Most articles about the UK Health and Care Visa Sponsorship Jobs List are still written for a version of the rules that stopped existing in July 2025. If you’re a nurse in Kenya. A care assistant in Lagos. A physiotherapist in Mumbai. Or a pharmacist in Manila researching this route right now, the single most important thing I can tell you is this: the route you’ve probably heard the most about, sponsorship for general care worker roles, closed to new overseas applicants on 22 July 2025. Not paused. Closed. With only narrow transitional exceptions for people already working in the UK.
That single fact changes the entire calculation for a large share of the people this guide is written for. So, let’s go through what’s actually eligible today. What the salary rules really require, and where the scams and dead ends usually show up.
Where most articles go wrong
I’ve read through a lot of blog content on this topic while researching this piece. And the recurring problem is the same one you’ll see everywhere: sites written in 2022 or 2023, lightly refreshed with a new year in the title. Still presenting care worker and senior care worker roles as a straightforward overseas sponsorship pathway. Some still quote 2023 salary figures. Some don’t mention that dependants have been restricted for care roles since March 2024, well before the full closure. A few still describe the “Shortage Occupation List” by that name. Even though it was replaced by the Immigration Salary List back in April 2024.
None of this is a small detail. If you’re planning your finances. Your family’s move. Or your timeline around outdated information, you can lose months and, in some cases, money you paid to a recruiter for a pathway that no longer exists for new applicants. The safest habit you can build right now is going straight to the source. The Home Office publishes the full, current Health and Care Worker visa eligibility rules on gov.uk, and it is updated far faster than any blog, including this one.
The eligible occupations, as they actually stand
The Health and Care Worker visa is a sub-category of the Skilled Worker visa. It is not a separate visa with its own rulebook from scratch. It borrows the Skilled Worker framework but with two big advantages: exemption from the Immigration Health Surcharge, and, for a defined list of occupations, a lower salary floor than the standard route.
For new overseas applicants today. The route realistically covers regulated clinical and professional roles. Not general care work. The main occupation codes that remain open to new sponsorship from outside the UK include:
- 2211 and 2212: Generalist and specialist medical practitioners (GPs, hospital doctors, consultants)
- 2231 to 2234: Midwives, registered community nurses, registered specialist nurses, registered nurse practitioners
- 2221 to 2229: Physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, psychotherapists, clinical psychologists, and related therapy professions
- 2113 and 2114: Biochemists, biomedical scientists, and physical scientists including medical physicists
- 1171: Health services and public health managers and directors
- 1232: Residential, day and domiciliary care managers and proprietors (management-level, not frontline care)
- 3111: Laboratory technicians, along with related associate professional and technical health roles depending on the specific job description
Notice what’s missing from that list now. SOC codes 6135 (care workers and home carers) and 6136 (senior care workers) are not available for new applications from outside the UK as of 22 July 2025. If a recruiter, agency, or “consultant” is telling you they can get you sponsored directly from Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, or India as a frontline care worker. Ask them to show you where that’s confirmed on gov.uk, because as of this writing, it isn’t there for new overseas entrants. You can check the exact occupation code for any job offer yourself using the Home Office’s own occupation code lookup tool, which tells you whether that specific code is currently open, closed, or restricted to in-country switching only.
There is a transitional carve-out, and it matters if it applies to you. Someone already working legally in the UK for a CQC-registered care provider, on the payroll of that same employer for at least three months, can still be issued a new Certificate of Sponsorship in the 6135 or 6136 codes, up until 22 July 2028. This covers people switching from a Student visa or Graduate visa into a care role in-country. Or people changing employer within the sector after meeting the three-month rule. It does not help someone applying from outside the UK for the first time.
Salary requirements: the number that actually decides your eligibility
Job title alone doesn’t get you sponsored. The salary attached to the job offer has to clear a specific threshold. And the Health and Care Worker route has its own, more forgiving rules than the standard Skilled Worker visa.
Here’s how it currently breaks down:
| Situation | Minimum salary requirement |
|---|---|
| Role paid on a national pay scale (most NHS Agenda for Change positions, including many nursing roles) | £25,000 per year, or the equivalent hourly rate, whichever applies |
| Health and care role not on a national pay scale (typical in some private healthcare employers) | £31,300 per year, or the specific occupation’s going rate, whichever is higher |
| Standard Skilled Worker route, for comparison | £41,700 per year |
The employer must pay whichever figure is higher between the flat threshold and the specific “going rate” published for that occupation code. A hospital offering a nurse a salary that technically clears £25,000 but falls below the published going rate for that role in that region will still fail the check. This is where a lot of borderline offers get refused, not because the applicant did anything wrong, but because the employer’s HR team miscalculated the going rate.
New entrants to the labour market (broadly, under 26, recent graduates, or people switching from a Student or Graduate visa) can sometimes qualify for a reduced threshold. If you’re close to the line. Ask your prospective employer directly whether the new entrant discount applies to your case, and get their answer in writing before you count on it. The full, current salary rules and going rate tables are published on gov.uk under Skilled Worker visa: your salary, which is worth checking against any figure your employer quotes you.
A worked example: two applicants, two very different outcomes
Take a registered nurse in Nairobi with an NMC pin already confirmed through the Overseas Nursing Programme route. And a care assistant in Lagos with three years of frontline care experience but no clinical registration.
The nurse in Nairobi is applying into an occupation code that remains open. If a UK hospital or care home group offers a salary meeting the £25,000 national pay-scale threshold, and the employer holds a valid sponsor licence, this is a live, workable path in 2026, subject to the usual document and English language checks.
The care assistant in Lagos, no matter how strong their CV, cannot currently be sponsored directly from Nigeria into a frontline care worker role, because SOC 6135 closed to new overseas entrants in July 2025. Their realistic options now are different: qualify and register for a role that remains open (such as training toward a nursing or allied health qualification), explore other UK visa routes entirely such as the Graduate visa if already studying in the UK, or look at other countries where frontline care sponsorship is still active. Anyone telling this applicant they can be sponsored directly as a care worker from Lagos in 2026 is either misinformed or not being straight with them.
Who can actually sponsor you
Not every employer with a job posting can lawfully bring you into the UK. The employer needs a valid sponsor licence from the Home Office, and for adult social care roles in England specifically, they also need to be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Equivalent regulators apply in Scotland (Care Inspectorate), Wales (Care Inspectorate Wales), and Northern Ireland (RQIA).
Before you take any job offer seriously, verify the employer’s sponsor status directly on the Home Office’s own Register of Licensed Sponsors: Workers. This is a free, public, downloadable list, refreshed regularly. If the employer’s name doesn’t appear on it as an active sponsor for the Skilled Worker or Health and Care Worker route, no job offer from them can legally result in a visa, no matter how convincing the offer letter looks.
Your practical checklist before applying
- Confirm your specific SOC code is currently open to new overseas applicants. Don’t rely on a job title alone; ask the employer for the exact four-digit code they intend to use for your Certificate of Sponsorship.
- Check the employer against the official Register of Licensed Sponsors before submitting any documents, paying any fee, or signing anything.
- Get the exact salary figure and confirm it against both the flat threshold and the published going rate for your occupation and region, not just the flat minimum.
- Sort out professional registration early, since this is usually the slowest part of the process. Doctors need GMC registration, nurses and midwives need NMC registration (which for many applicants includes the OSCE practical exam), and allied health professionals need HCPC registration. These processes can take months and should start well before you expect a job offer.
- Confirm your English language test is one the Home Office and your regulator both accept, since IELTS and OET requirements differ slightly between visa purposes and professional registration purposes.
- Ask directly whether dependants can be included, since rules here have tightened for certain roles and dates matter.
- Never pay a recruiter or agent a fee for the job itself or the sponsorship. Legitimate UK employers cover the Certificate of Sponsorship cost and the Immigration Skills Charge themselves; passing these costs onto the sponsored worker is against UK sponsor licence rules.
Where this goes wrong: scams and dead ends to watch for
I want to be blunt here. Because this is where real financial harm happens. Care sector recruitment in particular attracted a wave of exploitation over the past few years. With some workers paying thousands of pounds in illegitimate “processing fees” for jobs that turned out to be fake, oversubscribed. Or tied to sponsors who later lost their licence.
Watch for these patterns specifically:
- Anyone asking for payment before a genuine job offer and Certificate of Sponsorship exist. A real UK employer sponsors you; they don’t charge you for the privilege.
- Recruiters advertising “guaranteed visa approval.” No agent or employer can guarantee a Home Office decision. Anyone claiming otherwise is either lying or planning to disappear with your money before the outcome is known.
- Job offers for SOC 6135 or 6136 roles marketed as new overseas sponsorship. As covered above, this route closed on 22 July 2025 for new entrants. A current offer structured this way for someone outside the UK is either a mistake or a scam.
- Sponsors not appearing on the official government register. Check every single time, even if the employer’s website and marketing materials look professional.
- Pressure to move quickly, pay quickly, or avoid asking questions. Legitimate sponsorship and registration processes take weeks to months. Urgency is a manipulation tactic, not a normal part of this process.
Key takeaways and what to do next
The Health and Care Worker visa remains a genuinely useful. Active route for doctors, nurses, midwives, and allied health professionals with the right registration and a sponsor meeting the salary rules. It is no longer a realistic route into frontline care worker roles for someone applying fresh from outside the UK. And hasn’t been since July 2025.
Start with your professional registration body. Not with job boards. Since registration timelines usually run longer than recruitment timelines. Verify every sponsor independently before engaging further. And treat any request for upfront payment as a red flag rather than a normal step.
Rules in this area move often, sometimes multiple times a year. Before making any financial or life decision based on this guide. Check the current occupation list and salary thresholds directly on the official gov.uk Health and Care Worker visa page. And verify any specific employer against the government’s live Register of Licensed Sponsors.
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REMEMBER:
This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute immigration, legal, or professional advice. Rules governing the Health and Care Worker visa, eligible occupations, and salary thresholds can and do change. Always confirm current requirements directly through official UK government sources before making decisions based on this content.