UK Overseas Domestic Worker Visa
United Kingdom
Residency
At a glance
The UK Overseas Domestic Worker visa is a short-stay route for domestic workers accompanying their overseas employer to the UK. It is usually limited to up to 6 months and is not a settlement route.
- Type
- Short-stay domestic worker route
- Best fit
- Domestic workers accompanying an overseas employer
- Initial stay
- Up to 6 months
- Permanent residence
- No direct path to permanent residence
- Salary requirement
- Contract/pay proof
- Job offer required?
- Yes
Summary
The Overseas Domestic Worker route lets a domestic worker accompany a visiting overseas employer to the UK for no more than six months. It covers roles such as nanny, cook, cleaner, chauffeur or personal carer in a private household. The current fee is £726.
Eligibility
The worker must apply from outside the UK, be at least 19, have worked for the employer for at least one year and normally work in that employer's household. They must travel with the employer or specified family member, work full-time in the UK household where the employer will live, support themselves without public funds and intend to leave by six months or when the employer leaves, whichever is earlier.
The employer must be a foreign visitor, or a British citizen who normally lives abroad, and must not intend to remain more than six months. Written terms must meet the National Minimum Wage and UK employment law. The application and any interview should reflect the worker's own knowledge and voluntary agreement.
What This Route Allows
The holder may work only as a domestic worker in a private household, travel and return during the six-month validity, and change to a different private-household employer without notifying the Home Office, provided the original expiry date is not exceeded. UK minimum wage, rest, holiday and employment-tribunal rights apply.
What This Route Is Not
It cannot be extended, does not allow dependents or public funds, and does not lead to settlement. Only legacy entrants under rules before 6 April 2012 retain separate extension and settlement possibilities. Repeated visits cannot be used to make the UK the worker's main home.
Abuse or exploitation should be reported. A potential victim of modern slavery may have protection and immigration options through the National Referral Mechanism, but those are separate from an ordinary ODW extension.
Next Steps
- Confirm one full year of employment with contracts, pay records and household evidence.
- Review the employer's visitor plans and signed terms privately with the worker.
- Keep copies of passport, visa, contract, employer contact details and emergency support numbers.
- If pay, passport control or freedom is threatened, seek independent Acas, police, Kalayaan or modern-slavery support; changing domestic employer is allowed within the six months.
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