Health & Care Workers – Changes to Dependent Rules
Towards the end of 2023, the UK government announced changes to the rules around immigration. This was widely seen as a toughening up of the criteria used to assess applications to work and settle in the country with the intention of reducing the number of net migrants.
One key announcement was that people moving to the UK to fill health and social care roles would no longer be able to bring any dependents with them. In the 12 months from September 2022, 143,990 people were granted Health & Care Work visas with 58% of those people working in the care sector.
Previously, the dependents of anyone granted a Health & Care Work visa were allowed to apply to enter the UK. From Spring 2024, Health & Care Workers will no longer be able to be joined by family members as visa dependents.
Spouses of holders of Health & Care Worker visas may be able to join their partner if they have secured employment in the UK on a Skilled Worker Visa or similar.
What is the Health & Care Worker Visa?
A UK Health & Care Worker Visa allows medical professionals and care workers to work in the UK to fill an eligible role with the NHS, an NHS supplier, or in adult social care. To be eligible for a visa, you must be a qualified health or adult social care professional and eligible to work in a health or social care job.
Your proposed UK employer will need to have been approved by the Home Office and will need to provide a ‘Certificate of Sponsorship’ that details the role you have been offered.
Applicants will also need to meet a minimum income requirement, currently set at £26,200 a year or £10.75 an hour, depending on which is higher. The salary you receive should be at the ‘going rate’ for the job and the same as a UK applicant would receive for the role. If your job is on the shortage occupation list, you can be paid 80% of the job’s usual going rate.
Health & Care Workers are exempt from the staged increase in the minimum income requirement that is being applied to Skilled Worker Visas.
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