Work permits
- EU (European Community nationals have equal rights to live and work in the UK as UK and Irish citizens).
- EEA (European Economic Area) nationals have the right of residence in the UK if they have a job or sufficient funds to support themselves.
- EEA’s will need to show their passports or national identity cards when entering Britain.
- EEA’s do not need permission to work.
- EEA’s do not need residence permits, however, they may apply for one.
Non-EEA nationals
- All non EEA and non EU nationals must have a visa or entry clearance before entering the
UK.
- Citizens of Commonwealth countries may apply for a two year working holiday visa if they are aged under thirty years old (recently increased from 27 years).
- An ancestral visa is also available to commonwealth citizens who have a grandparent born in the UK.
- This allows the visa holder all of the rights of a UK citizen.
- Birth certificates of the grandparent, parents, and yourself; along with parent's marriage certificate, must be produced to prove ancestral rights.
New 5 Tier Points Based Immigration System (PBS) and how it relates to nurses
The points-based system consists of five tiers. These are:
Tier 1 - Highly skilled workers, for example, scientists and entrepreneurs
Tier 2 - Skilled workers with a job offer, for example, teachers and nurses
Tier 3 - Low skilled workers filling specific temporary labour shortages, for example, workers for a particular project;
Tier 4 - Students
Tier 5 - Youth mobility and temporary workers, for example, musicians coming to play in a concert
You can extend your stay in the United Kingdom as an overseas qualified nurse or midwife to undertake a supervised practice placement or midwifery adaptation programme.
The overseas qualified nurses and midwives arrangements were deleted on 27 November 2008. You can no longer apply to come to the United Kingdom or to switch into this category. If you have received a job offer from a licensed sponsor, you may apply for permission to enter the United Kingdom as a sponsored skilled worker.
You can apply to extend your stay as an overseas qualified nurse or midwife if you:
- Currently have permission to stay in the United Kingdom as an overseas qualified nurse or midwife
- Can provide satisfactory evidence of regular attendance during any previous periods of supervised practice or midwife adaptation course; and would not, as a result of the extension remain in the United Kingdom as an overseas qualified nurse or midwife for a period longer than 18 months
- Provide written consent of your sponsor to remain in the United Kingdom as an overseas qualified nurse or midwife if any previous study, supervised practice placements or midwife adaptation programme placements, were sponsored by a government or international scholarship agency
- Meet the original eligibility requirements for the category, which are that you must
- Have obtained confirmation from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) that you are eligible:
-- For admission to the Overseas Nurses Programme; or
-- to undertake a period of supervised practice; or
-- to undertake an adaptation programme leading to registration as a midwife; and have been offered:
