UK Health and Care Worker Visa for Internationally Recruited Nurses (2026)

What the Health and Care Worker visa is

The Health and Care Worker visa lets qualified professionals such as nurses come to the UK to do an eligible job with an approved employer, usually the NHS, an NHS-contracted organisation, or a regulated care provider. It sits within the wider Skilled Worker route but carries important advantages designed to attract health staff.

• Reduced application fees compared with a standard Skilled Worker visa.
• Full exemption from the Immigration Health Surcharge, which alone saves over a thousand pounds a year for each person.
• Exemption from the Immigration Skills Charge for the employer, lowering the overall cost of sponsoring you.
• A clear path to settlement after a continuous qualifying period.

Registered nurses are an eligible occupation, so a nurse with NMC registration or a clear route to it, plus a suitable job offer, is well placed to use this route.

Sponsorship and the certificate of sponsorship

You cannot apply on your own; you need a licensed sponsor. The employer confirms that the role is genuine and eligible, then issues you a certificate of sponsorship (CoS), an electronic record with a reference number that you use in your visa application.

• The CoS sets out your job title, salary, working hours and start date.
• It must reflect a genuine vacancy that meets the skill and salary rules for nursing.
• You must usually hold, or be on a clear NMC pathway to, registration for a substantive nursing post.

Choosing a compliant, well-run employer matters, because your right to stay is tied to your sponsorship. Reputable agencies such as Ava Medical work only with licensed sponsors, so your offer comes with a lawful, well-supported route to a visa and a real job at the end of it.

Salary and eligibility

To qualify you must meet the salary rules for your role, which combine a general minimum with an occupation-specific going rate; you are paid the higher of the two. Health and care roles are assessed against the relevant NHS pay scales where these apply, which is why nursing bands map cleanly onto the requirements.

• You need genuine NMC registration or a recognised pathway to it; some nurses arrive first in a pre-registration band role and move up on passing the OSCE.
• You must show English at the level required for the visa, which is a lower bar than the NMC's clinical English requirement, so meeting the NMC standard normally covers it.
• Salary thresholds and going rates are updated periodically, so confirm the current figure for your grade before applying.

Your employer will confirm on the CoS that your offered salary meets the rules, and a good recruiter will check this before you sign.

Costs and the IHS exemption

The Health and Care Worker visa is deliberately cheaper than other work visas, which makes relocating far more affordable for nurses and their families.

• Visa application fee: a reduced rate, indicatively in the region of £300 for shorter grants and around £600 for longer ones. Confirm the live fee before applying.
• Immigration Health Surcharge: not payable – a major saving, as other migrants pay it for every year of their visa.
• Other costs can include the English test, document translation, biometrics and travel.

Many nursing employers reimburse or pay these costs, along with flights, initial accommodation and NMC and OSCE fees. Always ask what an offer includes; Ava Medical placements frequently bundle visa and relocation support so your upfront outlay is kept low.

Timelines and dependants

Once you have a CoS and your documents ready, a decision on an application made from outside the UK often comes within a few weeks, and a priority service can shorten this further where the employer offers it.

• Dependants: nurses can normally bring a partner and dependent children, who apply as your dependants. The separate restrictions introduced for some social care worker roles do not apply to registered nurses.
• Dependants also benefit from the health surcharge exemption linked to the main applicant's visa.
• Plan for biometrics appointments and, depending on your country, a tuberculosis test before you travel.

Running your NMC process and visa application in parallel, with realistic timelines for each, is the best way to avoid last-minute delays to your agreed start date.

From visa to settlement

The Health and Care Worker visa can be granted for up to five years at a time and is renewable while you remain sponsored in an eligible role. After a continuous qualifying period, usually five years, you can apply for indefinite leave to remain (ILR), which removes the need for ongoing sponsorship.

• ILR generally requires you to have stayed in an eligible role, met the residence rules, and passed the Life in the UK test and any English requirement.
• Time spent on the Health and Care Worker visa normally counts towards that qualifying period.
• After holding ILR you may later become eligible to apply for British citizenship.

This makes the route attractive for nurses who see the UK as a long-term home, not just a short posting, and it gives your family a stable footing too.

Frequently asked questions