Health and Care Worker Visa For Ghanaians: Expert Advice & Application Help

A Health and Care Worker visa allows eligible healthcare professionals to work in the UK for an approved employer. Applicants must have an eligible occupation, a qualifying job offer and Certificate of Sponsorship, meet the salary and English requirements, and satisfy the other visa requirements.

The UK authorities designed the Health and Care Worker visa to help meet the demands for professional healthcare workers in the UK healthcare sector. Ghanaian applicants who hold this visa have the opportunity to settle in the UK permanently.

The Health Care Worker visa allows its holder to enter the UK and stay for up to 5 years and can extend it for as many times as they want.

UK Health and Care Worker Visa for Ghanaian Nationals

Ghana has been a significant source country for Health and Care Worker visa holders. Home Office earnings data for 2023–24 recorded 5,600 Ghanaian Health and Care Worker main applicants, with median annual adjusted earnings of £27,700 among those covered by the analysis.

From 22 July 2025, GOV.UK confirms that the UK immigration route for care workers and senior care workers closed to new applications from overseas.

In 2026, new care-worker sponsorship from Ghana is therefore not available for entry clearance, although specific transitional provisions continue for eligible workers already in the UK.

Page Contents

• What Is the UK Health and Care Worker Visa?
• Health and Care Worker Visa Requirements for Sponsoring UK Employers
• Health and Care Worker Visa Eligibility for Ghanaian Applicants
• Can Ghanaians Still Apply for Care Worker Sponsorship in the UK in 2026?
• Application Fees for the Health and Care Worker Visa
• Health and Care Worker Visa Step by Step Application Process
• The Typical Application Processing Time
• Extending / Renewing the Health and Care Worker Visa
• What Health and Care Workers Can and Cannot Do
• Bringing Dependants
• How Can Total Law Help?
• Frequently Asked Questions

As a UK-based employer, to sponsor a Ghanaian health and care worker, you must:

• Apply online for a worker’s licence
• Be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) if you wish to hire care workers and senior care workers in England
• Provide an open position that is eligible for sponsorship
• Have a suitable business
• Pay the sponsor licence application fee (£1,682 for medium and large organisations or £611 for small businesses and charities

Health and Care Worker Visa Eligibility for Ghanaian Applicants

To meet the Health and Care visa UK requirements, a Ghanaian applicant must:

• Be a qualified doctor, nurse, health professional or adult social care professional
• Have received a CoS (Certificate of Sponsorship) from you stating the roles you have offered them
• Have a job in an eligible health or social care occupation
• Have received a job offer from you
• Meet the applicable salary requirement, which depends on the occupation and may be based on a minimum threshold, the role’s going rate or an applicable national pay scale.
• Prove your English at B2 CEFR unless you qualify through another accepted route. An approved English test, a qualifying degree taught in English or an accepted professional English assessment may satisfy the requirement.

Can Ghanaians Still Apply for Care Worker Sponsorship in the UK in 2026?

Yes. Ghanaians can still apply for a UK Health and Care Worker visa in 2026 if they have an eligible occupation, a qualifying job offer from an approved UK sponsor and meet the applicable salary, English language and professional requirements.

The route remains available to eligible healthcare professionals, including doctors, nurses and other qualifying health professionals.

However, new overseas applications for care workers (SOC 6135) and senior care workers (SOC 6136) were closed since 22 July 2025. This means a Ghanaian outside the UK cannot normally obtain entry clearance to work in one of these roles, although transitional provisions apply to certain workers already in the UK.

If you are already in the UK on any other valid visas, you may be able to switch into care roles provided you have already been working legally with your sponsor for at least three months.

Existing care workers who secured their initial sponsorship before 22 July 2025 can continue to extend their visas or change employers within the rules.

Ghana is also on the UK government’s red list for international health and social care recruitment, meaning active recruitment from Ghana is not permitted under the international recruitment code.

This, however, does not amount to a blanket ban on Ghanaian healthcare professionals obtaining a visa. Eligibility depends on the applicant’s occupation, qualifications, professional registration, UK job and compliance with the current immigration rules.

Ghanaian professional healthcare workers seeking to obtain Health and Care visas must pay their visa application fees depending on how long they intend to stay in the country. The fees they must pay include:

• £324 for 3 years per applicant
• £628 for more than 3 years per applicant

Note that the above-mentioned fees must be paid whether the applicant is applying from outside or within the UK. Ghanaian applicants must also have at least £1,270 in their bank accounts for their upkeep when they enter the UK.

The UKVI takes the UK Health and Care Worker visa applications as a top priority. For this reason, the UK Health and Care visa processing time typically takes about 3 weeks. However, your application may be delayed for some reasons, including:

• Incorrect information is found in your application
• Further documents are needed by the UKVI to process your application
• Your documents need to be verified
• The workload for the UKVI

The UK Health and Care Worker visa is valid for 5 years. You can apply to extend this visa before it expires provided you continue to meet all the eligibility requirements that granted you the visa initially. You can extend your visa if you continue to meet the route requirements; if you change employer or eligible job, you must apply to update your visa.

If you do not want to extend this visa, you can alternatively apply for indefinite leave to remain, provided you meet all the requirements. With your indefinite leave to remain status in the UK, you’ll be free from most UK immigration restrictions.

Ghanaian applicants seeking to obtain a Health and Care Worker visa have certain rights and restrictions in the UK. When you obtain the visa, you will be allowed to:

• Get an additional job (depending on the situation)
• Do voluntary work or study
• Work in an eligible job
• Bring your dependents to come and join you in the UK (if eligible)
• Leave and re-enter the UK
• Seek permanent settlement in the UK after living in the country for up to 5 years and meeting other requirements

You will not be allowed to:

• Switch jobs or employers unless your visa is updated (unless you are a recognised modern slavery victim)
• Access public funds or State Pension

Whether your partner and children can join you depends on your occupation and immigration history.

Ghanaian doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals working in degree-level roles (RQF Level 6 and above) can bring eligible partners and dependent children to the UK. Eligible dependants make separate applications and can apply with you or later, provided they meet the relevant dependant requirements. You must also show proof of your family connection to them and show proof of additional funds to support them in the UK.

Care workers (SOC 6135) and senior care workers (SOC 6136) cannot bring or sponsor new dependent partners or children to the UK, unless any of the following conditions apply:

• They have continually been employed as a care/senior care worker and on a Health and Care Worker visa (or a Skilled Worker visa) since before 11 March 2024
• The dependant application is for a child born in the UK
• The main applicant is the only living parent responsible for the dependent child
• Both parents of the dependent child are sponsored as care workers or senior care workers