Red list countries for nurses: the WHO 2023 list, the UK code and the 2026 update
The red list that health and care employers in England follow (code of practice for England) is still drawn from the WHO health workforce support and safeguards list 2023 (55 countries): the code (updated 27 March 2025, read on 5 November 2026) grades 54 of them red and Nepal amber, and adds Kenya as amber. WHO has described a 2026 update (questions and answers dated 5 August 2026), but on 5 November 2026 it had not published the final 2026 list.
Red countries · no active recruitment: 54
Source: GOV.UK, Code of practice for the international recruitment of health and social care personnel in England (updated 27 March 2025, read on 5 November 2026), Annex A and Annex B. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Statistics, not advice. These are official counts for past dates. Registration is decided by the NMC (UK) and the NMBI (Ireland), visas by the Home Office, and the rules on international recruitment can change: check the official pages before you apply or pay.
What red, amber and green mean
- Red: “Countries on the WHO health workforce support and safeguards list are graded red, which means no active recruitment is permitted from these countries.” “No active recruitment of health and care staff will be undertaken from countries on the red list.”
- Direct applications: “Individual health and social care employers may consider direct applications from individuals who are resident in countries on the code red and amber list” “A direct application can only be made in response to a specific advertised vacancy that is hosted by, and recruited to, the same sponsoring organisation.”
- Amber: where the UK has a government-to-government agreement with a country, “The country will be added to the amber list and recruitment can happen only on the terms of the agreement.”
- Green: “Active recruitment is permitted from green graded countries.” Countries with an agreement: India, Malaysia, Philippines and Sri Lanka.
Source: GOV.UK, Code of practice for the international recruitment of health and social care personnel in England (updated 27 March 2025, read on 5 November 2026), Annex A and Annex B. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
The 2026 update
- The UK code says: “The WHO health workforce support and safeguards list is updated by WHO every 3 years, or more frequently if required.” The 2023 list itself said the next updates were scheduled for publication in 2026 and 2029.
- WHO says: “The update of the SSL from 2026 onwards includes the flexibility option in its application”: countries on a provisional list can ask to be exempted, and others can ask to be included. “After incorporating Member State responses, WHO publishes the final list of countries and shares them with Member States and the public.”
- We do not publish the provisional 2026 list: it is not final, and we found it only on third-party copies of a WHO letter, not on WHO's website. When WHO publishes the final list and the UK updates Annex A of the code, this page will change.
- WHO also says the Code and the list “are voluntary instruments adopted under article 23 of the WHO Constitution, and as such they are not legally binding”; in England, the red list applies through the code of practice.
Sources: WHO health workforce support and safeguards list 2023 (published 8 March 2023, PDF, read on 5 November 2026); WHO questions and answers on the list (dated 5 August 2026, read on 5 November 2026).
All red and amber countries
The code says: “The rules on active recruitment and direct applications are based on the country where an individual is residing when they apply for a health or social care job, rather than the nationality of the individual or their original country of training.”
UK grade from Annex A of the code; "WHO 2023" = on the WHO health workforce support and safeguards list 2023; visas = Health and Care Worker visas issued to nationals of the country in 2025 (main applicants and family members), Home Office. "–" = no decisions in the file. Tap a column heading to sort.
| UK grade | WHO 2023 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afghanistan | red | yes | 48 | 18 |
| Angola | red | yes | 1 | 0 |
| Bangladesh | red | yes | 939 | 521 |
| Benin | red | yes | – | – |
| Burkina Faso | red | yes | 1 | 0 |
| Burundi | red | yes | 0 | 0 |
| Cameroon | red | yes | 249 | 127 |
| Central African Republic | red | yes | – | – |
| Chad | red | yes | – | – |
| Comoros | red | yes | – | – |
| Congo | red | yes | – | – |
| Congo, Democratic Republic of | red | yes | 12 | 2 |
| Côte d’Ivoire | red | yes | 2 | 0 |
| Djibouti | red | yes | – | – |
| Equatorial Guinea | red | yes | – | – |
| Eritrea | red | yes | 3 | 0 |
| Ethiopia | red | yes | 24 | 4 |
| Gabon | red | yes | – | – |
| Gambia, The | red | yes | 35 | 11 |
| Ghana | red | yes | 2,678 | 1,538 |
| Guinea | red | yes | – | – |
| Guinea-Bissau | red | yes | – | – |
| Haiti | red | yes | – | – |
| Kiribati | red | yes | – | – |
| Lao People’s Democratic Republic | red | yes | – | – |
| Lesotho | red | yes | 19 | 4 |
| Liberia | red | yes | 0 | 1 |
| Madagascar | red | yes | 1 | 0 |
| Malawi | red | yes | 60 | 21 |
| Mali | red | yes | – | – |
| Mauritania | red | yes | – | – |
| Micronesia, Federated States of | red | yes | – | – |
| Mozambique | red | yes | 6 | 3 |
| Niger | red | yes | – | – |
| Nigeria | red | yes | 7,712 | 3,359 |
| Pakistan | red | yes | 4,282 | 1,209 |
| Papua New Guinea | red | yes | 0 | 1 |
| Rwanda | red | yes | 7 | 1 |
| Samoa | red | yes | – | – |
| Senegal | red | yes | 1 | 1 |
| Sierra Leone | red | yes | 30 | 37 |
| Solomon Islands | red | yes | – | – |
| Somalia | red | yes | 15 | 7 |
| South Sudan | red | yes | 3 | 1 |
| Sudan | red | yes | 483 | 17 |
| Tanzania, United Republic of | red | yes | 19 | 15 |
| Timor-Leste | red | yes | – | – |
| Togo | red | yes | 1 | 0 |
| Tuvalu | red | yes | – | – |
| Uganda | red | yes | 287 | 165 |
| Vanuatu | red | yes | 1 | 0 |
| Yemen, Republic of | red | yes | 13 | 1 |
| Zambia | red | yes | 389 | 133 |
| Zimbabwe | red | yes | 4,153 | 1,871 |
| Kenya | amber | no | 868 | 427 |
| Nepal | amber | yes | 561 | 89 |
Source: GOV.UK, Code of practice for the international recruitment of health and social care personnel in England (updated 27 March 2025, read on 5 November 2026), Annex A and Annex B. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Sources: WHO health workforce support and safeguards list 2023 (published 8 March 2023, PDF, read on 5 November 2026); WHO questions and answers on the list (dated 5 August 2026, read on 5 November 2026).
Source: Home Office, Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes detailed datasets, year ending June 2026 (XLSX, published 27 August 2026, downloaded on 15 October 2026; next update 26 November 2026), sheet Data_Vis_D02, visa type "Health and Care Worker", by nationality and year of decision. Figures from 2026 are provisional. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Questions people ask
Is Nigeria on the red list?
Nigeria is on the red list of the code of practice for international recruitment in England: no active recruitment of health and care staff from Nigeria is allowed, but employers may consider a direct application to a specific advertised vacancy. Nigeria is on the WHO health workforce support and safeguards list 2023. (Code of practice for England updated 27 March 2025, read on 5 November 2026; the final WHO 2026 list is not published yet.)
Is Ghana still on the red list?
Ghana is on the red list of the code of practice for international recruitment in England: no active recruitment of health and care staff from Ghana is allowed, but employers may consider a direct application to a specific advertised vacancy. Ghana is on the WHO health workforce support and safeguards list 2023. (Code of practice for England updated 27 March 2025, read on 5 November 2026; the final WHO 2026 list is not published yet.)
Is Zimbabwe on the red list?
Zimbabwe is on the red list of the code of practice for international recruitment in England: no active recruitment of health and care staff from Zimbabwe is allowed, but employers may consider a direct application to a specific advertised vacancy. Zimbabwe is on the WHO health workforce support and safeguards list 2023. (Code of practice for England updated 27 March 2025, read on 5 November 2026; the final WHO 2026 list is not published yet.)
Is Zambia on the red list?
Zambia is on the red list of the code of practice for international recruitment in England: no active recruitment of health and care staff from Zambia is allowed, but employers may consider a direct application to a specific advertised vacancy. Zambia is on the WHO health workforce support and safeguards list 2023. (Code of practice for England updated 27 March 2025, read on 5 November 2026; the final WHO 2026 list is not published yet.)
Is Kenya on the red list?
Kenya is on the amber list of the code of practice for England: recruitment can happen only on the terms of the government-to-government agreement with the UK. Kenya is not on the WHO health workforce support and safeguards list 2023. (Code of practice for England updated 27 March 2025, read on 5 November 2026; the final WHO 2026 list is not published yet.)
Is there a WHO red list for 2026?
Not a final one yet. WHO describes the 2026 update on its questions and answers page (dated 5 August 2026) and says it publishes the final list after Member States' responses; on 5 November 2026 the list in force was still the 2023 one, with 55 countries, and the UK code still used it.
Which countries are on the NHS red list for nurses?
The code of practice for England lists 54 red countries (from the WHO 2023 list) and 2 amber ones (Kenya and Nepal). The full list is in the table on this page.
Can I still apply for a job in the UK from a red list country?
The code says employers may consider direct applications from people resident in red and amber countries, made in response to a specific advertised vacancy hosted by the same sponsoring organisation. What is not allowed is active recruitment (for example agencies or employers targeting candidates there).