Immigration Health Surcharge Will Increase

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The Health Surcharge (IHS) fee, which concerns most applicants, will increase not before January 16, 2024 by 66% to £1035, assuming parliamentary approval.

As you know, individuals applying for visas, residence permits, or citizenship in the UK are generally required to make payments for these services. When we look at the amounts of application fees, we can see a significant increase in the past 20 years. The government is deliberately following this policy by demanding fees above the cost of visa applications to finance a comprehensive border and immigration system.

Application fees recently went up 15–35%, and the health surcharge will rise 66% in 2024.

In July 2023, the Government announced an increase in both headline fees and the health surcharge. On 4 October, work and visit visa fees went up by 15%, family visas, settlement and citizenship by 20%, and student visas by 35%. For example, settlement increased from around £2,400 to £2,900. The health surcharge will rise by 66% to £1,035 a year no earlier than 16 January 2024, assuming parliamentary approval.

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What Is the Immigration Health Surcharge Fee?

In addition to visa, residence permit, or citizenship application fees, most migrants moving to the UK also need to pay a separate ‘immigration health surcharge’. This is levied on most forms of temporary immigration permission (visitor visas and asylum applications are exempt). The policy is to broadly cover the cost of NHS services to migrants while exempting migrants who work for the NHS. Money raised from the surcharge is intended for healthcare spending and is not retained by the Home Office.

For example, at time of writing, an individual applying for a Skilled Worker Visa valid for three years would pay £719 in application fees plus £1,872 in Immigration Health Surcharge fee. Both must be paid upfront at the point of application, but only the health surcharge is refunded if the application is refused. However, assuming that the increase of health surcharge fee -not before January 16, 2024- an individual applying for a Skilled Worker Visa valid for three years would pay £719 in application fees plus £3,105 for Immigration Health Surcharge fees.

This content contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

Source:

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9859/#:~:text=In%20July%202023%2C%20the%20Government,%C2%A32%2C400%20to%20%C2%A32%2C900.

Halil İbrahim Koca

Immigration Adviser


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