Health & Care Worker Visa: How to Find a Licensed Sponsor in 2026

The Health and Care Worker visa is a discounted variant of the Skilled Worker route, designed to bring international medical and adult-care professionals into the UK’s understaffed health and care system. It is materially cheaper than the standard Skilled Worker route, exempts the holder from the Immigration Health Surcharge, and applies a friendlier salary floor to many of its qualifying roles.

It is also the route with the highest current rate of licence revocations in the UK — concentrated almost entirely in the adult social-care segment. This guide focuses on what qualifies, the financial picture, and the verification steps that catch revocation risk before it bites.

Who qualifies

The applicant must be employed in an eligible health or social-care role, sponsored by an employer with a Health and Care Worker–endorsed sponsor licence. The role must be one of:

• A regulated medical profession — doctor, dentist, nurse, midwife, paramedic, physiotherapist, radiographer, occupational therapist, pharmacist, and several others.
• A regulated NHS or NHS-commissioned role.
• An adult social-care role at a CQC-registered provider in England, or its equivalent regulator in Scotland (Care Inspectorate), Wales (Care Inspectorate Wales) or Northern Ireland (RQIA).

For NHS roles, the qualifying SOC codes and pay scales are explicitly named in the Immigration Rules. For private-sector and social-care roles, the test is whether the SOC code appears on the route’s permitted list and whether the employer holds the correct endorsement.

Headline financial benefits

• A substantially reduced visa application fee at every length.
• The Immigration Health Surcharge in full — currently worth £1,035 per year, applied for the full length of the grant. For a five-year visa, that is over £5,000 per applicant. Dependants are also exempt. See our IHS guide for the rounding and refund rules.
• A lower salary floor for many qualifying roles — particularly nurses (SOC 2231, going rate around £31,300) and care workers (SOC 6145, going rate around £23,200). See 2026 salary thresholds for the full table.

Verifying a sponsor before accepting

The Home Office action plan for adult social care has led to a sharp rise in licence revocations. Before accepting any offer on this route, the following checks reduce the risk of taking a job with a provider whose licence is then withdrawn:

1. Search the sponsor on this site and confirm the route reads “Worker — Skilled Worker, Health and Care Worker”. An organisation licensed only for Skilled Worker cannot sponsor on the Health and Care variant.
2. Confirm the rating is A. B-rated sponsors cannot issue new Certificates of Sponsorship while in remediation.
3. Cross-check the CQC or relevant regulator’s rating. A provider rated “Inadequate” or “Requires improvement” is statistically more likely to lose its sponsor licence than one rated “Good” or “Outstanding”.
4. Search recent enforcement news. Adult social-care revocations typically surface in trade press a week or two before the licence is formally withdrawn from the register.
5. Be cautious of agency intermediaries that promise to find a Health and Care role for a fee. Many of the largest revocations involve intermediaries placing workers into roles that turn out not to exist.

If a sponsor’s licence is revoked after arrival, a 60-day window applies for finding a new sponsor — see Sponsor licence status.

The Health and Care exemption from IHS

The Immigration Health Surcharge is paid up front for the full length of the grant. On this route, the exemption is automatic: the payment screen does not ask for the IHS amount, provided the CoS is correctly marked as Health and Care. If the application asks for an IHS payment, the CoS has likely been issued under the wrong route — the sponsor can correct and reassign.

If IHS has already been paid and the route is later confirmed as Health and Care, a refund can be claimed through the UKVI online form. Most refunds take six to twelve weeks.

Settlement on this route

Five years’ qualifying residence on the Health and Care Worker visa leads to Indefinite Leave to Remain. Time on this route counts toward settlement, and a worker can move between the standard Skilled Worker and the Health and Care variant without resetting the five-year clock, provided leave remains continuous.

A note on care worker recruitment

The Migration Advisory Committee has recommended several times since 2024 that the adult-care segment of this route be reviewed. Future rule changes are likely. Applicants in this segment typically follow GOV.UK updates closely between application and arrival — the entry rules here are the most volatile of any sponsored route.

Frequently asked questions

Who qualifies for the UK Health and Care Worker visa?

Regulated medical professionals (doctors, dentists, nurses, midwives, paramedics, pharmacists and similar), NHS-commissioned roles, and adult social-care workers at providers regulated by the CQC (England), the Care Inspectorate (Scotland), Care Inspectorate Wales or RQIA (Northern Ireland).

How is it different from the standard Skilled Worker visa?

Lower application fee, full exemption from the Immigration Health Surcharge (worth more than £5,000 over five years), and a friendlier salary floor for many qualifying roles. Settlement after five years is unchanged.

Are care worker roles still eligible in 2026?

Yes, subject to the Home Office's adult social care policy. The Migration Advisory Committee has recommended further reform of this segment, so the rules in this area are more volatile than elsewhere. GOV.UK is the canonical source.

What is the salary floor for nurses?

The going rate for SOC 2231 sits around £31,300 in 2026. NHS positions can also reference the national pay-scale figure under the Health and Care exemption.