Health and Care Worker Visa Salary Requirements
Understanding the salary requirements for the Health and Care Worker visa is essential for both employers and applicants. This guide covers the minimum thresholds for different roles, how the going rate system works, and what counts towards salary.
- Section
- Skilled Worker Visa
- Reading time
- 8 min
- Last checked
- 20 February 2026
- Source
- The published Immigration Rules and GOV.UK guidance, linked throughout this guide.
- Rowan does not
- Look at your own case, tell you which route to choose, or say what the Home Office will decide. This guide shows the published rules and where to read them.
In short
- The usual minimum is £25,000 a year, or the going rate for the job if that is higher.
- For most clinical codes the going rate comes from the published national pay scale, by band and UK nation.
- Care worker and senior care worker codes are closed to applications from outside the UK.
- Only guaranteed basic gross pay counts. Overtime, unsocial hours pay, and allowances do not.
The Health and Care Worker visa sets the usual minimum at £25,000 a year, or the going rate for the job if that is higher — well below the £41,700 general Skilled Worker threshold. For most clinical occupation codes the going rate comes from the published table of national pay scales, which varies by NHS band and by UK nation. Care worker and senior care worker codes carry extra restrictions of their own.
How Salary Thresholds Work
The Health and Care Worker visa is part of the Skilled Worker visa system but with its own salary rules. Applicants must be paid at least the going rate for their specific occupation, as determined by the SOC code.
The published minimum is £25,000 a year, or the going rate for the job if that is higher. Where the going rate comes from depends on the code. For the clinical and education codes paid from a national pay scale, it is taken from the published table of national pay scales, by band and by UK nation. For the remaining health and care codes it is a single figure in the going rates table on GOV.UK, set from median earnings for the occupation. See our going rate guide for how the system works.
Salary Rates by Role Type
Different health and care roles have different going rates. While specific figures change with each update to the Immigration Rules, the general pattern is:
- Doctors and dentists: Their own national pay scales, published in the same GOV.UK table, well above the general Skilled Worker threshold.
- Nurses and midwives (codes 2231 to 2237): Agenda for Change bands. As of the table published on 22 July 2025, band 5 in England is £29,970, band 6 £37,338, band 7 £46,148, and band 8a £53,755. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own figures.
- Allied health professionals (physiotherapists 2221, occupational therapists 2222, speech and language therapists 2223, pharmacists 2251, paramedics 2255, and others): the same Agenda for Change bands.
- Care workers and home carers (6135) and senior care workers (6136): A single going rate of £33,400, and heavy restrictions on who can be sponsored — see below.
Bands 1 and 2 are not eligible for the route at all. Bands 3 and 4 are open only to someone who already held Skilled Worker permission before 22 July 2025 and has kept it since. The pay scale figures are based on a 37.5-hour week — 37 in Scotland — and are pro-rated for other working patterns. Always check the current figures before applying, because they change when the Immigration Rules are updated.
What Counts Towards Salary
Only certain types of pay count towards the salary threshold:
- Guaranteed basic gross pay: The core annual salary before income tax, including employee pension and national insurance contributions.
- Other guaranteed payments that are treated exactly the same as basic gross pay for tax, pension and national insurance purposes.
- Does not count: shift, overtime and bonus pay, whether or not it is guaranteed; unsocial hours payments; on-call payments; commission; tips; benefits in kind; and allowances, which paragraph SW 14.2 of the Immigration Rules excludes by name.
For NHS employees, this means the basic pay for the Agenda for Change band is the figure used. Enhancements for unsocial hours, common in nursing and care roles, do not count, and neither does a high-cost area supplement paid as an allowance.
NHS Agenda for Change Pay Bands
Most NHS roles use the Agenda for Change pay system. For immigration purposes the figures that matter are the ones in the GOV.UK table of national pay scales. The version published on 22 July 2025 gives, for England:
- Band 3: £24,071 — not open to new applicants
- Band 4: £26,530 — not open to new applicants
- Band 5: £29,970
- Band 6: £37,338
- Band 7: £46,148
- Band 8a: £53,755, rising through band 9 at £105,385
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own column in the same table. In Scotland, for instance, band 5 is £31,892 and band 6 is £39,912.
Private sector employers, such as care homes and home care agencies, set their own salaries but must meet at least the going rate for the relevant occupation code. The immigration health surcharge is not charged on the Health and Care Worker route, for the worker or their dependants.
Care Workers and Senior Care Workers
Codes 6135 (care workers and home carers) and 6136 (senior care workers) carry restrictions that no other health code does. Since 22 July 2025 they are closed to applications from outside the UK. The application must be for permission to stay, and the worker must either:
- already hold Skilled Worker permission sponsored in one of the care codes; or
- have been legally working for the sponsor in that code for at least the 3 months ending on the date the certificate of sponsorship was issued, with the application made before 22 July 2028.
In England the sponsor must be registered with the Care Quality Commission and carrying on a regulated activity. A worker sponsored in either code cannot bring a partner or children. The going rate for both codes is £33,400.
Part-Time Workers
Check your eVisa for your work conditions.
If you work part-time, the going rate is pro-rated: paragraph SW 14.4 of the Immigration Rules multiplies it by your weekly working hours divided by 37.5 — 37 for the Scottish pay scales. So on 30 hours a week against an England band 5 rate of £29,970, the pro-rated going rate is £23,976.
The salary floor is not pro-rated. Your actual pay must still reach the published minimum for the route, whatever your hours. Part-time working is permitted, but the employer must satisfy both tests. For a full breakdown of costs, see our visa fees guide.
For Employers
Key points for employers sponsoring health and care workers:
- Verify the going rate for the specific SOC code before assigning a certificate of sponsorship.
- Ensure the salary offered meets or exceeds the going rate at each visa extension.
- Be aware that going rates can change between Immigration Rules updates.
- See our health care sponsorship guide for the full process.
Path to Settlement
The published qualifying period for settlement (indefinite leave to remain) on the Health and Care Worker route is 5 years. You will also need to pass the Life in the UK test and meet the English language requirement at B1, rising to B2 for settlement applications made on or after 26 March 2027. At the settlement stage, your salary must still meet the going rate for your role. A move to a 10-year qualifying period has been proposed but is not law.
Questions and answers
What is the minimum salary for a Health and Care Worker visa?
GOV.UK says you will usually need to be paid at least £25,000 a year, or the going rate for your job if that is higher. That is well below the £41,700 general Skilled Worker threshold. What the going rate is depends on the occupation code: for most clinical roles it comes from the published table of national pay scales, by NHS band and by UK nation, rather than from a single figure.
Are care workers paid enough to meet the visa threshold?
The going rate for care workers and home carers (6135) and senior care workers (6136) is £33,400 a year, and they must also be paid at least the National Minimum Wage. The bigger change is who can apply at all: since 22 July 2025 these codes are closed to applications from outside the UK. The application must be to stay in the UK, and the worker must either already hold Skilled Worker permission in one of the care codes, or have worked for the sponsor in that code for at least 3 months, applying before 22 July 2028. A worker sponsored in either code cannot bring a partner or children.
Does NHS pay automatically meet the visa salary requirement?
For most clinical occupation codes the rules take the going rate from the pay scale itself, so the two match by design. GOV.UK publishes the figures by band and by UK nation: as of the table published on 22 July 2025, band 5 in England is £29,970, band 6 is £37,338, and band 7 is £46,148. Bands 1 and 2 are not eligible for the route, and bands 3 and 4 are open only to someone who already held Skilled Worker permission before 22 July 2025.
This guide is general information about published immigration rules. It is not advice about an individual application under s.82 Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, and Rowan is not regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority. Immigration rules change several times a year. For advice on a particular situation, contact an adviser authorised by the Immigration Advice Authority or an immigration solicitor. Always check GOV.UK for the authoritative current rules.