Allied health in the UK: who registers you
The HCPC registers most of our professions in the UK and the GOC the optical two. How each assesses you, and what the visa data really shows.
The UK is the simplest of our five countries to describe and one of the hardest to read correctly. One regulator registers most of the professions we work with. The visa picture beside it has changed sharply, and not every profession is treated the same.
This post covers both: who registers you, how, and what the official figures say about the Health and Care Worker visa today.
Two regulators for our twelve professions
The Health and Care Professions Council registers eight of the twelve: physiotherapists, occupational therapists, radiographers, biomedical scientists (our medical lab scientists), dietitians, speech and language therapists, podiatrists and operating department practitioners. It is one regulator with one process for fifteen professions in all.
Source: hcpc-uk.org · as recorded in our regulator registry · Sept 2026
Optometrists and dispensing opticians go to a different body, the General Optical Council. Social workers in England are registered by Social Work England, which we have not researched, so we do not offer that route. Our registry records no UK route for social care workers.
Source: optical.org · hcpc-uk.org · International optometrists · Professions and protected titles · 2026-10-04
Recognition and registration, in one application or several
In Ireland, recognising your qualification and registering you are separate steps. The HCPC folds them together. Its international application route assesses your education, training and experience, and a successful first decision puts you on the Register.
The eligibility rule is short:
You must have undergone training outside the UK, and attained a qualification delivered outside the UK.
Source: hcpc-uk.org · Eligibility to apply for registration · 2026-10-04
The first decision is one of three: successful, a test of competence, or unsuccessful. The middle outcome is not an exam: it is a structured conversation with two HCPC registrants about your practice.
Source: hcpc-uk.org · Possible outcomes of your international application ('first decision') · 2026-10-04
The GOC works in stages instead. Its assessors compare your training with UK standards of competence and interview you. An optometrist then usually completes the College of Optometrists’ Scheme for Registration, and a dispensing optician a Pre-Qualification Period and qualifying exams, before full registration.
Source: optical.org · International optometrists · International dispensing opticians · 2026-10-04
What the visa figures show
Health and Care Worker visas issued
Unit: visas issued
| Category | Main applicants | Dependants |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 31,800 | 31,491 |
| 2022 | 76,724 | 80,912 |
| 2023 | 145,823 | 202,334 |
| 2024 | 27,047 | 83,426 |
| 2025 | 13,193 | 35,339 |
| Year to Jun 2026 | 7,228 | 26,915 |
Health and Care Worker visas issued to main applicants peaked at 145,823 in 2023, fell to 27,047 in 2024 and to 13,193 in 2025. Dependants fell too, from 202,334 to 35,339 across the same two years.
That covers every occupation on the route, care workers included, so it is not a measure of our professions alone. It does show a route that has narrowed sharply.
Health and Care Worker visas granted for our roles
Unit: visas granted
| Category | Main applicants, year to June 2026 |
|---|---|
| Medical radiographers | 204 |
| Occupational therapists | 71 |
| Physiotherapists | 52 |
| Speech and language therapists | 45 |
| Optometrists | 29 |
| Podiatrists | 6 |
For our own roles, the Home Office occupation table for the year to June 2026 is small: 204 visas granted to medical radiographers, 71 to occupational therapists and 52 to physiotherapists, with fewer still for the others shown. These are main applicants granted a visa, not jobs and not registrations.
Where each profession stands on the visa list
The list of eligible occupations is the part most people skip. It is not the same for all twelve.
| Status on the list | Our professions |
|---|---|
| Eligible | Physiotherapist, occupational therapist, radiographer, medical lab scientist, speech and language therapist, optometrist, podiatrist, social worker |
| Eligible as a nearest equivalent | Social care worker (SOC 6131, a care role) |
| Extend or switch only, closed to new applicants | Dispensing optician, operating department practitioner |
| Not on the list | Dietitian |
Source: gov.uk · Health and Care Worker visa eligible occupations · 2026-09-22
A place on the HCPC or GOC register and a place on that list are separate facts. You can be registrable and still find the visa you had in mind closed to you.
If your profession sits in the last two rows, nothing about the register changes. What changes is the visa behind it, and that is the Home Office’s decision under rules it publishes and revises, not the regulator’s.
What the NHS workforce plan says
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan names radiography, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, podiatry and operating department practice among the greatest allied health shortfalls. It also sets out more training places for several professions, including at least 80% more for podiatry and operating department practice.
Source: england.nhs.uk · NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, June 2023 · 2026-09-22
More UK training places point to demand. They also mean more UK graduates entering the same register you would join.
What every applicant gathers
For the HCPC, the document list is the same whatever your profession:
- Proof of identity and address
- The course information form and your professional qualification certificate
- A certificate of English language proficiency
- The standards of proficiency mapping document
- The declaration
Source: hcpc-uk.org · Documents you need to prepare and certify · 2026-10-04
Every copy has to be certified by a person of standing in the community. Documents in another language go in with a certified copy of an official translation, and the HCPC will only take uploads it can read by machine.
English is part of every HCPC file unless the qualification that first let you practise came from a country on its list of English-speaking countries. For most professions the minimum is IELTS 7.0 with no element below 6.5; speech and language therapists need 8.0 with nothing below 7.5. Tests must be taken at an official centre, not at home.
Source: hcpc-uk.org · Certificate of English language proficiency · 2026-10-04
Once the file is in, the HCPC checks it is complete and correctly certified, runs plagiarism and AI checks, assesses your training and verifies what you told it. Write the mapping yourself, in your own words.
Source: hcpc-uk.org · How to apply via the international application route · 2026-10-04
For the GOC, start with its self-assessment form. The full document list arrives only in the application pack it sends if you are eligible.
Source: optical.org · Registering from overseas self assessment · International optometrists · 2026-10-04
Sources
Regulator facts were read on hcpc-uk.org and optical.org on 4 October 2026, and visa-list facts on gov.uk on 22 September 2026. The charted figures and their dates are listed under Figures; who decides is also set out on our HCPC regulator page.
What to do first
- Check where your profession sits on the visa list before anything else.
- Find a person of standing who can certify your copies, and ask how they will sign them.
- Start your standards of proficiency mapping from the syllabus of your own batch.
- Book English at the level your regulator sets; for speech and language therapy it is higher.
Choose your profession and the UK in the Route Finder below for fees and timelines.
What we do
How Credentis Global helps with this route
You trained. We file. The regulator decides. Here is what that means for your file.
Mapped to the HCPC’s standards
On the HCPC’s international route your degree, transcripts and syllabus are read against its Standards of Proficiency. we map them line by line before the application is opened.
Every document, in the order the regulator reads it
Each item is checked against the regulator’s own list: names matched to your passport, hours in writing, copies certified by the person the list names.
One portal, and a person who answers
Upload your documents, see every stage of the file and message us in one place. The person who replies is the specialist preparing your file.
We prepare and file. The regulator decides.
Your application goes in from your own regulator account with every page prepared, and every query is drafted against the regulator’s exact question.
One specialist owns your file
The specialist who reads your documents builds the file and answers the regulator’s queries. You always know who has it, and you pay the regulator directly.
