Moving to the UK from the Philippines: Complete Guide

Visiting: a Visitor Visa, Not an Electronic Travel Authorisation

The Philippines is on the Home Office visa national list, so Filipino citizens need a Standard Visitor visa for a short trip. The £20 electronic travel authorisation is for people who are not visa nationals, and it is not an option on a Philippine passport. A 6-month Standard Visitor visa costs £135, and longer-validity visitor visas cost £506 for 2 years, £903 for 5 years and £1,128 for 10 years. A decision usually takes 3 weeks.

Visa Routes for Filipino Nationals

Health and Care Worker Visa

The Health and Care Worker visa is a lower-cost version of the Skilled Worker visa for qualified health and adult social care staff working for the National Health Service, an NHS supplier, or in adult social care. It differs from the main route in three ways:

• Lower fee: £324 for up to 3 years, £628 for more than 3 years, compared with £819 and £1,618
• No healthcare surcharge: you and your partner and children are exempt from the immigration health surcharge
• Lower salary rules than the general Skilled Worker threshold

You need a certificate of sponsorship from an eligible employer with a sponsor licence, and at least £1,270 available to support yourself unless your sponsor certifies maintenance or you have been in the UK for 12 months. A decision usually takes 3 weeks from outside the UK, and the visa can last up to 5 years.

Care Workers Cannot Apply From Outside the UK

This is the rule most likely to be got wrong. Care worker (occupation code 6135) and senior care worker (code 6136) appear on the Health and Care Worker job list only under the heading for people who are extending, updating or switching to the visa from inside the UK. They are not open to someone applying from outside the UK. A person switching from another visa must have been working legally in the job for their sponsor for at least 3 months, and in England the employer must be registered with the Care Quality Commission. GOV.UK's list of eligible jobs sets out which codes are open on a first application.

Registering with the Nursing and Midwifery Council

A nurse or midwife must be registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council before practising in the UK. The council assesses people trained overseas through its Test of Competence, which has two parts: a computer based test, usually taken before travelling, and an objective structured clinical examination, usually taken in the UK. Registration and the visa are separate processes: the visa comes from the Home Office, registration from the council, and the council publishes its own fees. Under the UK code of practice for international recruitment, recruitment costs are not passed on to the worker.

Skilled Worker Visa Outside Health and Care

The main Skilled Worker visa requires a licensed sponsor, a job at degree level (level 6 of the regulated qualifications framework) for a new application, and a salary of at least £41,700 a year or the going rate for the job, whichever is higher. Some applicants qualify at the lower £33,400 threshold. A job on the Immigration Salary List uses that lower threshold and a lower fee, but the full going rate for the job still applies. See the salary threshold guide.

Student, Graduate and Family Routes

The Student visa costs £558 and takes 3 weeks from outside the UK; you must show course fees plus £1,529 a month in London or £1,171 a month outside London, for up to 9 months, held for 28 days in a row. The Graduate route then gives 2 years of unsponsored work, or 3 years after a PhD, falling to 18 months for applications made on or after 1 January 2027. On the Spouse visa the UK-based partner must meet the £29,000 financial requirement; the fee is £2,064 from outside the UK and a decision usually takes 12 weeks.

The Philippines is not a Commonwealth country and is not on the Youth Mobility Scheme list, so neither the UK Ancestry route nor the Youth Mobility Scheme is open on a Philippine passport.

Philippine Document Requirements

Apostille

The Apostille Convention came into force for the Philippines on 14 May 2019, so Philippine public documents are apostilled rather than legalised through an embassy. In practice a document is first issued or authenticated by the body that holds it — the Philippine Statistics Authority for birth and marriage certificates, the Professional Regulation Commission for professional licences, the school or university for educational documents — and then apostilled by the Department of Foreign Affairs. Most Philippine official documents are in English; anything in Filipino needs a full translation.

Police Clearance

A police certificate is not needed for every route. The Home Office asks for one for Skilled Worker and Temporary Worker applications in certain jobs, mostly in healthcare, education, therapy and social services, and for some other routes. In the Philippines it is the National Bureau of Investigation clearance: you apply online, pay the fee, and attend a branch to give fingerprints and a photograph. Where your name matches an existing record the bureau carries out further checks before issuing, which does not mean you have a criminal record. GOV.UK publishes no fee or processing time for it. Check the GOV.UK criminal records checks guidance for how to apply from the Philippines.

Names That Do Not Match

Philippine naming conventions — the mother's maiden name used as a middle name, and suffixes such as Jr, Sr or III — often produce small differences between a passport, a civil registry document and a professional licence. Differences of that kind between documents are a common cause of delay.

Tuberculosis Test

The Philippines is on the Home Office list of countries where a tuberculosis test is needed. The test applies if you are coming to the UK for 6 months or more, have lived in the Philippines or another listed country for 6 months or more, and were living there within the last 6 months. It also applies to a fiancé, fiancée or proposed civil partner on a family visa, and to a Returning Resident visa, even for a shorter stay.

You must be tested at a clinic approved by the Home Office; a test at any other clinic will not be accepted. The test is a chest x-ray, and children under 11 will not normally have one. The certificate is valid for 6 months from the date of the x-ray. GOV.UK publishes no price, because each clinic sets its own fee. Find your clinic on the GOV.UK tuberculosis test page.

English Language Requirement

English is an official language of the Philippines and the language of much of its education, but the Philippines is not on the Home Office list of majority English-speaking countries. Being widely spoken creates no exemption. Filipino applicants need an approved secure English language test, unless they hold a degree taught in English that UK ENIC confirms is equivalent to a UK degree — which many Philippine nursing and other degrees are, so a separate test is often not needed. The approved providers are listed on the GOV.UK secure English language test page. The Skilled Worker route needs level B2 for new applications made from 8 January 2026. GOV.UK publishes no price for the test.

Where You Apply in the Philippines

You complete the application on GOV.UK, then book an appointment to give your fingerprints and photograph at a visa application centre. GOV.UK's find a visa application centre service lists the Philippines under VFS Global, which publishes the centres, their addresses and their opening times. GOV.UK says you must apply for the visa before you can make an appointment, and that if you do not choose a centre a centre is chosen for you.

Processing Times

These are the published service standards for applications made outside the UK. They are the same wherever you apply from.

• Visitor visa: 3 weeks
• Student visa: 3 weeks
• Health and Care Worker, Skilled Worker and other work visas: 3 weeks
• Partner, spouse, parent or child family visa: 12 weeks

A faster decision can be paid for: the priority service costs £500 and the super priority service £1,000.

What It Costs

UK visa fees are set in pounds sterling and are the same wherever you apply from.

• Standard Visitor visa: £135 for 6 months
• Health and Care Worker visa: £324 for up to 3 years, £628 for more than 3 years, and no healthcare surcharge
• Skilled Worker visa from outside the UK: £819 for up to 3 years, £1,618 for more than 3 years
• Student visa: £558
• Family visa as a partner: £2,064 from outside the UK
• Healthcare surcharge: £1,035 a year, or £776 a year for students, their dependants and under-18s
• Settlement: £3,226 for each person
• British citizenship: £1,709 to apply plus a £130 ceremony fee, £1,839 in total
• English test and tuberculosis test: GOV.UK publishes no price for either. Test providers and approved clinics set their own fees.

See our UK visa fees guide for a full breakdown of all visa categories.

What the Healthcare Surcharge Buys

Paying the immigration health surcharge does not make the National Health Service free. It puts you on the same footing as a UK resident, so you then pay what a resident pays. In England that means £9.90 for each prescription item and dental charges of £27.90, £76.60 or £332.10 depending on the treatment. Prescriptions are free in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Health and Care Worker visa is exempt from the surcharge itself, and GOV.UK says you can use the National Health Service from the date the visa starts, but you still pay for prescriptions, dental treatment and eye tests.

Shipping Your Belongings

Transfer of Residence relief can remove the duty and import VAT on personal belongings you bring with you. GOV.UK's transfer of residence guidance sets the conditions: you must have lived outside the UK for at least 12 months in a row, the goods must have been in your possession for at least 6 months before the move, they must be imported within 12 months of your arrival, and they cannot be lent, hired out or sold within 12 months of the move.

First Steps After Arrival

• Set up or sign in to your UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) account and check your online immigration status. There is no card to collect: biometric residence permits stopped being issued at the end of 2024. To prove your status to an employer or a landlord you generate a share code, which lasts 90 days
• Apply for a National Insurance number
• Register with a GP
• Open a UK bank account
• Register for council tax with your local council in England, Scotland or Wales. Northern Ireland has domestic rates instead, collected by Land and Property Services

Path to Settlement and Citizenship

The Health and Care Worker and Skilled Worker routes lead to settlement, also called indefinite leave to remain, after 5 years. It costs £3,226 for each person and a decision usually takes up to 6 months. You need the Life in the UK test and English at B1, rising to B2 from 26 March 2027 on the Skilled Worker, Global Talent, Scale-up and Long Residence routes. After 12 months with settlement you can apply for British citizenship for £1,709 plus a £130 ceremony fee.

The Philippines allows dual citizenship under Republic Act 9225, the Citizenship Retention and Re-acquisition Act, so a Filipino who becomes British can retain or reacquire Philippine citizenship. That is a question for the Philippine authorities, not the Home Office.

Next Steps

For official information, visit GOV.UK.

Related guides:

• Skilled Worker visa: complete guide
• Student visa: complete guide
• Spouse visa: complete guide
• UK visa fees: complete breakdown
• The immigration health surcharge explained

Questions and answers