The authority, exactly
Nurses are among the eligible occupations: the Home Office lists code 2237, other registered nursing professionals. The visa lets you stay for up to 5 years before you need to extend it.
United Kingdom · Work authorisation
Health and Care Worker visa
Issued by UK Visas and Immigration (Home Office). It is checked against conditions rather than scored, so the question is whether you meet each one, not how many points you gather.
Conditions
What this permit
asks of you.
Salary floor
GBP 25,000 a year
£25,000 is the usual floor, not the nurse's salary: if the going rate for the job is higher, you need at least the going rate, and for eligible health jobs the Home Office points to its table of national pay scales by NHS pay band and area of the UK. That table is sourced from the 2024/25 pay scales and lists Band 5 at £29,970 in England, £31,892 in Scotland, £30,420 in Wales and £28,407 in Northern Ireland. It does not say which band a nursing post sits in: your employer's offer does.
A figure without the year it belongs to and the condition attached to it is how someone rules themselves out of a permit they qualify for. Both are above.
What it wants from your degree
Be a qualified nurse, with an eligible job with the NHS, an NHS supplier or in adult social care.
The procedure
3 steps,
in the order they happen.
Prepare your documents
- Get an eligible job with the NHS, an NHS supplier or in adult social care, and a certificate of sponsorship from your employer with information about the role you have been offered.
Get your qualification assessed
- Prove your knowledge of English at level B2 of the Common European Framework.As a nurse you do not need to prove it again if you have already passed an English language assessment accepted by the relevant regulated professional body. The NMC's accepted tests are listed in the recognition branch above.
Register and start working
- Apply online. You will usually get a decision within 3 weeks.
Cost and time
What it costs,
and how long the authority says it takes.
Fees
Timeframes
Published processing times, not a prediction about your case.
Both halves together
Guides that use this permit.
Each one takes a profession into United Kingdom and runs the recognition branch and the authorisation branch side by side, including what your country of qualification adds.
- Nurse Registration and Work Visa in the UKNMC registration for overseas nurses
Evidence
Every claim on this page, and where it came from.
5 official pages, each with the jurisdiction it speaks for and the date a human last opened it. The oldest is 2026-09-26, and that is the date this page is only as fresh as.
- GOV.UK — Health and Care Worker visa: eligibility, certificate of sponsorship, up to 5 years, decision within 3 weeks, no healthcare surchargeGB · checked 2026-09-26
- GOV.UK — Health and Care Worker visa: your job (eligible occupation codes, including 2237 other registered nursing professionals; £25,000 or the going rate)GB · checked 2026-09-26
- GOV.UK — Health and Care Worker visa: how much it costs (£324 up to 3 years, £628 over 3 years, £1,270 savings unless exempt)GB · checked 2026-09-26
- GOV.UK — Health and Care Worker visa: knowledge of English (B2, and the exemption for an assessment already accepted by the regulator)GB · checked 2026-09-26
- GOV.UK — National pay scales for eligible healthcare occupation codes (sourced from the 2024/25 pay scales, updated 22 July 2025)GB · checked 2026-09-26
Is this the right permit for you?
That depends on where you qualified.
The planner compares every route United Kingdom opens to your country of qualification, and adds the recognition branch when your profession has one.