The United Kingdom government has officially stopped issuing new Health and Care Worker visas to foreign care workers, effective Monday, July 22, 2025, marking a pivotal change in the country’s immigration policy.
The new directive, confirmed by the Home Office, is part of the government’s broader efforts to reduce net migration, particularly in lower-paid sectors. Officials say the measure aims to prioritise the employment of UK-based workers while tackling alleged abuses within the visa sponsorship system.
Under the updated immigration rules, no new overseas applications will be accepted under the Health and Care Worker visa category. Individuals already in the UK with valid care visas will not be subject to removal but may face limited options for renewal or switching into similar care roles once their current visas expire.
Care workers under Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) Code 6145 — a category that includes support workers in residential and home care settings — were previously listed on the UK’s Shortage Occupation List.
This designation granted them easier access through reduced salary thresholds, lower application fees, and faster visa processing times. Those benefits have now been rescinded for new applicants.
While the UK will continue to process applications for other health sector roles such as registered nurses, senior care managers, and specialist medical professionals under the Skilled Worker visa pathway, entry routes for general care assistants have been closed to foreign workers.
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A spokesperson for the UK Home Office said the change was necessary to “ensure that opportunities in the care sector are first made available to UK residents and to safeguard the integrity of our visa system.”
However, the policy has sparked alarm among social care providers and industry leaders. Many warn the decision could exacerbate ongoing workforce shortages in the care sector — a field already grappling with high vacancy rates and increasing demand due to an aging population.
Several care home operators and recruitment agencies voiced concerns that the ban could have “devastating” effects on service delivery, especially in rural and under-resourced regions.
“Foreign care workers have long been the backbone of many UK care services,” one agency director said. “Removing this pipeline without first addressing the sector’s chronic recruitment and retention issues is a recipe for crisis.”
For foreign nationals already living and working in the UK under the Health and Care Worker visa, the Home Office clarified that their existing rights remain intact.
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These individuals may continue working until their visa expires and are still eligible to switch employers within the same visa parameters, apply for extensions under transitional provisions, and maintain dependent sponsorships issued before the change.
Those seeking to remain in the UK after their current visa term must now consider alternative legal pathways. These include applying for a Skilled Worker visa in an eligible occupation, switching to a student visa to retrain, or pursuing permanent settlement if they have accumulated five years of skilled work.
Some prospective migrants are now expected to explore higher education options in the UK, with plans to later transition into high-demand sectors such as IT, engineering, or construction, which remain open under the Skilled Worker scheme.
The announcement follows increased political pressure on the Conservative-led government to curb immigration levels, after recent statistics showed a sharp rise in foreign worker entries into low-wage sectors — a trend critics argue has outpaced the UK’s capacity for integration and housing.
While officials defend the move as necessary for long-term sustainability, critics continue to warn of its potential to deepen staffing gaps in essential care services and place additional pressure on an already overburdened NHS and social care system.