Which NHS trusts sponsor visas? What the Home Office register shows (October 2026)

NHS employers hold sponsor licences in all four nations of the UK. In our copy of the Home Office register, as of 23 October 2026, more than 200 organisations registered as NHS trusts or foundation trusts hold a Skilled Worker licence, alongside all 14 territorial NHS Scotland health boards, all 7 Welsh local health boards and all 5 Northern Ireland health and social care trusts. None of them is B-rated. A licence means the employer can sponsor, not that every vacancy will be sponsored, so the real question is usually whether your job and band qualify.

This is general information, not immigration advice. Whether a particular role can be sponsored depends on its occupation code, band and salary. Check with the employer, and see gov.uk or a regulated adviser for your own case.

How we counted

We keep a daily copy of the Home Office Register of Licensed Sponsors. The figures here come from the copy synced at 02:02 on 23 October 2026, which lists 126,000+ licensed organisations across all routes and more than 121,000 on the Skilled Worker route.

The register has no "sector" field, only a name, town, county, route and rating. So we matched names, and only counted Skilled Worker licences:

• NHS trusts: names containing "NHS" or "National Health Service" together with "Trust" (or "FT"). This finds foundation trusts, NHS trusts and a few Welsh NHS trusts.
• Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland: the named territorial boards and trusts, checked one by one.
• Primary care: names containing words such as surgery, medical practice, medical centre or health centre (excluding vets, dental and cosmetic businesses), dental or dentist, and pharmacy or chemist.

Name matching undercounts. Some trusts register under names without "NHS", such as Whittington Health. And a name can mislead, so treat the primary care figures as approximate. We rounded every figure down.

Does every NHS trust sponsor visas?

In Scotland and Wales every territorial health board is licensed, and in Northern Ireland all five health and social care trusts are. In England we cannot give a percentage, because some trusts register under names our matching does not catch, but more than 200 trusts named as such hold a licence.

The 14 Scottish boards run from NHS Ayrshire and Arran to NHS Western Isles. The Welsh boards are Aneurin Bevan, Betsi Cadwaladr, Cardiff and Vale, Cwm Taf Morgannwg, Hywel Dda, Powys Teaching and Swansea Bay. In Northern Ireland, the Belfast, Northern, South Eastern, Southern and Western trusts are all licensed, as are the ambulance services in Wales and Northern Ireland.

National bodies appear too, including NHS England, NHS Blood and Transplant, NHS Business Services Authority, NHS Education for Scotland and NHS National Services Scotland. Outside the NHS itself, 32 organisations with "hospice" in their name also hold a Skilled Worker licence.

Beyond hospitals: do GP practices, dentists and pharmacies sponsor?

Many do. As of 23 October 2026, our name matching found more than 1,300 GP-practice-style names, more than 1,100 dental practices and more than 600 pharmacies holding Skilled Worker licences. Four sponsors with surgery, medical centre, health centre, dental or pharmacy in their names held a B rating, which the sponsor guidance says stops them assigning certificates to new workers until they return to an A rating.

Not every job in these settings can be sponsored. GPs (2211), dentists (2253), pharmacists (2251) and optometrists (2252) are higher skilled and eligible. Dental nurses (6133) and health care practice managers (1231) are only open to people who got their first certificate of sponsorship before 22 July 2025, according to gov.uk's Health and Care Worker job list.

Which NHS jobs can be sponsored?

Gov.uk lists 31 occupation codes for new Health and Care Worker visa applicants, checked on 23 October 2026. The main NHS ones:

Healthcare assistants (6131) are "medium skilled" and only eligible because the code is on the Immigration Salary List, whose current removal date for that code is 31 December 2026. The rules also say 6131 only applies where registered nurses or other registered healthcare professionals work in the same setting.

What salary does an NHS role need?

For most of the roles above, gov.uk says you need at least £25,000, or the going rate for your band from the national pay scales for eligible healthcare jobs if that is higher. These rates apply in private and public sector jobs alike. Appendix Skilled Occupations says band 1 and band 2 jobs cannot be sponsored. A few codes, including health services managers (1171) and biomedical scientists (2113), use a different test: £31,300 or the "lower going rate". Our Skilled Worker salary calculator shows the figures for any code.

The visa itself costs £324 for up to 3 years or £628 for longer, and Health and Care Worker visa holders pay no immigration health surcharge, according to the gov.uk Health and Care Worker visa page.

Where are the health sponsors?

Our city pages group licensed health employers, from NHS trusts to GP practices, clinics and pharmacies. As of 23 October 2026:

Counts change daily as the register changes. Each city has its own page listing the employers by name, from the London health sponsors page to the equivalent pages for other cities, all reachable from our visa sponsors by city index.

How do you check a specific trust?

1. Search the register by distinctive words, not the full name. Trusts register under formal names. Barts Health appears as "Barts Health National Health Service Trust" and some trusts use names without "NHS" at all.
2. Check the route and rating. You want "Skilled Worker" and an A rating.
3. Read the advert. If it does not say whether the role is open to sponsorship, ask the recruiting manager before you apply.
4. Use our pages. Our sponsor licence check looks up a single name, and company pages such as Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde show the licence details we hold.

Sources: register figures come from our copy synced at 02:02 on 23 October 2026, and every gov.uk page linked in this article was checked that day.

Frequently asked questions

Does the NHS sponsor visas? Yes. As of 23 October 2026, more than 200 NHS trusts and foundation trusts, all 14 Scottish territorial health boards, all 7 Welsh local health boards and all 5 Northern Ireland health and social care trusts held Skilled Worker sponsor licences in our copy of the Home Office register.

Which visa do NHS workers usually get? Eligible doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, social workers and healthcare assistants can apply for the Health and Care Worker visa, a version of the Skilled Worker visa with a lower fee and no immigration health surcharge.

Can an NHS trust sponsor a band 2 healthcare assistant? No. Appendix Skilled Occupations says band 1 and band 2 jobs cannot be sponsored. Healthcare assistant roles at band 3 or above can be, under code 6131, while it remains on the Immigration Salary List.

Do GP practices sponsor visas? Many do. As of 23 October 2026 our name matching found more than 1,300 GP-practice-style names with a Skilled Worker licence. GPs and practice nurses are eligible roles, but receptionist and most administrative jobs are not.

How do I know if an NHS job will be sponsored? Check the advert, ask the recruiting manager, and confirm the employer holds an A-rated Skilled Worker licence on the Home Office register. A licence shows the employer can sponsor, not that every role will be.

Is every NHS trust B-rated or A-rated? None of the NHS trusts, health boards or HSC trusts we identified held a B rating on 23 October 2026.