UK’s Care Worker Visa route closes for overseas applicants

The Home Office has closed the Care Worker Visa route for overseas applicants. The changes reflect the government’s broader strategy to reduce net migration, limit exploitation in the care sector, and shift the focus toward domestic recruitment. 

The decision affects both care workers and senior care workers and means care providers can no longer sponsor new recruits from overseas under the Skilled Worker route. So what’s left of the visa route, and what are the practical implications for employers? We’ll ask an immigration expert that question.

The change took effect earlier this week on 22 July and means entry clearance applications for care workers from overseas are no longer accepted. For providers who’ve relied heavily on overseas sponsorship since the route was opened in 2022, this marks a major change in recruitment strategy for a sector struggling with staff shortages.

There is, however, some flexibility for those already in the UK. The government has confirmed that in-country switching remains possible until 22 July 2028, but only where the worker has been employed by the sponsoring provider for at least three months before the Certificate of Sponsorship is issued. That condition is intended to prevent the system being used as a back door for overseas recruitment by fast-tracking new arrivals into sponsored roles.

Meanwhile, the requirement for sponsors to prioritise workers already in the UK has been removed, which could help employers looking to regularise the status of staff they already have. But the Home Office has also made it clear that scrutiny will increase. Employers should expect continued compliance monitoring, with the risk of licence revocation for any breaches.

So what does all this mean for HR teams working in social care, and how should providers respond now? Earlier I caught up with immigration lawyer Shara Pledger who joined me by video link from Manchester to discuss it: 

Shara Pledger: “It's very significant for employers who are quite heavily reliant on overseas recruitment at this time. We know that over the past few years there has been a real boom in the number of care workers, adult social care workers, that have been recruited from outside of the UK and obviously the restrictions that have been applied to this route have been increasing over time. So for example, we saw that introduction of a ban on dependents which caused a real decline in the number of new applicants. This new change basically closes that door, finally. So it means that we won't be able to accept new applications from people from overseas but there will, of course, still be opportunities for people who are already present in the UK.”

Joe Glavina: “Can you talk us through what HR teams really need to be thinking about now, particularly around forward planning, Shara?”

Shara Pledger: “First and foremost, it's just an understanding of exactly what's happening and when you talk about it in broad terms it sounds pretty straightforward. There'll be no new applicants from overseas, people in the UK will still be able to extend, but obviously that's only part of the story that's much more complicated than that. There are new requirements in relation to salary for example. There are new restrictions in relation to people that will be switching into that care worker scheme from inside the UK who've not been sponsored before, so there is this new need to have been employed for at least three months before the application is made and, of course, that cut-off date that we know is coming in July 2028. So all of it is about forward planning and that's what we're trying to help a lot of our clients to do. It's about understanding, you know, if we know that there's an expansion period coming up, a new home is opening, or whatever it happens to be, it's about making sure that the organisation is confident, at the time that we need those workers, where are they going to come from and understanding, well, what opportunities are still available to us to recruit from inside of the UK?”

Joe Glavina: “One of the key conditions is that workers must be employed for at least three months before being sponsored. Can you explain the thinking behind that requirement and how it helps?”

Shara Pledger: “It's really about trying to improve the experience of people that are going into this particular route. It has been a route that has been plagued by quite negative stories that have come out via the press in relation to things like exploitation of workers, for example. So really, it gives an opportunity for an individual to get some experience of working with the organisation before that sponsorship is offered and, on the flip side of that of course, it gives the organisation an opportunity to get to know that worker and to determine whether they are indeed actually suitable for visa sponsorship. So the thinking behind it is really to try and ensure that when people are sponsored in this route, they're sponsored into genuine roles which will have sufficient hours to support that sponsorship and that both sides of the people in that arrangement are happy to move forward in that sponsorship way.”

Joe Glavina: “Any other changes to flag to our viewers, Shara?”

Shara Pledger: “The other big change that will be impacting particularly employees in the care sector and, indeed, other sectors as well that tend to use a lot of workers that are not necessarily traditional employees, is the changes to right to work checks. So adult social care is one of those areas, like construction, where there are quite often agency workers, people on zero hours contracts, that kind of stuff. Now this is a real area of concern and focus for the government at the moment. We are constantly seeing new stories coming out and new information being shared about steps that are being taken with employers that are heavily reliant on those types of workers to try and improve and strengthen right to work checks. Now that is likely to coincide with changes to the law that are anticipated at some point in the future, but it's definitely something that employers need to be aware of, that their right to work checking obligations may well be increasing in future and they should be absolutely alive to any news on that issue.”
Those changes to the Care Worker Visa route are now in force – they took effect on 22 July 2025, following the publication of the Statement of Changes earlier this month. They form part of a wider shift in immigration policy set out in the government’s May 2025 White Paper, which aims to reduce net migration and encourage more sustainable recruitment practices in sectors like social care. We’ve included links to both documents in the transcript of this programme.

LINKS
- Link to White Paper on immigration
- Link to Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules