Physiotherapist visa sponsorship UK: Health and Care Worker visa and pay (SOC 2221)

Appendix Skilled Occupations lists this code in Table 3, and the gov.uk eligible occupations table labels it “Higher Skilled”.

Table 3 is for health and education occupations skilled to RQF level 6 or above whose going rates come from national pay scales. They use points option K: the job must pay at least £25,000 and the pay-scale rate for the role.

Gov.uk lists code 2221 as eligible for the Health and Care Worker visa, including for a first application. That visa needs a job offer from the NHS, an organisation providing medical services to the NHS, or an organisation providing adult social care. Gov.uk says people on it, and their partner or children, do not pay the healthcare surcharge.

Health and Care Worker visa: your job · different salary requirements · overview

The going rate for code 2221 is a national pay scale, set out in Appendix Skilled Occupations (source: NHS Agenda for Change: England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland). The job must pay at least £25,000 and the rate for the role, whichever is higher, and the rate is pro-rated to the contracted hours.

Going rates in Table 4 are per year and based on a 37.5-hour week (in Scotland, a 37-hour week). Band 1 and band 2 jobs are not eligible to be sponsored. Except for “6131 Nursing auxiliaries and assistants”, sponsors may ONLY sponsor Skilled Worker applicants in band 3 and band 4 jobs if the applicant was granted permission as a Skilled Worker under the rules in place before 22 July 2025, and they have had continuous permission as a Skilled Worker since then. Band 1 to band 4 jobs are not eligible for the Global Business Mobility or Scale-up routes.

Figures as published in Appendix Skilled Occupations, checked on 23 October 2026.

Examples from the Immigration Rules and the gov.uk eligible occupations table. They are examples, not the full list: a job belongs in this code because of its duties, whatever it is called.

• Electro-therapist
• Physiotherapist
• Physiotherapy practitioner

The employer does, not you and not GoRizzume. The sponsor picks the code when it assigns the Certificate of Sponsorship, and Appendix Skilled Worker (SW 6.2) lets the Home Office refuse the application if it has reasonable grounds to believe a less appropriate code was chosen because the right one is not eligible, has a higher going rate, or is not on the Immigration Salary List. The duties decide the code, not the job title.

So treat this page as the rules for code 2221, not a verdict on any particular offer. Ask the employer which code they will use, then check that code. If you are unsure, the CASCOT coding tool suggests codes for a job title, and gov.uk says to make sure the description matches what you will actually do.

• 2222 Occupational therapistsEligible
• 2223 Speech and language therapistsEligible
• 2224 Psychotherapists and cognitive behaviour therapistsEligible
• 2225 Clinical psychologistsEligible
• 2226 Other psychologistsEligible
• 2229 Therapy professionals not elsewhere classifiedEligible

Only an employer on the Home Office register of licensed sponsors can sponsor a Skilled Worker visa, and a licence means they can sponsor eligible roles, not that every job comes with sponsorship.

• Search the register of licensed sponsors
• Check one employer's licence, free
• Work out the salary for a specific offer
• Every occupation code and its answer
• Health and medical employers with a licence in London (752)
• Health and medical employers with a licence in Birmingham (95)
• Health and medical employers with a licence in Manchester (83)
• Health and medical employers with a licence in Liverpool (70)