Health Workers from Ghana, Nigeria and others Permitted to Work in the UK after the release of the Red and Amber list. The Red and Amber list is based upon the World Health Organisation Workforce Support and Safeguard List, 2023, and will be updated alongside progress reports.
The release of the Red and Amber list has affected so many health workers with the ambition of traveling to the UK due to how the report was communicated to the general public on various news portals.
According to the report, the countries listed have a UHC Service Coverage Index that is lower than 50 and a density of doctors, nurses, and midwives that is below the global median (48.6 per 10,000 population). Check the list below;
Red List Countries
| Afghanistan | Angola | Bangladesh | Benin | Burkina Faso |
| Burundi | Cameroon | Central African Republic | Chad | Comoros |
| Congo | Congo, Democratic Republic of | Côte d’Ivoire | Djibouti | Equatorial Guinea |
| Eritrea | Ethiopia | Gabon | Gambia, The | Ghana |
| Guinea | Guinea-Bissau | Haiti | Kiribati | Laos |
| Lesotho | Liberia | Madagascar | Malawi | Mali |
| Mauritania | Micronesia, Federated States of | Mozambique | Niger | Nigeria |
| Pakistan | Papua New Guinea | Rwanda | Samoa | Senegal |
| Sierra Leone | Solomon Islands | Somalia | South Sudan | Sudan |
| Timor-Leste | Togo | Tuvalu | Tanzania, United Republic of | Uganda |
| Vanuatu | Yemen, Republic of | Zambia | Zimbabwe |
Amber List Countries
Kenya: As of 11 November 2021, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has announced that Kenya has been added to the amber list of countries in the Code of Practice for the International Recruitment of Health and Social Care Personnel in England.
This means employers and recruitment agencies, including NHS trusts, must stop all active recruitment of health and social care personnel from Kenya to the UK with immediate effect. Please read this news article for more information.
Nepal: As of 22 August 2022, DHSC has announced that the governments of Nepal and of the United Kingdom have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the managed and ethical recruitment of Nepalese healthcare workers to the UK as part of a trail.
However, the MOU does not allow organisations to actively recruit from Nepal. By virtue of this MOU, Nepal is now on the amber list. Please read this news article for more information.
Government-to-government agreements
Below is a list of government-to-government agreements for the Code of Practice:
- Kenya – NOTE: as Kenya is on the Amber list, no active recruitment should take place outside of the conditions of the MoU
- Nepal – NOTE: as Nepal is on the Amber list, no active recruitment should take place outside of the conditions of the MoU
- Malaysia (currently on the green list)
- Philippines (currently on the green list)
- India (currently on the green list)
- Sri Lanka (currently on the green list).
The Good News
According to the UK Government, Countries on the list should not be ACTIVELY targeted for recruitment by health and social care employers, recruitment organizations, agencies, collaborations, or contracting bodies unless there is a government-to-government agreement in place to allow managed recruitment undertaken strictly in compliance with the terms of that agreement.
This means that the list didn’t prevent individual health and social care personnel from independently applying to health and social care employers for employment in the UK, of their own accord and without being targeted by a third party, such as a recruitment agency or employer (known as a direct application).
Apply for any health work in the UK if you are in the above-listed Red and Amber countries through the HOME OFFICE WEBSITE
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