You can apply for extension or renewal of your Health and Care Worker visa before the expiry of your current Health and Care Worker leave or if you are changing job and being sponsored by a different Health and Care Worker sponsor. Your prospective Health and Care Worker sponsor will need to assign you a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) for you to apply for extension/renewal of your Health and Care Worker visa. You cannot apply for Health and Care Worker visa extension from outside the UK. For extension of Health and Care Worker visa, you must be sponsored by NHS, an NHS supplier or a care home to do an eligible job in the UK. Those applying for the Health and Care visa are exempt from having to pay the Immigration Health Charge and have lower visa application fees.
The Health and Care Worker visa is a Point Based System (PBS) visa category and points can be awarded for the Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS), job skill level, English language, appropriate Salary, PhD level qualifications, job in shortage occupation, and applicant being new entrant. A total of 70 points are required to be eligible to apply for Health and Care Worker visa; 50 points from mandatory non-tradable points and the remaining 20 from tradable points.
Premium Solicitors are specialist UK immigration solicitors and the high quality of UK visa and immigration legal services provided by our best team of fully qualified and experienced immigration solicitors is self-evident from the 5-star Google Reviews rating by 99% of our clients.
Our expert team of immigration solicitors are specialists in dealing with Health and Care Worker visa extension/renewal applications. Our highly experienced and well-qualified work visa solicitors have wealth of knowledge and experience to provide high quality legal services for Health and Care Worker visa extension applications.
Free Immigration Advice For Health and Care Worker Visa
Our specialist team of immigration solicitors can provide one-off free immigration advice online in relation to your application for extension of health and care worker visa. Ask a question online to our specialist team of immigration solicitors for free immigration advice online or book an appointment online for a detailed immigration advice and consultation with one of our immigration solicitors concerning your application for extension of health and care worker visa.
No Dependants For Care Workers Under The New Immigration Laws
In a recent statement made in December 2023 by the Home Secretary James Cleverly, it has been stated that the UK Government will soon publish new statement of changes to the UK Immigration Rules to block dependants of care workers.
Eligibility Requirements For Health and Care Worker Visa Extension
You should meet the following requirements for renewal/extension of your Health and Care Worker visa:
- You must have current permission to enter or stay on a Health and Care Worker visa;
- You must score 50 points from mandatory non-tradable points;
- You must score at least 20 points from tradable points;
- You must have have funds for maintenance in the UK or your Health and Care Worker sponsor has certified your maintenance;
- You must meet the suitability criteria and not fall for refusal under the general grounds for refusal.
The employer is required to include a brief explanation in the Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) setting out how the employee meets the Health and Care Visa eligibility requirement. The employer will also be responsible for informing the applicant they are eligible for the Health and Care Visa so the applicant can correctly complete the visa application form. Where an employer is an organisation that provides services commissioned by the NHS, evidence of the contract arrangements with the NHS may need to be provided to UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) as proof that applicants are eligible to apply for a Health and Care Visa.
Eligible Occupation Codes For Health and Care Worker Visa
Your job must be in one of the following occupation codes to qualify for the Health and Care Worker visa:
- 1181: health services and public health managers and directors
- 1242: residential, day and domiciliary care managers and proprietors
- 2112: biological scientists and biochemists
- 2113: physical scientists
- 2211: medical practitioners
- 2212: psychologists
- 2213: pharmacists
- 2214: ophthalmic opticians
- 2215: dental practitioners
- 2217: medical radiographers
- 2218: podiatrists
- 2219: health professionals that are ‘not elsewhere classified’, such as audiologists and occupational health advisers
- 2221: physiotherapists
- 2222: occupational therapists
- 2223: speech and language therapists
- 2229: therapy professionals that are ‘not elsewhere classified’, such as osteopaths and psychotherapists
- 2231: nurses
- 2232: midwives
- 2442: social workers
- 3111: laboratory technicians
- 3213: paramedics
- 3216: dispensing opticians
- 3217: pharmaceutical technicians
- 3218: medical and dental technicians
- 3219: health associate professionals not elsewhere classified
- 6141: nursing auxiliaries and assistants
- 6143: dental nurses
- 6145: care workers and home carers
- 6146: senior care workers
Approved UK Health and Care Sector Employers
You must have a job offer from an approved UK employer holding sponsor licence before you apply for a Health and Care Worker visa. Approved employers are also known as sponsors, because they are sponsoring you to come to or stay in the UK.
You must have a job offer from:
- the NHS
- an organisation providing medical services to the NHS
- an organisation providing adult social care
If your employer is not currently approved, they can apply for a sponsor licence if they are eligible. Our specialist team of immigration solicitors can help your employer with an application for sponsor licence.
Change Of Employment Applications
You must make a change of employment application if you wish to change employer. You must have a new Certificate of Sponsorship from your new Health and Care Worker sponsor and you must meet all the points requirements.
You must also make a change of employment application if you are remaining with the same employer but:
- there is a change to your core duties which means you change jobs to a different Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code other than one related solely to the reclassification from SOC 2000 to SOC 2010; or
- under TUPE (or similar) protection you change jobs and the new job is in the same SOC code, but your new salary is less than the appropriate rate for the new job as shown in the relevant code of practice; or
- you are remaining with the same sponsor but there is a change to your core duties which means you change jobs from a job which is currently on the shortage occupation list to a job which is not on the shortage occupation list; or
- your pay reduces from the level indicated on your current Certificate of Sponsorship, other than changes due to company-wide reductions defined as acceptable in the Sponsor Guidance, or reductions due to maternity, paternity, adoption leave, and/or a period of sick leave that lasted for one month or longer; or
- changes to your core duties which means your job changes within the same SOC code provided your pay remains above the acceptable rate for the new job.
A change of employment application is not required for other changes to your job. For example if you are remaining with the same employer and change jobs to a different job within the same SOC code, your pay increases, or you are moving under TUPE (or similar) protection due to takeover, merger, or de-merger or any other circumstances in which TUPE is triggered.
Mandatory Non-Tradable Points (50 Points Required)
The applicant must score 50 mandatory non-tradable points to succeed in an application for extension of Health and Care Worker visa and the remaining 20 can be scored from tradable points. The mandatory non-tradable points are given in the table below:
| Characterstics | Points |
| Offer of job by approved sponsor | 20 |
| Job at appropriate skill level | 20 |
| Speaks English at required level | 10 |
Tradeable Points For Extension Of Health and Care Worker Visa (20 Points Required)
An applicant must be awarded 20 tradeable points from the table below. An applicant may only be awarded 20 points from one entry in the table.
| Option | Requirements To Score Points | Points |
| A |
The applicant’s salary equals or exceeds all of the following: |
20 |
| B |
Educational qualification: PhD in a subject relevant to the job and the applicant’s salary equals or exceeds all of the following: In this entry, 10 points will be awarded for the educational qualification and 10 points will be awarded for the applicant’s salary. |
20 |
| C |
Educational qualification: PhD in a STEM subject relevant to the job and the applicant’s salary equals or exceeds all of the following: |
20 |
| D |
Job in a shortage occupation and the applicant’s salary equals or exceeds all of the following: |
20 |
| E |
Applicant is a new entrant to the labour market and their salary equals or exceeds all of the following: |
20 |
| F |
Job in a listed health or education occupation and the applicant’s salary equals or exceeds both: |
20 |
Salary Requirements
Your employer with sponsor licence need to pay you a salary of at least £20,960 per year unless the ‘going rate’ for your job is higher than this. Each occupation code has its own annual going rate. How you find the going rate depends on your job and occupation code. Salaries are listed by NHS pay band and area of the UK you’ll be working in.
Financial Requirement (Mandatory) For A Skilled Worker
- If the applicant is applying for permission to stay and has been in the UK with permission for 12 months or longer on the date of application, they will meet the financial requirement and do not need to show funds.
- If the applicant is applying for permission to stay and has been in the UK for less than 12 months on the date of application, either:
- the applicant must have funds of at least £1,270 and the the applicant must show that they have held the required funds for a 28-day period and as specified in Appendix Finance; or
- the applicant’s A-rated sponsor must certify that they will, if necessary, maintain and accommodate the applicant up to the end of the first month of their employment, to an amount of at least £1,270.
Period and Conditions of Grant For Health and Care Worker Visa
- The applicant will be granted leave to remain as a Health and Care Worker until 14 days after the end date of their certificate of sponsorship (which may be up to a maximum of 5 years after the start date of their certificate of sponsorship).
- The grant will be subject to all the following conditions:
- no access to public funds; and
- work is permitted only in the job the applicant is being sponsored for; and
- supplementary employment is permitted, providing the person continues to work in the job for which they are being sponsored; and
- voluntary work is permitted; and
- working out a contractual notice period is permitted, for a job the applicant was lawfully working in on the date of application; and
- study is permitted, subject to the ATAS condition in Appendix ATAS; and
- if Part 10 applies, the applicant will be required to register with the police.
Super Priority Service (Decision Within 24 Hours)
Our specialist team of immigration solicitors can provide fast-track visa service to get you a decision on your application faster under the Priority Service or Super Priority service. This way, you will get a decision on your application faster and will not have to wait for a decision on your application for months (sometimes years).
Our fast track immigration solicitors can prepare your application faster and submit your application under the Priority Service or Super Priority Service to get you faster decision on your application.
As specialist immigration solicitors in London, we are registered with the Home Office, UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) and its commercial partners UKVCAS Sopra Steria to provide Priority Service or Super Priority Service for your application whereby decision on your application will be made by the Home Office UKVI faster. An application submitted through Priority Service is normally decided within 5 working days, and an application submitted through Super Priority Service is normally decided within 24 hours (usually by the end of the next working day).
How Can We Help?
Our specialist team of immigration solicitors can provide expert immigration advice and legal representations on a fixed fee basis in relation to your application. Our fixed fee for your immigration application will cover all the work of our immigration solicitors on your immigration application until a decision is made by the Home Office UKVI on your application. The casework to be carried out by our immigration solicitors in relation to your immigration application will entail the following:
- Advice on requirements: Our immigration solicitors will advise you on the relevant requirements you have to meet for your immigration application to succeed.
- Advice on documents: Our immigration lawyers will prepare and email you a comprehensive list of supporting documents to be submitted in support of your immigration application;
- Assessment of documents: Our immigration lawyers will assess your documents to ensure that all the documents you provide in support of your application comply with the requirements of the immigration rules.
- Completing application form: Our immigration lawyers will complete the relevant application form for your immigration application.
- Submitting an application through Priority or Super Priority Service: Where possible, our immigration lawyers will submit your online immigration application through priority or super-priority service to get a faster decision on your immigration application.
- Booking an appointment with the application centre: After you submit your immigration application online, our immigration lawyers will book an appointment with the application centre for you to enrol your biometrics.
- Preparing a detailed cover letter: Our specialist immigration solicitors will prepare a detailed cover letter in support of the immigration application to explain all the relevant legal requirements and how the applicant has satisfied such requirements with the documents submitted with the application.
- Uploading documents online: Before the biometrics enrollment date, our immigration lawyers will upload all the supporting documents online to be considered in support of the immigration application.
- Follow-up work: Our immigration lawyers will carry out all the follow-up work until the Home Office UKVI decides on the immigration application.
Our One-Off Services For Immigration Applications
Our immigration solicitors can also provide a wide range of one-off legal services for UK visa and immigration applications. Using our one-off services can help those who do not want to use our full service for immigration applications. You can use one of the following one-off legal services offered for UK visa and immigration applications:
Our Fixed Fees For Health and Care Worker Visa Applications
Our fixed fees for employer-sponsored work visas are as given in the fee table below:
| Our Service | Our Fixed Fees Range |
| Full service for Entry Clearance for employer-sponsored work visas to cover all the work until a decision by the Entry Clearance Officer (ECO) | From £700 To £1,200 (no VAT) |
| Full service for switching into employer sponsored work visa from inside the UK through Priority or Super Priority Service to cover our work until a decision on your application | From £700 To £1,200 (no VAT) |
| Full service for extension of employer-sponsored work visa from inside the UK through Priority or Super Priority Service to cover our work until a decision on your application | From £700 To £1,200 (no VAT) |
| Full service for ILR as an employer-sponsored worker from inside the UK through Priority or Super Priority Service to cover our work until a decision on your ILR application | From £700 To £1,200 (no VAT) |
The agreed fixed fee will depend on the complexity of the application and the volume of casework involved. In addition to our fixed fee, the applicant also has to pay the Home Office UKVI fees for the application.