the UK and take up an eligible job with the National Health Service (NHS) UK, or an NHS supplier or in adult social care.
• An applicant is required to apply online for this visa and provide all the necessary relevant documents.
• The applicant can bring a partner or children (under 18 years) to the UK as their ‘dependents’ (if they meet the eligibility requirements.
• The UK Health and Care Worker visa is a route to settlement in the UK.

To qualify for a UK Health and Care Worker visa, the applicant must:

• Be a qualified doctor, nurse, health professional, or adult social care professional.
• Take up an eligible job in the health or social care sector.
• Work for a UK employer that’s been approved by the Home Office.
• Have a ‘Certificate of Sponsorship’ from the employer with information about the role that is been offered in the UK.
• Be paid a minimum salary – depending on the type of work assigned.

• The UK-based employer – also known as a ‘Sponsor’ – must provide the applicant with a ‘Certificate of Sponsorship’ stating all the information with regards to the job role for which the applicant is employed in the UK.
• It’s an e-Certificate. That means, it is an electronic record and not a paper document.
• The applicant will need the reference number from the Certificate of Sponsorship to apply for the visa.

The applicant usually needs to prove knowledge of the English language while applying for this visa, unless this was done in a previous successful visa application.

The applicant must prove they can read, write, speak and understand English to at least level B1 on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) scale.

The applicant can prove their knowledge of English by:

• Successfully clearing the Secure English Language Test (SELT) from an approved provider.
• Having a GCSE, A level, Scottish National Qualification level 4 or 5, Scottish Higher or Advanced Higher in English, gained through study at a UK school that the applicant began when they were under 18 years.
• Having a degree-level academic qualification that was taught in English – if the applicant studied abroad, they will need to apply through Ecctis (formerly UK NARIC) for confirmation that the qualification is equivalent to a UK Bachelor’s Degree, Master’s Degree, or Ph.D.

If the applicant is a doctor, dentist, nurse, or midwife – they do not need to prove their knowledge of English if the applicant has already passed an English Language test that has been assessed and approved by an authorised professional body in the UK.

• The applicant will usually need to be paid at least £25,600 per year or £10.10 per hour, whichever is higher.
• If the ‘going rate’ for the job role is higher than both of these, then the applicant usually needs to be paid at least the going rate.
• Every job code on the ‘occupation list’ has its own minimum annual going rate.

For example, If the salary offered is £27,000 per year, but the annual going rate for the job the applicant will be doing is £30,000, then the applicant does meet the usual salary requirements for this visa. Every job code on the ‘occupation list’ has its own minimum annual going rate.

An applicant might still be able to apply for a UK Health and Care Worker visa if the job is eligible but the salary is less than £25,600 or the job’s usual ‘going rate’. However, the applicant must be paid at least £10.10 per hour.

An applicant can be paid between 70% and 90% of the usual going rate for the job if their salary is at least £20,480 per year and the applicant meets one of the following criteria:

• The job is in a shortage occupation.
• The applicant is under 26 years, studying or a recent graduate, or in professional training.
• The applicant has a science, technology, engineering, or maths (STEM) Ph.D. level qualification that’s relevant to the job (if the applicant has a relevant Ph.D. level qualification in any other subject, then the salary must be at least £23,040).
• The applicant have a postdoctoral position in a scientific role.

While applying for this visa, the applicant needs to provide:

• A Certificate of Sponsorship reference number – given by the UK-based employer.
• A valid passport to prove identity with enough blank pages in it.
• Job title and annual salary.
• Job’s occupation code.
• Name of the employer and their Sponsor Licence number – this is mentioned on the Certificate of Sponsorship.
• Proof of knowledge of the English language.
• Evidence that the applicant has enough personal savings to support their stay in the UK. For example, bank statements.
• Proof of relationship – partner or children (if they are applying along with the applicant).
• Tuberculosis test results (if required).

Criminal record certificate
The applicant will need to provide a criminal record certificate if they’re applying from outside the UK unless the job offered is in one of the following occupation codes:

• Biological scientists and biochemists (2112).
• Physical scientists (2113).

The applicant must apply for a UK Health and Care Worker visa online.

When the applicant applies for a UK Health and Care Worker visa, they will need to pay the standard application fee, which depends upon the duration of the applicant’s stay in the UK.

• Cost for up to 3 years – £247.
• Cost for more than 3 years – £479.

The fee is the same whether you apply from inside or outside the UK.
To support their stay after arriving in the UK, the applicant will need to have at least £1,270 available (unless exempted).

The applicant is required to apply to update their UK Health and Care Worker visa if:

• They want to change the job and the new job is with a different employer.
• Their job changes to a different occupation code and the applicant is not in a graduate training programme.
• The applicant leaves a job that’s on the shortage occupation list for a job that is not on the list (the applicant does not need to apply again if they stay in the same job, but the job is taken off the shortage occupation list).
• If the applicant is doing a different job for their current employer, then only the applicant needs to update the visa if the new job is in a different occupation code.

The applicant can usually apply to extend the UK Health and Care Worker visa if all of the following are true:

• The applicant has the same job which he/she was given during previous permission to enter or stay in the UK.
• The job is in the same occupation code as when the previous permission to enter or stay in the UK was granted.
• The applicant is still working for the employer who gave them their current Certificate of Sponsorship.
• The applicant still meets the salary requirements.
• The applicant must not travel outside of the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands, or the Isle of Man until you get a decision. If done so, the application will be withdrawn.

• The applicant might be able to apply to change (‘switch’) to a UK Health and Care Worker visa if they are already in the UK on a different type of visa.
• The applicant must not travel outside of the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands, or the Isle of Man until you get a decision. If done so, the application will be withdrawn.

Who cannot apply to switch?
Individuals who are currently in the UK:

• On a Visit visa,
• On a Short-Term Student visa,
• On a Parent of a Child Student visa,
• On a Seasonal Worker visa,
• On a Domestic Worker in a Private Household visa,
• On immigration bail,
• Permitted to stay outside the immigration rules, for example on compassionate grounds.

The applicant is required to leave the UK and apply for a UK Health and Care Worker visa from abroad if they come under any one of these categories.

The applicant’s partner and children can apply to join to stay in the UK as ‘dependants’ if they’re eligible.
If their application is successful, their visa will end on the same date as the applicants.

Proof of relationship
A dependant partner or child is any of the following:

• Husband, wife, civil partner, or unmarried partner.
• Children under 18 years – including if they were born in the UK during the stay.
• Children over 18 years if they’re currently in the UK as a dependant.

The applicant needs to provide evidence of relationship while applying.

The applicant can do additional paid work on this visa as long as they are still doing the job for which they received sponsorship. The applicant can also do unpaid voluntary work.

The applicant can work up to 20 hours a week in a job that’s either:

• In the same occupation code and at the same level as the main job.
• In a shortage occupation.

Once applied online, submitted identity proofs, and provided all relevant documents, the decision usually takes 3 weeks.

The applicant can stay in the UK for up to 5 years before they need to extend the visa.

The applicant is permitted to:

• Work in an eligible job.
• Take on additional work in certain circumstances.
• Do voluntary work.
• Study.
• Bring a partner and children (under 18 years) as dependants, if they’re eligible.
• Travel abroad and return to the UK.
• Apply to settle permanently in the UK (also known as Indefinite Leave to Remain) if the applicant has lived in the UK for 5 years and meets the other eligibility requirements.

The applicant is not permitted to:

• Apply for most benefits (public funds), or the State Pension.
• Change jobs or employers unless the visa status is updated.