Health and Care Worker Visa Cost and Fees: The Full Breakdown for 2026

The Health and Care Worker visa is one of the cheapest ways to move to the UK as a working professional — not because the government lowered their fees, but because healthcare workers are specifically exempt from the most expensive cost on a UK work visa.

Here is exactly what you will pay, what you will save, and what professional registration adds to the total.

The Most Important Number: £0 Immigration Health Surcharge

Every standard Skilled Worker visa applicant must pay the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) — an upfront fee that funds the NHS. As of 2026, that rate is £1,035 per year per adult, and £776 per year per child under 18.

Health and Care Worker visa holders — and their eligible dependents — are fully exempt from this charge.

The magnitude of this exemption is easy to underestimate until you run the numbers. For a five-year visa covering a healthcare worker, their spouse, and two children:

The IHS exemption alone saves a family of four over £22,000 in upfront costs. For a nurse from the Philippines or a doctor from Nigeria, this is not a small administrative advantage — it is the difference between being able to afford to move and not.

Visa Application Fees (2025/2026)

The visa application fee is also significantly lower for Health and Care Worker applicants than for standard Skilled Worker applicants.

Most applicants apply for the maximum initial grant of 5 years, so the relevant fee is £628. A single applicant with no dependents pays £628 total in visa fees — no IHS on top.

You pay the application fee when you submit your online visa application through the UKVI portal. The fee is non-refundable whether your application succeeds or fails.

Do You Need to Show Bank Balance?

You must show at least £1,270 in personal savings, held continuously for 28 consecutive days, in your own bank account. This maintenance requirement is waived if your A-rated sponsor certifies on the Certificate of Sponsorship that they will financially support you during your first month in the UK.

Most NHS trusts and reputable private healthcare providers will certify maintenance as standard — ask your employer's HR team before gathering bank statements.

Professional Registration Fees by Profession

Beyond the visa application itself, every profession has mandatory regulatory registration costs. These are paid to clinical regulatory bodies, not the Home Office. Budget for these before any visa spending:

NMC (Nurses and Midwives)

• Application assessment: £140
• Initial registration (once OSCE passed): £153
• CBT exam: varies by testing centre globally (Pearson VUE administers this)
• OSCE resit (if first attempt failed): £397 per resit
• English language test: IELTS Academic ~£150–200, OET ~£330 (significantly more expensive but clinically focused)

GMC (Doctors)

• Full registration with licence to practice: £433–£481
• PLAB 1 exam: £283
• PLAB 2 exam: £1,036
• English language test: IELTS or OET as above

HCPC (Allied Health Professionals — physiotherapists, paramedics, radiographers, etc.)

• International scrutiny fee: £678.38 (raised from £539 in April 2025, non-refundable)
• Biennial registration renewal: £123.34
• No standardised clinical exam — but scrutiny is rigorous and can take months

GPhC (Pharmacists)

• OSPAP eligibility scrutiny: £783 (non-refundable)
• Registration processing: £114
• Registration entry: £293
• University OSPAP course tuition: one-year full-time postgraduate programme (varies by university)
• This does not include 52 weeks of foundation training costs

The pharmacist pathway has the highest pre-visa cost by far. For nurses and doctors, the combined regulatory and visa costs — excluding travel and relocation — are typically in the range of £1,500 to £3,000 depending on exam resit history.

What Your Employer Pays

Legitimate employers bear the following costs themselves. You should never be asked to pay these:

• Sponsor licence fee (paid by the employer to maintain their sponsor licence)
• Immigration Skills Charge — £364 per year for small/charitable sponsors, £1,000 per year for medium and large sponsors
• Certificate of Sponsorship assignment fee: £239 per CoS

If an agency or employer asks you to pay any of these, or charges you a "placement fee," "agency fee," or "sponsorship fee," this is illegal under the Employment Agencies Act 1973. Agencies and brokers have been known to charge between £5,000 and £10,000 for "arranging" a Certificate of Sponsorship. This is extortion, not a service.

Repayment Clauses: What You Might Have to Pay Back

Employers are permitted to include repayment clauses in contracts to recover upfront costs — for example, your relocation flight, your first month's temporary accommodation, or the cost of your OSCE exam if they pre-paid it — if you resign within a fixed period.

NHS Employers guidelines set clear limits on these clauses:

• Leaving within 0–12 months: up to 100% of eligible costs
• Leaving within 13–24 months: up to 50%
• Leaving within 25–36 months: up to 25%
• After 36 months: no costs recoverable

"Eligible costs" does not include the Immigration Skills Charge, the sponsor licence fee, or the cost of your visa application. If your contract includes those in a repayment clause, it is not compliant with NHS Employers guidance.

Total Budget Estimate for a Single Applicant

This does not include flight, temporary housing, or PLAB 2 (for doctors). Doctors face a more expensive registration pipeline: PLAB 2 alone costs £1,036.

Planning Your Financial Timeline

The professional registration fees and the visa fee do not fall at the same time. English language tests and CBT/PLAB exams come first — months before the visa application. Budget accordingly so you are not scrambling for the registration fees at the same time you need the visa application money.

The UK Health & Care Worker Visa Guide includes a phased financial planner showing when each cost falls across the full registration and application timeline, alongside the exact document requirements for the Home Office application stage.