UK care worker visa sponsorship: what changed and what is left
You cannot get a UK care worker visa from abroad any more.
On 22 July 2025 the Home Office stopped accepting new overseas applications to sponsor care workers (SOC 6135) and senior care workers (SOC 6136). Pages advertising “caregiver jobs in the UK with visa sponsorship, no experience” are describing a route that closed over a year ago.
Here’s exactly what changed, who can still use the route, and which healthcare roles are genuinely still open to overseas applicants.
Can you still get a UK care worker visa from Nigeria?
No, not as a new applicant from outside the UK. Employers can no longer sponsor new care workers or senior care workers from abroad, and that has been the position since 22 July 2025. If you are outside the UK and have never held this visa, there is currently no route into a frontline care role.
This matters because the care worker route was, for several years, the single largest UK visa category and the one most heavily marketed to African applicants. Its closure removed the most accessible sponsored route the UK had.
| Your situation | Can you use the care worker route? |
|---|---|
| Outside the UK, never held this visa | No. Closed since 22 July 2025 |
| Already hold a visa under SOC 6135 or 6136 | Yes. You can extend, change employer within the same occupation code, and bring dependants under transitional rules |
| Already in the UK on another visa, working for a care sponsor | Possibly. In-country switching is allowed until 22 July 2028 if you have legally worked for that sponsor for at least three months before your Certificate of Sponsorship is assigned |
| Outside the UK, qualified nurse with NMC registration | Yes, but through a different occupation code, not care worker |
What the July 2025 change actually did
It closed the two care occupation codes to new overseas applications while leaving them open, temporarily, to people already in the country. The design was deliberate: protect workers already here, stop new recruitment from abroad.
- Effective date: 22 July 2025. New overseas applications for SOC 6135 and 6136 stopped on that day.
- Transition period: until 22 July 2028. Kept under review. During it, in-country switching and extensions remain possible.
- Existing Skilled Worker visa holders in these roles keep the right to extend, bring dependants, change employer, and take supplementary employment in occupations below degree level.
- In-country switching requires you to have legally worked for that sponsor for at least three months before the Certificate of Sponsorship is assigned. This is the rule most people miss.
- After 22 July 2028 both roles come off the Immigration Salary List and the Temporary Shortage List.
The Health and Care Worker visa itself still exists. It was not abolished. What changed is which occupations can use it from overseas.
Why are job sites still advertising care sponsorship?
Because the traffic is valuable and the pages have not been updated. Search “care worker jobs UK visa sponsorship” today and the results include pages titled “Caregiver Jobs Hiring in UK 2026, With Visa Sponsorship, No Experience”. None of the top results is an official UK government page.
Treat that as a warning rather than an opportunity. Two specific risks follow:
- Payment for a Certificate of Sponsorship. If anyone asks you to pay for a CoS or a job offer in UK care, walk away. From overseas it cannot be issued to you at all. It is unlawful for a sponsor to recover sponsorship costs from a worker.
- Agencies charging for applications to a closed route. Check the occupation code on any offer against the current Immigration Rules before you pay anyone anything.
You can verify a sponsor yourself. The UK publishes a register of licensed sponsors, and any employer claiming they can sponsor you should appear on it. If they do not, stop.
The health roles still open from overseas
Registered nursing is the clearest one. Registered nurses remain in demand across UK adult social care and the NHS. The route stays open to overseas applicants because it sits under a different occupation code from care worker.
It also carries a real barrier: NMC registration. You need registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council, which means a recognized qualification, an English language test, and usually a competence test. That process takes months and costs money before you have a job offer.
Allied health professions and senior clinical roles are similarly open, with their own regulators. The pattern is consistent. Regulated professional roles are open. Unregulated frontline care roles are not.
Be realistic about the Skilled Worker route generally. The skill level was raised back to degree level, and the general salary threshold is £41,700 a year or the going rate for the occupation, whichever is higher. A new entrant discount of £33,400 applies if you are under 26 or graduated within the last two years.
Three realistic alternatives, ranked
Three, in rough order of how achievable they are from Nigeria. None is as easy as the care route was, which is the honest summary.
| Route | What it takes | Honest assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Study, then the Graduate Route | A UK degree, then a Graduate visa with no sponsor needed | Most reliable, most expensive up front. The Graduate visa drops from two years to 18 months for applications from 1 January 2027 |
| Registered nursing | NMC registration, English test, competence test, then a sponsored offer | Genuinely open, but a long qualifying process |
| Skilled Worker in another occupation | A degree-level role paying at least £41,700 or the going rate | Open, but the threshold rules out most entry-level roles |
There is a fourth option worth naming: look at a different country. Ireland’s General Employment Permit still covers care and healthcare assistant roles, with a salary threshold of €36,605 since 1 March 2026. Ireland also removed several healthcare roles from its ineligible list in May 2026. That is a materially more open door than the UK’s right now.
If your plan was built entirely around UK care sponsorship, compare the Canadian work permit routes next. Four in five Canadian permits are issued without a labour market impact assessment at all.
Frequently asked questions
These are the questions care workers ask most often now that the overseas route has closed, including how to spot an advert that cannot be real.
Is the UK care worker visa permanently closed?
Closed to new overseas applications since 22 July 2025, with a transition period to 22 July 2028 that the government says it keeps under review. Nothing published guarantees it reopens.
Can I switch into a care role if I am already in the UK?
Until 22 July 2028, yes, if you have legally worked for that sponsor for at least three months before your Certificate of Sponsorship is assigned. Check your own dates carefully.
I already have a care worker visa. Am I affected?
Not for now. Existing holders can extend, change employer within the same occupation code, and bring dependants under the transitional arrangements. The restrictions apply to new overseas applicants and to switches from other routes.
Someone is offering me a sponsored care job for a fee. Is it real?
If you are outside the UK and have never held this visa, it cannot be real for a care worker or senior care worker role. It is also unlawful for a sponsor to recover sponsorship costs from you. Check the employer against the UK’s public register of licensed sponsors.
Can I still come as a nurse?
Yes. Registered nursing sits under a different occupation code and remains open to overseas applicants. You will need NMC registration, an English language test, and usually a competence test first.
What is the UK Skilled Worker salary threshold now?
£41,700 a year or the going rate for your occupation, whichever is higher. A new entrant rate of £33,400 applies if you are under 26 or graduated in the last two years. The skill level is degree level.
If you are weighing countries rather than routes, the comparison worth making is against Canada’s permanent residency routes and the provinces where hiring is strongest. Both are open in ways UK care sponsorship no longer is.
Check the occupation code on any UK job offer before you spend money on it. If the code is 6135 or 6136 and you are applying from outside the UK, the answer is no, whatever the advert says.
