What is the Health and Care Worker visa and which jobs qualify?

What is the Health and Care Worker visa?

To qualify for a Health and Care Worker visa, you must: be a qualified doctor, nurse, health professional or adult social care professional work in an eligible health or social care job work for a UK employer that’s been approved by the Home Office have a ‘certificate of sponsorship’ from your employer with information about the role you’ve been offered in the UK be paid a minimum salary - how much depends on the type of work you do

Which jobs qualify?

The table has all 39 codes GOV.UK names for this visa: 31 on the list you can apply with, the 2 care worker codes, and 6 more ‘medium skilled’ codes. Search it for your 4-digit code. GOV.UK's three lists are quoted below the table, in its order. We call them List 1, 2 and 3.

Before you can find out if your job is eligible, you need to know its 4-digit occupation code. If you already have a job offer, ask your employer for your occupation code.

You can apply for a Health and Care Worker visa if your job is in one of the following occupation codes: 1171: health services and public health managers and directors 1232: residential, day and domiciliary care managers and proprietors 2113: biochemists and biomedical scientists 2114: physical scientists 2211: generalist medical practitioners 2212: specialist medical practitioners 2221: physiotherapists 2222: occupational therapists 2223: speech and language therapists 2224: psychotherapists and cognitive behaviour therapists 2225: clinical psychologists 2226: other psychologists 2229: therapy professionals not elsewhere classified 2231: midwifery nurses 2232: registered community nurses 2233: registered specialist nurses 2234: registered nurse practitioners 2235: registered mental health nurses 2236: registered children’s nurses 2237: other registered nursing professionals 2251: pharmacists 2252: optometrists 2253: dental practitioners 2254: medical radiographers 2255: paramedics 2256: podiatrists 2259: other health professionals not elsewhere classified 2461: social workers 3111: laboratory technicians 3212: pharmaceutical technicians 6131: nursing auxiliaries and assistants

If you’re extending or updating your visa and you got your certificate of sponsorship before 22 July 2025, your job can also be in one of the following ‘medium skilled’ occupation codes: 1231: health care practice managers 3211: dispensing opticians 3213: medical and dental technicians 3219: health associate professionals not elsewhere classified 6132: ambulance staff (excluding paramedics) 6133: dental nurses You must have continually held one or more Health and Care Worker visas or Skilled Worker visas since you got your certificate of sponsorship.

Can care workers (6135 and 6136) use it?

If you’re extending, updating or switching to a Health and Care Worker visa, your job can also be in one of the following ‘medium skilled’ occupation codes: 6135: care workers and home carers 6136: senior care workers If you’re switching from a different visa, you must have been working legally in your job for your sponsor for at least 3 months.

In short: codes 6135 and 6136 are not in list 1, the codes you can apply with. They are in this list for extending, updating or switching, and someone switching from a different visa must first have worked legally in that job for that sponsor for at least 3 months.

Your employer must be registered with the Care Quality Commission if you’re a care worker (code 6135) or senior care worker (code 6136) working in England.

Which employers can sponsor this visa?

You must have a job offer from: the NHS an organisation providing medical services to the NHS an organisation providing adult social care

You must have a job offer from an approved UK employer before you apply for a Health and Care Worker visa. Approved employers are also known as sponsors, because they are sponsoring you to come to or stay in the UK.

Search the Home Office register of licensed sponsors by employer name

What is the salary threshold in 2026?

You’ll usually need to be paid at least £25,000. If the ‘going rate’ for your job is higher than £25,000, you’ll usually need to be paid at least the going rate. Each occupation code has its own annual going rate.

In short: the usual floor is £25,000, or the job's going rate if that is higher. Each occupation code has its own yearly going rate.

If you’re doing any other health and care job Check how much you need to be paid in the table of national pay scales for eligible healthcare jobs . Salaries are listed by NHS pay band and area of the UK you’ll be working in. Ask your employer if you’re not sure what your role or pay band will be.

GOV.UK: national pay scales for eligible healthcare jobs

In short: find your code in the table above. Its third column says which GOV.UK pay rule to read.

You’ll need to meet different salary requirements for this visa if your job is in one of the following occupation codes: 1171: health services and public health managers and directors 1231: health care practice managers 1232: residential, day and domiciliary care managers and proprietors 2113: biochemists and biomedical scientists 2114: physical scientists 3111: laboratory technicians 3211: dispensing opticians 3212: pharmaceutical technicians 6135: care workers and home carers 6136: senior care workers If your job is in any other occupation code that is eligible for this visa, you must meet the salary requirements described in ‘Your job’ .

You’ll usually need to be paid at least £31,300 per year, or the lower ‘going rate’ for your job, whichever is higher.

If your job is on the immigration salary list, you need to be paid at least £25,000 or your job’s full going rate, whichever is higher.

In short: for those ten codes the usual floor is £31,300 a year, or the job's lower going rate if that is higher. A job on the immigration salary list instead needs at least £25,000 or its full going rate, whichever is higher.

You can be paid between 70% and 90% of the lower going rate for your job if your salary is at least £25,000 per year and you meet one of the following criteria: you’re under 26, studying or a recent graduate, or in professional training you have a science, technology, engineering or maths (STEM) PhD level qualification that’s relevant to your job (if you have a relevant PhD level qualification in any other subject your salary must be at least £28,200) you have a postdoctoral position in a scientific role You cannot get a discounted salary rate if your job is on the immigration salary list.

In short: for those ten codes, pay can be 70% to 90% of the lower going rate if you are under 26, studying or a recent graduate, or in professional training; if you have a relevant STEM PhD level qualification; or if you have a postdoctoral position in a scientific role. Pay must still be at least £25,000 a year, or £28,200 with a relevant PhD level qualification in another subject. There is no discounted rate when the job is on the immigration salary list. GOV.UK's page has each case in full.

How much does the Health and Care Worker visa cost?

The standard application fee depends on whether you’ll be in the UK for: up to 3 years - £324 per person more than 3 years - £628 per person The fee is the same whether you apply from inside or outside the UK.

You - and your partner or children - will not have to pay the healthcare surcharge.

You must have at least £1,270 in your bank account to show you can support yourself in the UK. You will need to have had the money available for at least 28 days in a row. Day 28 must be within 31 days of applying for this visa. You’ll usually need to show proof of this when you apply , unless either: you’ve been in the UK with a valid visa for at least 12 months your employer can cover your costs during your first month in the UK

In short: GOV.UK asks for at least £1,270 held for 28 days in a row, with day 28 within 31 days of applying. Proof is usually needed unless one of the two listed cases applies.

Each family member will have to pay the application fee. The fee depends on whether they’ll be in the UK for: up to 3 years - £324 per person more than 3 years - £628 per person

How is it different from the Skilled Worker visa?

If you’re applying from outside the UK, the standard fee depends on whether you’ll be in the UK for: up to 3 years - £819 per person more than 3 years - £1,618 per person If you’re applying from inside the UK to extend, switch or update your visa, the standard fee depends on whether you’ll be in the UK for: up to 3 years - £943 per person more than 3 years - £1,865 per person

pay the healthcare surcharge - this is usually £1,035 per year

£628 if you’re staying for up to 3 years £1,235 if you’re staying for more than 3 years The fee is the same whether you’re applying from inside or outside the UK.

Do healthcare employers offer sponsorship in their adverts?

This is our own count, not a GOV.UK figure. In our study, healthcare adverts offered sponsorship more often than any other type of work, but still rarely: 2.0% of 12,036 adverts, about 1 in 50. IT was next at 1.9%. 8% of healthcare adverts ruled sponsorship out. Care and support is a separate group in our study. There, 41% of 10,954 adverts ruled sponsorship out and fewer than 1 in 1,000 offered it.

How we counted: we read adverts from employers we match by name to the Home Office register, 3 October to 1 November 2026, and grouped them by type of work. Our groups are types of work, not the visa's occupation codes. An advert counts as ruling sponsorship out if it says sponsorship is not available, or asks that you already have the right to work in the UK, UK nationality, years of UK residence or security clearance. Most adverts in every group said nothing either way, and silence is not a refusal. These figures describe adverts, not whether a given employer will sponsor a given person.

Our study: visa sponsorship in job adverts, November 2026 edition

What to check next

• The job's 4-digit occupation code. With an offer, GOV.UK says to ask your employer.
• Which list the code is on (1, 2 or 3 in the table), and whether you are applying, extending, updating or switching.
• The pay rule for that code: the national pay scales table, or GOV.UK's different salary requirements.
• That the employer is on the Home Office register of licensed sponsors. For care work in England, also the Care Quality Commission rule in the care workers section.
• Who is coming with you. Each family member pays the application fee, and the care and ‘medium skilled’ dependant rules are quoted in the FAQ.
• If the job's code is on none of the three lists: the Skilled Worker visa has its own rules, in the guide linked below.

Skilled Worker visa requirements, item by item

Common questions