UK Nurse Jobs: Jobless Kenyan nurses are set to start getting jobs and work visa in the United Kingdom. This follows an agreement that the UK has reached with Kenya during the visit by President Uhuru Kenyatta. The agreement will also benefit other health workers in Kenya who are currently jobless.

This is a major milestone for Kenya’s health sector, which has struggled to get into exchange programs with foreign nations.  According to a report that appeared in the Daily Nation on Thursday, the agreement will be signed by UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid and Kenya’s Labour Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui. Under the agreement, the unemployed health workers will serve in the UK’s National Health Service before returning to work in Kenya.

“The exact numbers who will go to the UK and the process for visas, it is understood, will be confirmed before the end of this October,” the report in the Nation said.

This development comes barely months after the UK announced that it would allow skilled Kenyan workers without degrees to migrate and work in the country. Britain’s new points-based immigration system lowered the requirement for job applicants to minimum skill level of A-level or equivalent from degree-level. “An applicant’s job must be at the minimum skill level of A-level or equivalent, rather than degree level under the current system,” said the British home office.

There is, however, currently no planned formal route for lower-skilled workers to enter Britain, although seasonal and sector-specific schemes may be created.

“Under the new system, those wishing to live and work in the UK must gain 70 points – and points are awarded for criteria such as having a job offer, holding a PhD relevant to the job, speaking English and earning more than £22,000 per year,” said an advisory by Britain’s Home Office. “There are also additional points for those with job offers in ‘shortage occupations’.