Is your role on the Immigration Salary List — and eligible for the Health and Care Worker visa?

The Immigration Salary List (ISL) is the UK Home Office list of occupations that qualify for a lower minimum salary on the Skilled Worker and Health and Care Worker routes. It replaced the old Shortage Occupation List in April 2024. Roles on the ISL — which in health and social care includes nursing auxiliaries and assistants (SOC 6131), care workers and home carers (SOC 6135), senior care workers (SOC 6136) and residential/domiciliary care managers (SOC 1232) — can be sponsored at a reduced salary floor. Source: GOV.UK Skilled Worker visa immigration salary list, updated 11 November 2025.

The Health and Care Worker visa covers qualified doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and adult social-care roles working for a Home Office-licensed employer. Eligible occupations include generalist and specialist medical practitioners (SOC 2211/2212), the registered nurse family (SOC 2231–2236), pharmacists (2251), physiotherapists (2221), occupational therapists (2222), radiographers (2254), paramedics (2255) and nursing auxiliaries (6131), among others. Use the checker above to see your exact role, and confirm your SOC 2020 code with your employer. Source: GOV.UK Health and Care Worker visa: your job.

For roles paid on a national pay scale (such as NHS Agenda for Change) or on the Immigration Salary List, the absolute minimum is £25,000 a year — equivalently about £12.82 an hour on a 37.5-hour week — and you must also be paid the going rate for your occupation, which may be higher. Roles not on a national pay scale face a higher general threshold (£31,300 from 2026). Figures are dated and revised each April — confirm the current amount on GOV.UK. Sources: GOV.UK; NHS Employers, 8 April 2026.

The visa application fee is £284 per person for a visa of three years or less, and £551 per person for more than three years — the same amount for you and each dependant. Crucially, the Immigration Health Surcharge is exempt for Health and Care Worker visa holders and their dependants, saving over £1,000 per person per year compared with other work visas. You must also normally show £1,270 in savings held for 28 days, unless your employer certifies maintenance. Source: GOV.UK Health and Care Worker visa.

Care workers and senior care workers (SOC 6135 and 6136) are on the Immigration Salary List, but from 2025 the Home Office closed new out-of-country applications for these roles. They are now eligible only to switch, extend or update from within the UK. The checker flags this for you. Confirm the current rule on GOV.UK before relying on it.

No. GeraClinic and Gera Services Ltd are not the Home Office, not an immigration adviser and not a recruitment agency. We do not decide visa eligibility, do not sponsor anyone, do not match you to specific UK vacancies and never charge a health worker a placement fee. This tool is free, general immigration-pathway information — you apply directly, of your own accord, and only an OISC-regulated adviser or solicitor can advise on your individual case.