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You must meet all of the following requirements to be eligible for a Health and Care Worker visa:
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.
If you do not know your code, you can search for your job in the ONS occupation coding tool.
Not every job title is included. If you cannot find your exact job title, try searching for similar jobs.
Make sure the job description matches what you’ll be doing. Some jobs in the same area of practice have different codes, for example dentists and dental hygiene therapists.
Your job must be in one of the following occupation codes to qualify for the Health and Care Worker visa:
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.
You must have a job offer from:
Read the guidance to see a full list of eligible employers.
If your employer is not currently approved, they can apply for a sponsor licence if they’re eligible.
They’ll need to pay a fee – £536 for small businesses and charities or £1,476 for medium and large organisations. It usually takes around 8 weeks to process a licence application.
Your employer – also known as your sponsor – will check that you meet the eligibility requirements. They’ll give you a ‘certificate of sponsorship’ to prove this.
The certificate of sponsorship is an electronic record, not a physical document. It will have a reference number, which you’ll need for your visa application.
You must apply for your visa within 3 months of getting your certificate of sponsorship.
Check which documents you’ll need to apply.
You’ll usually need to be paid at least £20,480.
If the ‘going rate’ for your job is higher than £20,480, you’ll usually need to be paid at least the going rate.
Each occupation code has its own annual going rate. How you find the going rate depends on your job.
You’ll need to meet different salary requirements for this visa if your job is in one of the the following occupation codes:
Find out the going rate if your job is in one of these occupation codes – including when you can earn less.
Check how much you’ll need to earn 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.
Don’t include personal or financial information like your National Insurance number or credit card details.
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