UK Health and Care Worker Visa: A Guide for Nigerian Nurses

Start with the actual job and sponsor

Ask for the employer’s legal name, job title, occupation code, salary and sponsorship details. Check them against the official visa guidance and sponsor information. A vacancy mentioning “healthcare” is not automatically eligible, and an employer’s presence on a sponsor list does not mean every job it advertises qualifies.

The certificate of sponsorship, often called a CoS, is an electronic record with a reference number. It records the sponsored role; it is not a visa approval. Compare its details with the written offer before using it in your application.

For finding and evaluating a suitable role, read our UK nursing job application guide.

Do not confuse a nurse vacancy with a care-worker vacancy

The current GOV.UK job page distinguishes roles eligible for a new overseas application from care-worker and senior-care-worker codes available only under specified extension, update or switching arrangements. A Nigerian nurse considering an offer as a care worker should not assume that her nursing qualification makes that different job eligible.

Read the role as offered, not as you hope it may become later. If the employer says you will “switch to nursing after arrival”, ask which lawful route supports the initial job and what registration and sponsorship conditions apply to the later one. Get case-specific advice if the answer is unclear.

Check salary and English evidence separately

The published salary rule generally starts at £25,000, with the applicable going rate or national pay-scale requirements also relevant and different rules for specified occupations. Use the official guidance for the actual code, working pattern and role; do not treat one headline threshold as approval of an offer.

For doctors, dentists, nurses and midwives, GOV.UK provides that an English assessment accepted by the relevant regulated professional body can meet the stated English-evidence exception. Check how you demonstrate that in your case before buying another test. This does not make every English certificate interchangeable.

Separate a fee from money you must hold

Checked on 14 October 2026, the application fee is £324 per person for up to three years and £628 for more than three years. The usual personal maintenance amount is £1,270 unless an exemption applies. Maintenance is money available to support you, not an extra visa fee paid to the government.

Where relying on personal funds, the guidance requires the money for at least 28 consecutive days, with the final day within 31 days before applying. Employer-certified maintenance must be recorded appropriately on the CoS. A general promise to help after arrival is not the same evidence.

Health and Care Worker applicants and their eligible dependants do not pay the immigration health surcharge under this route. Do not apply that exemption to a nursing student’s Student visa; that is a different route.

A worked example for a nurse, partner and two children

First establish whether each family member qualifies to apply as a dependant under the rules for the principal applicant’s role and circumstances. The following calculation assumes eligibility and that all four are applying for up to three years without a maintenance exemption. It does not establish eligibility itself.

Four application fees of £324 total £1,296. The published maintenance amounts are £1,270 for the main applicant, £285 for a partner, £315 for the first child and £200 for an additional child: £2,070 together. Fees plus those funds total £3,366 for planning purposes, but the two amounts serve different purposes.

Do not count the same money twice

The example excludes flights, document costs, housing deposits and other expenses. Money used to pay an exam or a flight is no longer available in the account as savings. Check the financial evidence rules before making payments from funds you intend to rely on.

Suppose a family has set aside exactly £3,366 and then pays £1,000 for flights. They cannot still describe the untouched balance as covering both the example’s fees and maintenance. They need to revise the cash plan, including the timing of each payment. This is why an apparently affordable total can become an application problem when spending happens in the wrong order.

Prepare documents around your history

The application requires identity and sponsorship details, including the role and salary. Additional evidence can include maintenance funds, relationship documents, tuberculosis testing where applicable, criminal-record certificates and certified translations. Use the official checklist and your application prompts to establish what applies.

For a nurse who has lived outside Nigeria, document requirements may involve more than one country. Check the rules against your age and residence history early. Do not wait until the intended submission date to discover that another authority must issue a certificate.

Put the same spelling, dates and reference numbers across your application and supporting records. If something differs, supply the accepted explanation or correction; do not alter an official document yourself.

Plan around decisions rather than promised dates

GOV.UK says applications can be made up to three months before the employment start date on the CoS and describes a usual three-week decision time after the required application steps. This is not a guaranteed arrival timetable. Documents, appointments or further checks can affect your case.

Keep a copy of the submitted answers and follow requests through the official application channel. Avoid non-refundable commitments that depend on an approval you do not yet have. After a decision, read the conditions and the instructions for proving your immigration status.

For questions about an unusual history, dependants or a change of employer, use the current official guidance and an appropriately regulated immigration adviser where needed. The worked examples here help you organise the application; they cannot decide an individual case.