In what the UK Home Office has described as a “fast-track” visa route for eligible health and care professionals, a new sub-category of visa has been designed to help talented health professionals to come to the UK to work in the NHS and for other approved healthcare providers.

The Health and Care Visa will come at a reduced cost than is usually applicable for visa applications made by skilled workers,  with a visa for up to 3 years costing £232 and a visa for more than 3 years costing £464 (with further reduced rates for citizens of Turkey and Macedonia). In addition, decisions can be expected within three weeks of an applicant having completed biometric enrolment (which involves having a digital photo, fingerprint scans and a copy of your signature taken).

Successful applicants will be able to come to the UK with a Tier 2 (Health and Care) visa for a maximum of 5 years and 14 days, however, applications should be made no earlier than 3 months before qualifying work is due to start in the UK.

To launch the Health and Care Visa, the government have introduced a special exemption from the Immigration Health Surcharge for applicants and their dependants. This fee (currently of £400 per year) is usually charged as part of a visa application and grants applicants the ability to use the National Health Service (NHS).

The new Health and Care Visa is available to “qualified doctors, nurses and allied health professionals who have been trained to a recognised standard” from outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland and who have been offered an eligible role either by an NHS trust, local health board or another approved medical or social care organisation.

Applicants must not own more than 10% of their sponsor’s shares (unless earning more than £159,600 per year, but may be permitted to study, do voluntary work and even undertake a second job if certain circumstances are met during their stay.

A full list of qualifying employers can be found at paragraph A2 of the government’s Tier 2 Policy Guidance, whilst the full list of eligible professions (and their occupational classification codes) is set out below:

• 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 not elsewhere classified
• 2221 – Physiotherapists
• 2222 – Occupational Therapists
• 2223 – Speech and Language Therapists
• 2229 – Therapy professionals not elsewhere classified
• 2231 – Nurses
• 2232 – Midwives
• 2442 – Social Workers
• 3213 – Paramedics

In addition to meeting the basic eligibility criteria, applicants for the Health and Care Visa will also need to meet the criteria for a Tier 2 (General) visa, namely:

• having a valid Certificate of Sponsorship from a qualifying employer;
• having evidence of a salary that meets the relevant salary threshold (set out in Appendix J to the Immigration Rules);
• being able to meet the English language requirement (which we explained in a previous article);
• having sufficient personal savings when arriving in the UK (typically an applicant must have £945 in their bank account for 90 days before making an application);
• being able to demonstrate the ability to travel and provide a travel history for the previous five years;
• holding a valid tuberculosis test certificate (for applicants from listed countries); and
• providing a criminal record certificate from any country where the applicant has lived for 12 months or longer during the previous 10 years (if the applicant’s role in the UK will involve work with vulnerable people).

The list of eligible professions provided above is exhaustive, and so primary care workers including those who seek to come to the UK to work in a care home will generally not qualify for the Health and Care Visa.

Many migrant social care workers will therefore be unable to come to the UK by applying for a Health and Care Visa – a decision that has sparked criticism from advocates of the care system. The government’s move to exclude primary care workers from applying for the Health and Care Visa is potentially concerning given that many of these essential workers will not meet the necessary income threshold to successfully apply for another type of Visa.

In addition to the Health and Care Visa, the UK government has announced a permanent exemption from the Immigration Health Surcharge for health and care staff. This exemption will apply to applicants for the Health and Care Visa along with their partners, spouses and dependants.

The government have also pledged to refund the Immigration Health Surcharge for any Tier 2 Visa applicants working in approved health and care roles, provided that they paid the fee on or after 31 March 2020. Health and care workers who do not qualify for the Health and Care Visa will also be reimbursed for payments made towards the Immigration Health Surcharge – although no arrangements have yet been made for these reimbursements to be made.