A Guide to When You Can Apply for a Refund of the Immigration Health Surcharge
The immigration health surcharge is currently set at £624 per year for visa applicants and their dependant partners and £470 for children. The full amount of the immigration health surcharge must be paid when applying for a visa. The cost can be substantial if you are applying for a 3-year work visa and for Dependant Visas for your family.
On 16 January 2024, it is expected that the immigration health surcharge will rise to £1,035 a year for adult applicants and to £776 for child visa applicants.
With the immigration health surcharge price rise, our Immigration Solicitors understand the importance to visa applicants of knowing if they can ask the Home Office for their immigration health surcharge fees to be refunded.
UK Online and London-Based Immigration Solicitors
For UK immigration and visa advice call OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.
The immigration health surcharge
You need to pay the immigration health surcharge if you are entering the UK on a visa for more than 6 months. If you are applying to extend your visa from within the UK then you will need to pay the immigration health surcharge.
Paying the immigration health surcharge gives you access to the National Health Service. Payment of the immigration health surcharge is not discretionary or subject to your financial or personal circumstances. You cannot say that you just want restricted access to emergency services and request a discount for excluding GP provision.
Our Immigration Solicitors are often asked if the immigration health surcharge can be waived if you:
- Are young and in good health
- Have a medical report to say you are in excellent health
- Say you will return to your home country for any necessary medical treatment
- Have private health insurance either taken out as a personal policy paid by you or paid for by your employer
None of these scenarios result in the waiver of the immigration health surcharge.
The Home Office will also not agree to your paying the immigration health surcharge on a payment plan. For example, monthly or annual payments. For a 3-year Skilled Worker Visa, the immigration health surcharge is currently £1,872. In mid-January 2024 it will increase to £3,105. If you are coming to the UK with your partner who is applying for a Dependant Visa the total cost of the immigration health surcharge will be £6,210, payable upfront at the time of your visa application.
If you can do so, think about applying for your visa before 16 January 2024 as the cost of the immigration health surcharge will be reduced by £1,233 for a single visa applicant and by £2,466 if you are applying for a Skilled Worker Visa and a Dependant Visa. The savings will rise if you are also applying for Dependant Visas for your children.
Visa length and the immigration health surcharge
You may not want to live and work in the UK for a full 2 years or 3 years. For example, if you are applying to work for a company offering you a job for 19 months.
The immigration rules say you must pay for a full year of the immigration health surcharge if your visa application includes part of a year that is more than 6 months. You only pay half of the yearly amount for any part of a year less than 6 months.
These immigration rules mean that if you apply for a 19-month visa you will need to pay the immigration health surcharge for 2 years. If your employment contract is for 16 months you would only need to pay the apportioned immigration health surcharge for 18 months.
You do not get a refund of the immigration health surcharge if you leave the UK at the expiry of your 19-month visa having paid the immigration health surcharge for 2 years. Nor do you get a refund if you leave the UK after the expiry of your 16-month visa having paid the immigration health surcharge for 18 months.
The rules on immigration health surcharge calculations and refunds may make you want to consider the length of your visa application.
The immigration health surcharge refund rules
You must pay the immigration health surcharge before the Home Office will process your visa application. If you do not do so you will not secure a visa.
If the Home Office refuses your visa application you will get a full refund of the immigration health surcharge paid by you. The Home Office will not refund your visa application fee.
If you ask for a 3-year Skilled Worker Visa and the Home Office only grants you a 2-year work visa the Home Office will provide you with a partial refund of the immigration health surcharge.
The Home Office automatically processes full or partial immigration health surcharge refunds so you do not need to formally apply for a refund.
If you ask for an administrative review of a Home Office decision or launch an appeal against visa refusal you will not get the immigration health surcharge back until the conclusion of the administrative review or appeal. If you get your visa then the Home Office will keep the immigration health surcharge and will give you a partial refund if the visa is not granted for as long as you applied for.
There is no immigration health surcharge refund if:
- Your visa application is successful but you change your mind and decide not to come to the UK
- You decide to leave your employment or your relationship (if you are in the UK on a Spouse Visa or Family Visa) and leave the UK
- You are told by the Home Office that you must leave the UK. For example, if the Home Office discovers that you are working for an employer who does not have a sponsor licence and it is a condition of your Skilled Worker Visa that you must be in sponsored employment
Getting an immigration health surcharge refund
It normally takes around 6 weeks for the Home Office to process the immigration health surcharge refund and return the money to you. The funds are returned to the account they were sent from.
Navigating the visa application process
With the rise in immigration fees and the planned rise in the immigration health surcharge, it is more important than ever to take specialist immigration legal advice so you apply for the UK visa that best meets your goals and circumstances.
OTS Solicitors are recommended for their personal immigration work in the 2024 edition of the Chambers Guide to the Legal Profession.
Here are a couple of examples of why it can help to take expert immigration law advice:
- You may qualify for a Health and Care Worker Visa - healthcare jobs are exempt from paying the immigration health surcharge
- You may qualify for a visa that provides for accelerated settlement so you can apply quickly for indefinite leave to remain. If you enter the UK on a Skilled Worker Visa you need to meet a 5-year residence requirement before you can apply for indefinite leave to remain. The time factors can be important as once you have settled in the UK you no longer have to pay visa application fees or the immigration health surcharge and you are no longer subject to immigration controls or visa conditions
Our expert Individual Immigration Solicitors can help with all your individual immigration visa needs including:
- Spouse Visas
- Partner Visas
- Student Visas
- Work Permit Visas
- Skilled Worker Visas
- Health and Care Worker Visas
- Global Business Mobility Visas
UK Online and London-Based Immigration Solicitors
For UK immigration and visa advice call OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.
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