Care Worker Visa UK 2026 (SOC 6135 & 6136): Can You Still Be Sponsored?

The care worker visa was the biggest single source of UK work visas until the Home Office shut it to overseas recruitment on 22 July 2025. It is not completely closed: people already in the UK can still switch into or extend in occupation codes 6135 and 6136 until 22 July 2028. This guide sets out who qualifies, what the job must pay, and what the November 2026 settlement announcement means for carers.

The position at a glance

Who can still switch in the UK

Appendix Skilled Worker (SW 6.1B) lets codes 6135 and 6136 be used only for permission to stay, and only if:

• you have been legally working for the sponsor for at least three months ending on the date your Certificate of Sponsorship is issued — so the employer sponsors someone already on its payroll, typically a Student, Graduate, dependant or other worker with the right to work;
• your application date is before 22 July 2028;
• for jobs in England, the sponsor is registered with the Care Quality Commission and currently carrying on a regulated activity; and
• the sponsor is a care provider, not a private household or individual.

Someone who already holds Skilled Worker permission in 6135 or 6136 can extend or change employer without the three-month test, inside the same 2028 window. Visitors cannot switch. If you are switching into the Skilled Worker route for the first time, the B2 English requirement that applies to new applicants since 8 January 2026 applies to you; an extension in the same route does not re-test English.

The requirement to recruit first from the pool of displaced care workers through regional partnerships was removed on 22 July 2025, so sponsors no longer need that confirmation before assigning a certificate.

What the job must pay

Codes 6135 and 6136 are Medium Skilled, so they can only be sponsored because they sit on the Immigration Salary List. That gives a threshold of £33,400 a year or £17.13 an hour, whichever is higher for your hours, counting guaranteed basic pay only: no overtime, sleep-in allowances or accommodation. Workers who were first sponsored before 4 April 2024 and have stayed in the route can extend on the transitional rate of £25,000 (£12.82 an hour). The ISL also means the lower Health and Care visa fee, and Health and Care visa holders pay no Immigration Health Surcharge — the full figures are in our cost guide.

Settlement: what changed on 2 November 2026

Today a care worker can apply for indefinite leave to remain after five years. The government’s earned settlement decision moves the standard to ten years once new Rules apply during 2027, with targeted protection for carers:

• Care workers who entered or switched into the route before 12 May 2025 and met their visa conditions, including being paid at least £25,000 a year in the sector, keep a one-off five-year route.
• Those who did not meet the conditions — about a quarter of the 2022–2025 cohort, according to the government, often because a sponsor lost its licence — can apply for a further five-year Health and Care visa that is not tied to the previous employer.
• Carers who joined after the May 2025 White Paper are on the ten-year route unless they earn £50,271 or more in three of the five years before applying, or move into an eligible national-pay-scale health role such as nursing.
• From 26 March 2027 settlement applications need B2 English, up from B1.

If your sponsor loses its licence

Licence revocations have hit the care sector harder than any other. Your permission is normally cut to 60 days, in which you need a new Certificate of Sponsorship from another licensed care provider — and because you are already in the route, the three-month rule does not block the move. Check any new employer on the sponsor list and, for England, on the CQC register before you accept.

Alternatives if you are outside the UK

• Registered nurses (2237) and other NMC-registered roles: Higher Skilled, open, on national pay scales with a £25,000 floor, and dependants allowed.
• Social workers (2461): Higher Skilled, open, national pay scale.
• Care managers (1232) and nursing auxiliaries (6131): Medium Skilled, open via the Immigration Salary List only for certificates issued before 31 December 2026 — see what happens when the shortage lists end.
• Be wary of anyone selling a “care worker visa from abroad” in 2026. It does not exist, and paying for a certificate is both a scam risk and a breach that can cost you the visa.

For employers

• You can only assign a certificate in 6135 or 6136 to someone who has worked for you for three months, for an application made before 22 July 2028.
• In England, keep CQC registration current — it is an eligibility condition, not just a regulatory one.
• Identify staff who came before 12 May 2025 and check their pay met £25,000: it decides whether they keep the five-year settlement route.
• The Immigration Skills Charge still applies: £480 a year for small or charitable sponsors, £1,320 for medium and large ones, and it cannot be recovered from the worker.

Dates to watch

• December 2026 — Statement of Changes expected to start laying the earned settlement Rules.
• 31 December 2026 — Immigration Salary List access ends for care managers (1232) and nursing auxiliaries (6131) unless renewed.
• 26 March 2027 — B2 English for settlement.
• 22 July 2028 — last day to apply to switch into or extend in a care worker role.