One of the important changes to the immigration rules introduced today is the exclusion of NHS Doctors and Nurses from the Tier 2 (General) Visa UK annual cap. 

Under the new rule, there will be no restriction on the number of doctors and nurses granted visas through the Tier 2 (General) route. Applicants coming under the Tier 2 (General) Visa UK  route will be eligible to apply for ILR Visa UK after completion of five years. The Home Office said around 40% of Tier 2 (General) Visa UK were granted to the NHS staff.

Applications made via the Tier 2 (General) Visa UK route, which has had an annual cap of 20,700 since 2011, have in recent months exceeded the allocation of visas.

According to the Financial Times, 2,630 visa applications from doctors outside the European Economic Area (EEA) were refused in a five-month period, despite crippling staff shortages across the NHS. And in April 2018, NHS bosses warned that immigration rules were hampering their ability to find workers after visas for 100 Indian doctors were refused.

According to an NHS Improvement report, NHS England had 35,000 nurse vacancies and nearly 10,000 doctor posts could not be filled in February. 

Home secretary Sajid Javid said: “I recognise the pressures faced by the NHS and other sectors in recent months. Doctors and nurses play a vital role in society and at this time we need more in the UK. That is why I have reviewed our skilled worker visa route.

“This is about finding a solution to increased demand and to support our essential national services.”

The plans mean more visa allocations will be freed-up places a month for other highly skilled workers, such as engineers, IT professionals and teachers.


Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the British Medical Association council, said: “It will be a relief to patients and staff across the NHS that common sense has finally prevailed and the tier 2 visa restrictions on non-EU doctors and nurses are to be lifted. This represents a victory for the BMA, medical bodies and patients who have argued that this obstructive cap was doing real damage to patient services across the country.”