UK Health and Care Worker visa from Nigeria: the real costs in naira

If you are a nurse, doctor or other health professional in Nigeria with a UK job offer, the Health and Care Worker visa is one of the cheaper ways to japa legally. The official fees are modest compared with other UK work visas, but the naira numbers still bite, and a lot of people get squeezed by costs they should never have paid. Here is what you actually pay, what your employer must pay, and what it all comes to in naira.

What you will pay, in one table

All naira figures below use the Central Bank of Nigeria central rate published for 22 October 2026: £1 = ₦1,797.61 and $1 = ₦1,343.90. We have rounded to the nearest thousand. If the naira moves, these numbers move with it, so check the CBN rate on the day you pay.

The visa fee is the same whether you apply from inside or outside the UK. The length of visa depends on your certificate of sponsorship, so ask your employer early which band you fall into.

Take Tobi, a nurse in Ibadan with a 5 year NHS offer. Her visa fee is £628, her TB test at IOM is $94, and she shows £1,270 in savings. That is roughly ₦3.54 million in total, and the £1,270 is money she keeps, not a fee. If her employer certifies her maintenance on the certificate of sponsorship, she does not need to show the savings at all, and her outlay drops to about ₦1.26 million.

The big saving: no health surcharge

Most UK visa holders pay the Immigration Health Surcharge up front. GOV.UK sets it at £1,035 per year for most applicants. On a 5 year visa that would be £5,175, about ₦9.3 million, per adult.

Health and Care Worker visa applicants are exempt, and so are their dependants. GOV.UK says they can use the NHS without paying the surcharge or getting a reference number. This is the single biggest reason this visa is cheaper than the general Skilled Worker route, so make sure your employer is sponsoring you on the right visa if your job qualifies.

Who can still apply from Nigeria

This is the part many people miss. GOV.UK says the route for care workers and senior care workers closed to new applications from overseas on 22 July 2025. Employers can no longer sponsor new care workers from abroad. Those roles (occupation codes 6135 and 6136) now only count for people already in the UK who are extending, updating or switching, and switchers must have worked for their sponsor for at least 3 months.

So if someone on WhatsApp is selling you a "care visa" from Lagos in 2026, that is a red flag, no wahala, just walk away.

The roles that can still apply from outside the UK include doctors, nurses and midwives across the registered nursing codes, pharmacists, physiotherapists, radiographers, paramedics, social workers, laboratory technicians, and nursing auxiliaries and assistants (code 6131), among others. Your pay must meet the higher of £25,000 a year or the going rate for your role, and for many health jobs the NHS pay band applies.

The TB test

Nigeria is on the UK list of countries where you need a tuberculosis test if you are coming for 6 months or more. You must use a Home Office approved clinic, and the certificate is valid for 6 months from the date of your x-ray, so do not test too early.

GOV.UK lists these approved clinics and fees for Nigeria (updated 13 May 2026):

If you live in Kano or Port Harcourt, factor in transport and maybe a night's stay. Some employers cover the TB test, so ask before you pay.

English: the level went up

Nigeria is not on the list of English speaking countries that are exempt, so most applicants must prove English. Since 8 January 2026 the usual level is CEFR B2. Doctors, dentists, nurses and midwives are exempt if they have passed an English assessment accepted by their professional regulator. A degree taught in English can also count, but only if Ecctis confirms it is equivalent to a UK bachelor's degree and was taught in English.

The cost of a Secure English Language Test is set by the test provider, not GOV.UK, so check the provider's own price page.

What your employer pays, not you

GOV.UK is blunt here: there are fees that an employer must pay, not you. These include the sponsor licence fee, the certificate of sponsorship fee and the Immigration Skills Charge. UK based agencies cannot charge workers a recruitment fee at all. GOV.UK also says that if you are asked to pay a recruitment fee, it is a scam or an illegal act.

Chiamaka, a midwife in Enugu, was asked for ₦4 million for "CoS processing". That request alone tells you everything. Read our fake visa agent red flags guide before you send anyone a kobo.

Bringing your family

If you are a nurse, doctor or other eligible professional, your partner and children can usually apply as dependants. Each pays the same visa fee as you (£324 or £628), but no health surcharge. Unless you have all held a UK visa for 12 months, they also need savings held for 28 days in a row:

For care workers and senior care workers already in the UK, dependants can only apply in limited cases, for example if you have been continuously employed in a care role on this visa or the Skilled Worker visa since before 11 March 2024, or the child was born in the UK.

Timing and the next step

Once you have applied, proved your identity and sent your documents, GOV.UK says you will usually get a decision within 3 weeks. You prove identity either through the UK Immigration: ID Check app or at a visa application centre.

Budget for the visa fee, the TB test and your savings first, then think about the longer road. The Health and Care Worker route page covers eligibility in detail, and settlement after Skilled Worker explains what comes after.