The UK Health and Care Worker Visa

In recent years, the United Kingdom has recognised the invaluable contribution of health and care workers worldwide in delivering quality healthcare services. The UK government introduced the Health and Care Worker Visa to attract and retain skilled professionals.

This visa category allows healthcare workers to live and work in the UK, ensuring the nation’s healthcare system thrives. In this blog post, we will explore the details of the UK Health and Care Worker Visa, its eligibility requirements, and the benefits it offers to global professionals.

For applicants, the Health and Care Worker visa benefits include fast-tracked entry to the UK, reduced visa fees, and exemption from the Immigration Health Surcharge. It also includes the support of a dedicated team within UKVI in processing visa applications for migrants and their dependent families.

What is the Health and Care visa?

The visa is designed to help address the skills crisis within the UK healthcare sector by offering an attractive route for foreign nationals to come to the UK for work and to be joined by close family members with the potential to settle in the UK permanently.

Successful applicants can work in the UK for up to five years and apply to extend their visa as often as they like, provided they remain eligible.

Health and Care visa holders can also become eligible to apply for UK indefinite leave to remain after five years. With ILR status, you are no longer subject to UK immigration control. You are no longer restricted by visa sponsorship rules, meaning you can change employers and jobs without additional visas.

Who is eligible for the Health and Care visa?

Qualified doctors, nurses, health professionals and adult social care professionals can apply for the Health and Care Worker visa.

It is open to individuals applying under the skilled worker route for entry clearance or leaves to remain who will be taking up a job offer in one of the occupations specified within a prescribed list of Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) codes.

What are the Health and Care Worker visa requirements?

The Health and Care visa applicants have to meet all the relevant criteria under the Skilled Worker visa route, which are:

• Have a valid Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) from a UK-licensed sponsor
• Have the offer of a qualifying job that meets the relevant salary threshold
• In some cases, to have sufficient personal savings so that you can support yourself on arrival in the UK
• Have an excellent working knowledge of the English language
• Be able to show that you can travel, as well as provide your travel history over the preceding 5 years
• Have valid tuberculosis test results, if you are from a listed country
• Be able to provide a criminal record certificate from any country where you have lived for 12 months or more within the last 10 years if you will be working with vulnerable people as a healthcare professional.

English language requirement

Unless you are exempt, for example, because you are a national of a majority English-speaking country, to prove your knowledge of English, you will usually need to show that you have passed an approved English language test with at least CEFR level B1 in reading, writing, speaking and listening, or have an academic qualification that was taught in English and is recognised by UK NARIC as being equivalent to a UK bachelor’s degree, master’s degree or PhD.

If you are applying as a doctor, dentist, nurse or midwife, you can rely on the assessment of your professional body as proof of your language ability.

Health and Care Worker visa supporting documents.

As with any UK visa application, you will need to provide various documents and information in support including, where relevant, the following:

• A current, valid passport or travel document to prove you can travel
• Any expired passports or travel documents to show your travel history
• Your Certificate of Sponsorship (reference number) from your employer
• Your employer’s name and sponsor licence reference number
• Job details including job title, SOC code and salary
• A statement or letter from your bank or building society showing you have enough personal savings, unless your CoS shows your A-rated sponsor can support you instead
• Proof of your knowledge of English
• Your tuberculosis test results if you are from a listed country
• A criminal record certificate, unless your role is exempt
• If you are applying with dependants, proof of your relationship such as your marriage certificate for your spouse and birth certificates for your children

Benefits of the UK Health and Care Worker Visa

The UK Health and Care Worker Visa offers several advantages to international professionals seeking to work in the UK healthcare sector:

Long-Term Stay: Successful applicants can live and work in the UK for up to five years, providing stability and the opportunity to establish their careers there.

Pathway to Settlement: After working continuously in the UK for five years on this visa, individuals may be eligible to apply for settlement (indefinite leave to remain) in the UK, leading to permanent residency.

Dependent Family Members: The visa allows individuals to bring their spouse, civil partner, or unmarried partner, as well as their dependent children, to the UK.

Access to Public Funds and Services: Health and Care Worker Visa holders have access to public services such as education, healthcare, and social benefits on the same terms as UK citizens.

Flexibility in Employment: The visa enables healthcare professionals to switch employers within the sector without requiring a new visa application, offering more excellent career opportunities and flexibility.

Taking on additional work or a second job

In February 2023, the Home Office removed the 20-hour cap on extra work for sponsored workers with a Health and Care Visa.

Typically, sponsored employees are permitted to work in their primary sponsored role and up to 20 hours of additional work. Supplemental employment must be in the same profession and professional level as the primary or shortage occupation. Additional employment is not required to be with a licenced sponsor, and the Home Office is not required to be notified of the additional role.

Health and Care Visa holders are now permitted to work in supplementary employment for more than 20 hours per week, provided any hours worked beyond 20 are in a position that qualifies for a Health and Care Visa. If the worker already possesses a Health and Care visa, they will not be required to file for a visa change or notify the Home Office.

Changing jobs with a Health and Care visa

Health and Care workers must notify the Home Office when they change jobs or employers by applying to update their visas.

Specifically, you have to update your visa if:

• You are starting a new job with a new employer
• You are starting a new job with a different occupation code to what is on your Certificate of Sponsorship, and you are not working as part of a graduate training programme.
• You will no longer be working in a shortage occupation role – this refers to leaving a job on the shortage list and starting a job not on the list. It does not refer to when the government takes a role on the shortage list.