Health and Care visa: which jobs count, and what pay you need

The Health and Care Worker visa is the door most open to people already in the UK. Its salary floor is £25,000 - far below the £41,700 most other jobs need - and health employers hold sponsor licences more than any other industry.

But not every care job counts, and not every care company can sponsor. Here is how it actually works.

Which jobs qualify

The job must match one of the eligible occupation codes, and the employer must be the right kind: an NHS body, a care provider registered with the regulator, or similar. A cleaning company calling a role 'care assistant' does not qualify.

• Care workers and home carers, and senior care workers.
• Nurses, nursing assistants and midwives.
• Many NHS roles: healthcare assistants, paramedics, radiographers, and others.
• Some social work and allied health roles.

The pay rule

At least £25,000 a year for the Health and Care route, and at least the going rate for the exact job code. Watch the hours: the rate is checked against your real working pattern, so a contract with very long hours at a low hourly rate can still fail.

The trap in this industry

Care is also where the most sponsorship scams live, because demand is desperate on both sides. Licences in the care sector are revoked more often than anywhere else - often because a company sold certificates or reported fake hours.

Protect yourself the boring way: check the company on the Home Office register, check its rating, read the ad for 'no sponsorship' words, and never pay anyone for a certificate.

What we do

Most of the live jobs on SponsorJobUK are Health and Care route jobs, including NHS employers - because that is where the real chances are. Every one passed the licence, route, rating and pay checks before you saw it, and jobs from companies that refuse sponsorship in other ads are removed too.