In the recent times, the immigration policies in the United Kingdom have been fraught with lots of misinformation and distortions by people who ordinarily should not have any business in the immigration field.
Some misleading information out there stem from little knowledge in the area, while some others intentionally seek to catch media traffic with distorted reports, just to tell their audience what they want to hear.
We must also quickly point out that the rancorous and conflicting signals from the UK Home Office have also contributed in many ways to this misinformation, which as we have already pointed out, may sometimes be unintentional.
In this article, we are looking at two very popular areas in the current multiple and still growing immigration channels in and around the United Kingdom, many of which have already benefited a lot of immigrants.
Recent developments have left no one in doubt that the United Kingdom, as well as some other European countries among which includes Germany, Europe’s biggest economy now depend on immigrants to supercharge their economy.
Check our recent report about German government`s big plans to open up the immigration space to foreigners in 2023. This includes extensive and very bold proposal now going to the German parliament on how to simplify the acquisition of German citizenship and international passport by foreigners.
In the wake of Brexit and final divorce from Europe, United Kingdom introduced the Health & Care Worker Visa as well, the Skilled Worker Visa and many other immigration routes to the UK.
We are looking at the first two and our focus is on identifying and providing very clear information about the details of these two very popular immigration routes to the United Kingdom.
Therefore, particularly we shall be looking at the following areas:
- What is Health & Care Worker Visa and who can apply?
- What is Skilled Worker Visa and who can apply?
- Similarities and differences between Health & Care Worker and Skilled Worker Visas
- Advantages of Health & Care Worker over Skilled Worker Visas
- How to confirm which one you should apply for
What is UK Health & Care Worker Visa and who can apply?
A Health and Care Worker visa is a category of visa that “allows medical professionals to come to or stay in the UK to do an eligible job with the NHS, an NHS supplier or in adult social care. Per attention on the phrase “medical professionals”.
That makes this category of visa an exclusive package for a specific category of medical workers, not just every dick and harry that work in the medical field. It is an exclusive preserve for professionals such as doctors, mid-wives, nurses, dentists, and other health professionals or adult social care professional.
There has been a confusion about ordinary healthcare workers who are not professionals actually belong here. The answer is both yes and no. This will become clearer as we move along. Such non-professionals would include assistant care workers and lower carder care providers.
It is important to point out here that the Health & Care Worker Visa is somethings more popularly referred to as healthcare visa and going forward we shall stick to this nomenclature. Please read our previous article for full details on the requirement for the healthcare visa.
Eligible Jobs for Healthcare Visa
The UK Health and Care Worker Visa is available to the following qualified healthcare, which the Home office have identified with the following four-digit number as the standard occupation code (SOC):
1181: health services and public health managers and directors
1242: residential, day and domiciliary care managers and proprietors
2112: biological scientists and biochemists
2113: physical scientists
2211: medical practitioners
2212: psychologists
2213: pharmacists
2214: ophthalmic opticians
2215: dental practitioners
2217: medical radiographers
2218: podiatrists
2219: health professionals that are ‘not elsewhere classified’, such as audiologists and occupational health advisers
2221: physiotherapists
2222: occupational therapists
2223: speech and language therapists
2229: therapy professionals that are ‘not elsewhere classified’, such as osteopaths and psychotherapists
2231: nurses
2232: midwives
2442: social workers
3111: laboratory technicians
3213: paramedics
3216: dispensing opticians
3217: pharmaceutical technicians
3218: medical and dental technicians
3219: health associate professionals not elsewhere classified
6141: nursing auxiliaries and assistants
6143: dental nurses
6146: senior care workers
What is UK Skilled Worker Visa and who can apply?
This is a visa typed that recently replaced the UK Tier 2 (General) Work Visa. However, in real sense they cover about same purpose. A Skilled Worker Visa is the category of visa that “allows you to come to or stay in the UK to do an eligible job with an approved employer.”
So, essentially, while the Health and Care Worker Visa is only for medical professionals and those in eligible health and care professions. The Skilled Worker visa is for other professions and jobs outside of health and care sector.
One thing to note is that this category of visa even by its definition shows that it is very encompassing. It is very generic, and would cover very wide immigrants. However, this will be subject to further specification, which we have already discussed in another article which you can find here.
However, to further inform our readers, we shall highlight below some issues most of which are bothering on eligibility and qualification for these two category of visas, which have proven very popular to migrants.
Similarities between UK Health & Care Worker and Skilled Worker Visas
These UK Health & Care Worker and Skilled Worker Visas share close similarities in the area of eligibility and qualification. Most applicants find themselves passing through very closely related procedures and processes when applying for either of the visa categories.
Particularly, according to available Home Office information, you must meet all of the following requirements to be eligible for any of the two visa categories:
- You must have the right job offer:
Your job must be eligible for either the healthcare visa or the skilled worker visa according to the government provided guideline and specifications. What this means is that to apply for healthcare visa, you must have a job offer that suits the purpose of the visa. Same thing goes to skilled worker visa. See the next subheading below on how to confirm the jobs that qualifies for each visa category.
- You must have the right employer:
Simply speaking, when you arrive the UK, you’ll be working for a UK employer that’s been approved by the Home Office. What this means is that the company that have offered you employment in the UK must have a sponsorship license.
- You must have the right salary offer:
You will be paid at least the minimum salary for the type of work you’ll be doing. This means that your job offer must come with the minimum wage according to UK standard for the category of job you have been offered by the UK employer.
Also, is good to point out that the UK government has confirmed that the 15th of February 2022, care workers and home carers will be recognised on the Skilled Worker shortage occupation list. They will therefore be eligible to apply for a work visa for the UK.
The details were confirmed in a Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules (HC 1019) and follows confirmation that the government would be accepting recommendations made by the Migration Advisory Committee.
The organisation seeking to sponsor the worker will need to hold a Sponsor Licence under the Skilled Worker route and be approved by UKVI to sponsor workers under the Health and Care Worker visa.
The above points are the major similarities that both healthcare and skilled worker visa share in common. However, like we have already established earlier in this article, they are still two different visa categories with some worlds apart. This will now be discussed below.
Advantages of Healthcare Worker Over Skilled Worker Visas
There are very clear advantages the Health and Care Visa has over the Skilled Worker visa, which are as follows:
- The Health and Care Visa is fast tracked by UKVI, meaning that applications are handled as a priority and processed within three weeks from the point the applicant has provided their biometric information. This compares to some other work visas, which can take between eight and twenty weeks to process.
- The application fee for a Health and Care Visa is much lower than for the Skilled Worker Visa at £464 compared to £1,220 if applying for more than 3 years.
- There is no requirement to pay the healthcare immigration surcharge for the Health and Care Visa. This is normally £624 for each year of your stay.
How to confirm whether to apply for healthcare visa or skilled worker visa
It is not impossible that some people may succeed in getting a UK sponsor who have offered them as job, but still find themselves confused as to which of this two visa categories they should apply for.
This is especially when the applicant has a job a offer which seems to qualify for both categories. For instance – a job offer support care worker or home carer, both of which seems fit for both healthcare and skilled worker visa application.
Naturally, the most advisable and in fact very first choice will be to go for the healthcare visa category because of the obvious advantages we enumerated above. However, that notwithstanding, to confirm what is the best option, you must look the occupation code for the job you have been offered by the UK government.
To do this is very simple. Visit the UK ONS Occupation Coding Tool on the official website at https://onsdigital.github.io/. If you do not know your code, you can search for your job in the ONS occupation coding tool.
Not every job title is included. If you cannot find your exact job title, try searching for similar jobs. Make sure the job description matches what you’ll be doing. Some jobs in the same area of practice have different codes, for example dentists and dental hygiene therapists. However, your employer must have provided the occupation code in the Certificate of Sponsorship for the job offer.
We know you may have questions, suggestions or recommendations following this report. Kindly drop them in the comment section below. We promise to respond adequately.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_yiwGQ9s4A&t=102s
