UK Care Worker Visa 2026: Your Options If You Are Already in the UK
The care worker visa UK route closed to new overseas applicants in July 2025. Many Nepali and Indian care workers already in the UK now face a harder question: what happens if their sponsor loses its licence, or if they want to settle? Here are the facts and your options.
Table of Contents
Last checked: 29 September 2026. Sources include GOV.UK, the House of Commons Library, NHS Employers and Free Movement. This is general information, not immigration advice.
Is the UK care worker visa closed?
Yes, for people outside the UK. Overseas recruitment of care workers ended on 22 July 2025. You cannot apply for a care worker or senior care worker visa from Nepal or India now.
Already in the UK: who can still be sponsored
People already in the UK can still be sponsored for care worker (SOC 6135) and senior care worker (SOC 6136) roles until 22 July 2028. If you are switching from another visa route, you must have been legally employed by that sponsor for at least 3 months first. After 22 July 2028, these roles are due to be removed from the shortage lists, and it is not yet clear whether extensions will be allowed.
Minimum pay on a care worker visa
The minimum is generally the higher of £25,000 a year or an hourly rate reported by law firms as £12.82. Employers cannot deduct immigration or business costs to meet this. The National Living Wage for everyone aged 21 and over has been £12.71 an hour since April 2026. Check your contract and payslips carefully.
My care worker visa sponsor lost its licence: what now?
When a sponsor’s licence is revoked, the Home Office usually shortens (curtails) the worker’s visa to 60 days, or to the visa’s end date if sooner. In that time you need to:
- Find a new licensed sponsor, or switch to a different visa.
- Contact your regional rematching service or support organisations.
- Keep copies of your contract, payslips and all messages with your employer.
Rematching has been difficult. Between May 2024 and May 2025, the Home Office contacted 28,621 displaced workers, but only 941 of those signposted by March 2025 had found jobs with legitimate sponsors, according to Work Rights Centre data.
Record sponsor licence revocations
- 1,948 sponsor licences were revoked between July 2024 and June 2025, up from 937 the year before (Home Office figures).
- About 3,100 were revoked in 2025, the highest since records began in 2012 (Work Rights Centre).
- LabourHub reported 4,403 revocations from July 2025 to June 2026, with care among the hardest-hit sectors. This figure has not been checked against the raw Home Office data.
New rights for exploited workers from 8 October 2026
From 8 October 2026, Skilled Workers who receive a positive Conclusive Grounds decision under the National Referral Mechanism (the UK’s modern slavery system) can work for any employer, including self-employment, for the rest of their visa. Decision times have fallen to about 53 days, but the threshold is high: wage theft or recruitment fraud alone has not usually qualified.
Settlement for care workers: 5 years now, 15 proposed
Care workers can currently apply for ILR after 5 years. Under the earned settlement proposal, care and other medium-skilled roles could face 15 years. This is not law yet. See UK earned settlement 2026.
Where to get free help
- Your regional care worker rematching partnership.
- Trade unions such as UNISON and GMB.
- Advice charities such as Work Rights Centre and Citizens Advice.
- The Modern Slavery Helpline if you are being exploited.
Never pay anyone for a certificate of sponsorship. It is illegal for employers to charge you for sponsorship.
Responses