On 22 July 2025 the UK closed its care worker route to new applicants from overseas. That single change shut down what had been, for several years, the busiest sponsored immigration route into the country.
A great deal of advice online still describes that route as though it were open. Agents still advertise care jobs with sponsorship to people outside the UK. Those adverts are selling something that no longer exists.
The Health and Care Worker visa itself has not closed. It has narrowed sharply, and the distinction matters enormously depending on what you do for a living.
What closed, precisely
New overseas recruitment into the care worker and senior care worker occupation codes, SOC 6135 and 6136, ended on 22 July 2025.
You cannot now apply from outside the UK for sponsorship as a care worker or senior care worker. No employer can sponsor you into those codes from abroad, regardless of how badly they need staff or how willing they are.
Limited in-country transitional arrangements continue until 22 July 2028 for people already in the UK in certain circumstances. That is a wind-down provision for those already here, not a door for new arrivals.
What is still open
The visa remains available to eligible health professionals.
Doctors, nurses, midwives, allied health professionals, paramedics and comparable clinical roles can still be sponsored, provided the sponsor is the NHS, an organisation providing services to the NHS, or a registered care provider delivering adult social care.
The dividing line is clinical registration and occupation code rather than the sector broadly. A registered nurse working for a care home may be sponsorable. A care assistant at the same home is not.
If your occupation is clinical and regulated, this route is open to you. If it is a care role in SOC 6135 or 6136, it is not.
The Immigration Health Surcharge exemption
This is the largest financial advantage attached to any UK work visa, and it is frequently overlooked.
Health and Care Worker visa holders and their dependants are exempt from the Immigration Health Surcharge. On every other sponsored route that charge is £1,035 per adult per year, paid up front for the entire length of the visa.
For a family of two adults and two children on a five-year grant, the exemption is worth well over ten thousand pounds compared with the same family on a standard Skilled Worker visa.
Application fees on this route are also reduced relative to the standard Skilled Worker fee. When comparing two job offers, one clinical and one not, that gap belongs in the comparison.
Salary requirements
The route uses the Skilled Worker framework, which means two numbers and you need the higher.
The general salary threshold, and the going rate for your specific occupation code, which is set at the 50th percentile of national earnings for that job. Several health occupations have going rates set by reference to national pay scales instead, which is common for NHS roles on Agenda for Change bands.
Check the going rate for your exact occupation code before negotiating anything. It is the number that governs, and it frequently sits above the headline threshold.
The English requirement rose in January
From 8 January 2026 the English language requirement increased to B2.
That is a meaningful step up from the previous standard and it applies to new applicants. B2 means genuine working proficiency rather than basic competence.
For clinical staff there is usually a second, separate English requirement imposed by the professional regulator, which is often set higher than the immigration requirement. Satisfying one does not satisfy the other. Plan for both.
Dependants and the March 2024 line
The rules here are among the harshest in the system and they hinge on a single date.
New care workers sponsored under SOC 6135 have not been able to bring dependants since 11 March 2024. Partners and children may generally apply only where the worker has been continuously employed in the UK as a care worker or senior care worker, and has held Health and Care Worker or Skilled Worker permission, since before that date. Certain exceptions apply to some children, and children born in the UK are treated differently.
Eligible health professionals outside those care codes are generally not affected and can bring dependants in the normal way.
If your family coming with you is non-negotiable, establish which occupation code applies to you before anything else. It determines the answer.
Nurses: the registration route
For nurses trained outside the UK, the immigration application is the second problem. Professional registration is the first.
You must register with the Nursing and Midwifery Council, which requires a two-part Test of Competence. Part one is a computer-based test you can sit in your own country. Part two is a practical clinical examination taken in the UK at one of a small number of centres.
Approximate costs run to around £1,170 in total across evaluation, the computer-based test, the practical examination and registration itself. The typical timeline from first application to receiving a PIN is six to twelve months.
The longest element is usually verification from your home country’s nursing regulator, which can take many months on its own. Start that first, before anything else, because everything downstream waits on it.
Many employers sponsor nurses before registration completes, bringing them in on arrangements that allow work in a pre-registration role while the practical examination is sat. Ask prospective employers whether they do this, because it shortens the path considerably.
Finding a sponsor in health
The Home Office publishes the register of licensed sponsors. Filter it and you have a finite list of NHS trusts, private providers and agencies who can sponsor you.
NHS trusts run international recruitment programmes directly, and many advertise on their own careers pages. These are generally the most reliable route, because the employer is large, the process is established and the compliance is sound.
Be cautious with intermediaries. A genuine employer or NHS trust does not charge you a fee to be recruited, and the Immigration Skills Charge cannot lawfully be passed to you.
Switching from inside the UK
If you are already in the UK on another route, switching is usually easier and cheaper for the employer than an overseas hire.
Students completing nursing or medical qualifications in the UK are in a particularly strong position, since they hold UK credentials, are already registered or close to it, and present far less risk to a sponsor.
Say so early in any application. Employers weighing candidates frequently do not realise how much cost and delay an in-country candidate removes.
Settlement
This route counts toward indefinite leave to remain. The qualifying period is currently five years, and reform to that framework has been proposed but is not law.
A confirmed change is coming separately: the English requirement for settlement rises to B2 from 26 March 2027. If your settlement application will land near that date, prepare for the higher standard.
Mistakes that waste months
- Applying for care worker sponsorship from abroad. That route closed in July 2025.
- Assuming your role is clinical without checking the occupation code.
- Leaving home-country regulator verification until last. It is the longest step.
- Confusing the immigration English requirement with the regulator’s. They are separate and the regulator’s is often higher.
- Paying an agent a placement fee. Legitimate employers do not charge workers to recruit them.
Questions people actually ask
Can I still come to the UK as a care worker? Not from overseas. The route closed to new overseas applicants on 22 July 2025.
Am I exempt from the health surcharge? Yes, on this visa, along with your dependants. It is a substantial saving.
Can I bring my family? Eligible health professionals generally can. Care workers sponsored under SOC 6135 generally cannot unless they meet the pre-11 March 2024 conditions.
Do I need to pass the practical exam before I arrive? No. It is taken in the UK, and many employers sponsor nurses to come and sit it.
How long does NMC registration take? Typically six to twelve months from first application to PIN.
Does this visa lead to settlement? Yes, it is a qualifying route.
Where to start
Identify your occupation code first. That one fact tells you whether this route is open to you, whether you can bring your family, and what you have to be paid.
If you are a nurse, start your home-country verification this week. Everything else in the process waits behind it.
Related reading
- Job-Hunting From Abroad for a UK Visa: What Works and What Wastes Months
- Which UK Sectors Still Sponsor Skilled Worker Visas
- The UK Seasonal Worker Visa: Farm and Poultry Work, Honestly Assessed
Information only, not legal or immigration advice. Occupation codes, salary thresholds, English requirements and dependant rules change. Confirm current requirements with official Home Office guidance, the relevant professional regulator, or a regulated immigration adviser.