International care workers play an integral role in the UK’s social care sector. For a time, health and care worker visa applications vastly outweighed skilled worker visa applications, reaching a peak in mid-2023. The number of health and care worker visa applications has since fallen drastically – the result of a combination of restrictive policy changes and compliance action targeting the care sector.
Skilled worker sponsor licence suspensions and revocations have reached an all-time high. The Home Office transparency data confirmed that in the first quarter of 2026, 1,712 licences were suspended and 1,545 were revoked. Care providers are bearing the brunt of the compliance crackdown, which makes for a challenging immigration journey for the remaining sponsored care workers in the UK.
What actually happens when a sponsor licence is revoked?
When a care provider’s sponsor licence is revoked, all sponsored care workers are affected by that decision. Each sponsored worker will receive an email from UKVI notifying them that their sponsor has been removed from the register of licensed sponsors, and that their certificate of sponsorship is automatically invalid.
Published Home Office guidance does not explicitly address whether workers can continue in their roles after revocation and until their visas expire, which leaves workers in a precarious position. In practice, it is understood that there are scenarios where the affected health and care workers may be able to continue to work for their sponsored employer until curtailment or visa expiration (whichever is sooner). However, the revocation could impact the worker’s ability to undertake supplementary employment. Anyone in this situation should seek immigration advice for clarity.
The Home Office should take steps to issue curtailment notices following revocation, shortening worker’s health and care worker visas to 60 days (or until visa expiry, if this is shorter than the 60 days). There are often delays in this process being implemented, which can buy a little more time for individuals to seek new sponsorship or switch to a different visa category, if eligible.
What support is available?
In recognition of the impact of revocations on adult social care workers in England, the Department of Health and Social Care has published guidance on the support available to displaced workers. This support is only in place for workers in England on health and care worker visas, and can include:
- advice and guidance on understanding visa status and employment rights
- support in finding a new employer who can provide sponsorship
- help with accessing financial support for people facing a job loss or unpaid wages
- mental health and wellbeing support, including buddying schemes and counselling
Individuals seeking support can contact the relevant regional partnership by email providing their name, address, contact details and the name of their current sponsor.
Finding a new employer who can offer sponsorship
The key concern for impacted care workers is finding a new sponsor. The regional partnerships listed in the guidance aim to match migrant workers impacted by revocation with a new sponsor.
Additionally, the guidance provides contact details of the regional partnerships for care providers to reach out to, should they be looking to recruit international care workers. The guidance notes that:
‘applications for licences and certificates of sponsorship for international recruits can be expedited free of charge when employing an international worker in this situation’.
This type of support is incredibly valuable (if delivered), as the key challenge for immigration practitioners is being able to make an in-time application for a change of employment. Individuals often secure a new job offer from a licensed sponsor, only to face significant delays in being able to submit a valid application. This can be because the new employer does not have a remaining certificate allocation. They must obtain a priority request for an increase to their certificate of sponsorship allocation, and this can be difficult to secure.
The wait for an increase in certificate allocation can be up to 12 weeks, unless the employer is successful in securing a priority request. However, this can be very challenging – priority requests must be submitted at 7am, and only 120 priority requests will be accepted each day.
How effective is this support?
The efficiency of rematching within the scheme has been scrutinised. The Work Rights Centre published data analysis in June 2025 based on data obtained through freedom of information requests. This revealed that between May 2024 and May 2025, 28,621 emails were sent by the Home Office to displaced migrant care workers. However, by 30 April 2025, only 941 workers (3.4% of those signposted by the Home Office for support by March 2025) had found employment with legitimate sponsors.
The low success rate was not necessarily due to low uptake; between 1 July 2024 and 30 April 2025, the regional partnership in the East of England received 3,111 enquiries from international care workers. Just 82 of those were supported into new employment.
While the scheme may be of some support, it is important for displaced migrant workers to continue with traditional means of finding a job, such as through job boards, employer websites, and checking prospective employers against the register of licensed sponsors.
Risks to displaced migrant care workers
Displaced migrant care workers may have left exploitative working conditions and may be in a vulnerable position if faced with the inability to work elsewhere to support themselves and their families while job searching. This places them at a heightened risk of scams and further exploitation, such as being requested to pay fees to recruitment agencies, or being required to pay fees to their new employer to cover costs that sponsors are not permitted to recoup.
Those seeking employment should not be charged a fee by a recruiter or a prospective employer in exchange for a job. Individuals can consider the ethical recruiters list, if they are being recruited through an agency. This is a list of recruitment organisations that operate in accordance with ethical recruitment practices.
Additionally, migrant workers should be aware of the fees that they can and cannot cover during the visa application process, once a new job offer has been secured. While many sponsors opt to cover all costs relating to the visa application process, some do wish for the worker to cover some costs.
Health and care workers are only able to cover the cost of their Home Office visa application fee and the cost of the priority service in relation to their application (if required). If they wish, workers can also contribute towards legal fees associated with the preparation and submission of their visa application, but they cannot be required to fund such legal work. Sponsors cannot request care workers to cover the administrative costs of obtaining and maintaining their sponsor licence, such as priority fees for change of circumstance requests, assigning the certificate of sponsorship, the immigration skills charge, or legal costs relating to licence maintenance. More can be found on this here.
Individuals who believe they have been a victim of unethical or illegal working practices can report this to the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, with the full contact details linked in the guidance.
What are the options for individuals experiencing financial hardship?
Health and care workers are subject to the condition of no recourse to public funds. This means that they are not entitled to access public funds, such as welfare benefits or housing assistance.
Displaced care workers are at risk of financial hardship as they are unable to access public funds while seeking a new sponsor or waiting for a decision on a visa application. This process can take many months due to delays in securing certificate allocations and visa processing time frames, and is untenable for many migrants.
A recent article by Caz Hattam explored how skilled workers can ask for the no recourse to public funds condition to be lifted, due to the Home Office formally recognising its discretion to lift the condition for skilled workers. While such applications can be challenging and carry risks, this can be an avenue for care workers to explore, especially if they are facing financial hardship.
Employment rights: underpayment, unpaid wages and repayment clauses
It is important for migrant workers to be aware of their employment rights. It is also now a requirement for sponsors to ensure their sponsored workers understand their employment rights.
In addition to the ability to report unethical or unlawful working practices, workers should consider whether they may have been underpaid, whether there have been any unlawful deductions from wages (such as for sponsorship fees that cannot be recouped), and their rights relating to repayment clauses. The most common concern for care workers where their sponsor’s licence has been revoked is in relation to unpaid wages.
Migrant workers should be aware that revocation of a sponsorship licence is an immigration matter between the Home Office and the employer; it does not impact the employer’s contractual or statutory obligations and protections for work already performed by the migrant worker before the revocation of the sponsorship licence. Wages for hours already worked are a contractual debt owed to the employee, and statutory protections in relation to national minimum wage, unlawful deductions from wages and unfair dismissal (subject to having qualifying service) all continue to apply.
Individuals who are concerned about underpayment should seek advice as soon as possible. Useful resources include Acas, who can provide free, confidential advice regarding employment rights, and Citizens Advice. Individuals should also seek the support of a specialist employment lawyer who will be well placed to advise them in relation to potential claims in the Employment Tribunal.
Options for workers unable to find a new sponsor
Displaced workers wishing to remain in the UK must make an application or leave the UK before their current permission expires to avoid becoming an overstayer. Those struggling to find a new employer in time should consider alternative options for remaining in the UK, as their circumstances could mean that there are other visa categories that they can switch into.
Options can include the partner route (if the worker is the spouse, civil partner or unmarried partner of a British or settled person) or parent and private life routes. Individuals who are unable to return to their home country due to a fear of persecution or a risk of serious harm may be eligible to make a protection claim.
We would recommend individuals seek advice from an immigration solicitor on their options as soon as possible, to establish whether they can meet the requirements for an alternative immigration route.
This article was co-authored by Gemma Tracey, Partner, JMW Solicitors, and Tom Capper, Senior Associate, JMW Solicitors.