UK Health and Care Worker Visa
Cloudcare
March 2, 2022
Changes approved by the Government are set to make thousands of additional care workers from overseas newly eligible for a UK visa. Care workers have been added to the Shortage Occupation List (SOL) in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and the role is now eligible for the Skilled Worker route.
What you need to know:
- The Skilled Worker route is for applicants with a specific job offer from an approved sponsoring employer. Applicants do not need to hold a formal qualification as it is the skill level of the job they will be doing which is important.
- The changes effectively remove the skills threshold for care workers, thus allowing them to qualify for the route.
- The following roles have been added to the list of Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) codes which qualify for a Health and Care Worker visa:
6145 Care workers and home carers plus related eligible job titles:
Care assistant
Care worker
Carer
Home care assistant
Home carer
Support worker (nursing home)
It is important to note that sponsorship from a licenced employer remains an essential requirement for care workers applying for a Skilled Worker visa under the amended rules.
The cost for a care worker to apply for a Health and Care Worker visa will be £232 where a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) is issued for 3 years or less, or £464 where a CoS is issued for more than 3 years.
Whilst home carers will be eligible for a Health & Care Worker visa, they will only be able to be sponsored on the route if they are working for an organisation which is able to meet the sponsorship requirement. In other words, private households and individuals will not be able to sponsor home carers unless they are a sole trader sponsoring someone to work for their business.
The UK is committed to becoming a high-skilled, high-wage economy and minimum salaries must reflect the professional skills that are required to provide quality care. The Health and Care worker visa will allow applicants and their dependents to benefit from fast-track processing, dedicated resources in processing applications and reduced visa fees.
The temporary measures will be in place for a minimum of 12 months from February 2022, providing a much-needed staffing boost while the sector deals with the additional pressures of the pandemic, at which point they will be reviewed.
Care workers and carers recruited to the UK will be able to bring their dependents, including partner and children, with the Health and Care Worker visa offering a pathway to settlement should they remain employed and wish to remain in the UK.
For further information and how to apply, please see
https://www.gov.uk/health-care-worker-visa
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