The United Kingdom has announced plans to eliminate the care worker visa option in the coming months.
This is according to a statement by UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper on Sunday, May 11, 2025.
The move will significantly impact thousands of foreign workers, particularly from Ghana and Nigeria, who currently use this route to secure jobs in the UK’s health and social care sector.
Cooper explained that removing this visa category aligns with the government’s efforts to curb migration numbers. The policy forms part of a larger crackdown on visas for lower-skilled roles.
She told the BBC that these changes aim to cut annual migrant arrivals by approximately 50,000, though she refrained from setting a specific net migration target.
Net UK migration climbed to a record 906,000 in June 2023, and last year it stood at 728,000.
The Home Office has not yet officially confirmed what will be in its immigration White Paper, due early next week.
Per the BBC, applications for UK Health and Care Worker visas peaked at 18,300 in August 2023, then collapsed to 1,700 by April this year following the ban on bringing dependents.
And on 9 April, an additional restriction was added requiring care firms who want to recruit a new worker from overseas to prove they attempted to recruit a worker from within England first.
But the new rules will require care companies to recruit from domestic workers or a pool of over 10,000 care workers brought to the UK on visas for jobs that never materialised.
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