Understanding The Health and Care Worker Visa

The Health and Care Worker Visa offers a streamlined immigration pathway for medical professionals to deliver care across the NHS. One of its most valuable features is an exemption from the typical 20-hour weekly limit for extra work, enabling greater shift flexibility and assisting hospitals in managing healthcare staffing gaps. Cucumber Recruitment can answer any questions you may have about the Health and Care Worker Visa. We’ll explore key questions about how the 20-hour cap exemption affects healthcare assistants and other essential healthcare workers operating under this visa. If you can’t find the answers you need here, please do contact us.

How Does the Exemption Impact Healthcare Assistants on This Visa?

The 20-hour cap exemption enables healthcare assistants, nurses, doctors, and other critical health personnel on the Health and Care Worker Visa to exceed the standard 20 hours per week ceiling when covering additional vacant posts in supplemented NHS facilities.

Usually, in the UK, most work visas enforce strict secondary job hour restrictions to guarantee visa holders prioritise sponsoring employers. However, for vital healthcare roles across senior and junior levels, this upper limit posed problems for shift flexibility.

The exemption now allows healthcare assistants to take on extra hours above 20 hours weekly when working across multiple NHS trusts without requiring an updated visa. This assists hospitals in efficiently filling last-minute healthcare staffing gaps.

Which Healthcare Workers Can Access the 20-Hour Cap Exemption?

The valuable 20-hour weekly cap exemption applies broadly across leading medical occupations requiring Health and Care Visa holder status, including:

• Doctors and dentists
• Nurses
• Midwives
• Paramedics
• Healthcare assistants
• Additional direct and indirect patient care roles

With healthcare assistants delivering hands-on care daily for vulnerable groups, maintaining safe staff-to-patient ratios is crucial. The expanded hour flexibility enables rapid reinforcements whenever unexpected resourcing shortages hit.

What Are the Standard Working Hour Limits Otherwise?

Outside of the exemption, the Health and Care Worker Visa generally restricts recipients to only 20 hours maximum per week when taking on extra non-sponsored health sector jobs. Surpassing this requires an updated visa.

This usual limit aims to guarantee workers devote sufficient time to key duties within the primary sponsored medical occupation as described on their original visa certification.

However, to elevate care quality by optimising workforce agility, registered doctors plus most other registered clinical professionals may now utilize the special 20-hour weekly cap exemption.

How Does This Exemption Enable Improved Healthcare Staffing Agility?

The invaluable 20-hour cap exemption facilitates exceptional workforce agility in healthcare environments for several pivotal reasons:

1. Permits covering unfilled NHS Trust shifts – Staff take on open rotations at peer facilities despite minimal prior familiarity since secondary hours are no longer limited.
2. Allows continuing professional education – Workers can pursue intense 40+ hours per week medical training programs without compromising visa standing.
3. Reduces staffing crisis risks – By allowing dream teams to work extra hours, patient care consistency improves despite growing retirements and resignations.

In a field where shocking census spikes and callouts continually frustrate scheduling, this cap exemption proves critical for both healthcare providers and professionals seeking better work-life harmony.

What Does a Health and Care Worker Visa Cost?

When applying for the Health and Care Worker visa, you must pay the visa application fee and prove you have sufficient personal savings to financially support yourself upon arrival in the UK.

Application Fees;

The standard application fees are:

• £284 per person for up to a 3 year visa
• £551 per person for beyond a 3 year visa

The fee is the same whether you apply from inside or outside the UK.

Proof of Personal Savings You must prove you have a minimum of £1,270 in personal savings that have been available for at least 28 consecutive days in the past 31 days before applying. This shows your ability to support yourself after arriving.

You must provide bank statements or other financial evidence confirming sufficient savings, unless either:

• You’ve lived in the UK with a valid visa for 12+ months already
• Your employer guarantees UK arrival financial support

If your employer will handle your initial UK costs, this must be annotated on your certificate of sponsorship.

What Supporting Documents Will I Need?

When applying, you must provide:

• Certificate of sponsorship reference number
• Proof of English language capabilities
• Valid passport showing nationality
• Job title, salary, and occupation code
• Employer name and sponsor license number

Other common documents include:

• Savings financial evidence
• Relationship certificates for any visa dependents
• Potential criminal record certificates
• Qualifications/training certificates
• Tuberculosis test results if from a high-risk country

Biometric enrollment (photo + fingerprints) is required for non-EU nationals.

What If I Need to Change Employers?

You must update your Health and Care Worker visa if:

• You change employers (including NHS trusts)
• Your new role is a different occupation code
• You switch from a shortage occupation role to a non-shortage role

You’ll need new sponsor certification and to reconfirm savings if in the UK < 1 year.

Adding a Second Job Over 20-Hours Per Week

You must also apply to update your visa if taking on secondary health sector work exceeding 20 hours weekly or in a different occupation code. This requires:

• New sponsor letter covering the second role
• Explaining the request to modify visa permission

Once approved, your updated visa covers both jobs. You don’t need to update it if the second role is <20 hours per week.

When Should I Apply to Update the Visa?

You can apply up to 3 months before your new job’s start date. You can keep working in your current role while the application is processed. Don’t begin the new job until receiving the updated visa approval.

Depend on Cucumber Recruitment’s Exceptional Support

Here at our nursing agency, we assist outstanding international medical talent in securing their Health and Care Worker Visa and locate meaningful NHS opportunities. Our streamlined immigration resources guarantee candidates arrive ready to provide critical roster reinforcements thanks to invaluable exemptions like the 20-hour cap waiver. You can find out more here if you are looking to hire health and care workers.