Immigration Health Surcharge increase from 6 February 2024

Immigration Health Surcharge increase from 6 February 2024

The 66% increase in the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) fees will take effect from 6 February 2024, following Parliament’s approval of the Immigration (Health Charge) (Amendment) Order 2024 on 16 January.

The IHS fees are payable by most visa applicants for their stay in the UK (for a period of six months or longer) in order to access free healthcare on the NHS. Certain visa categories are exempt from paying the IHS fees.

The fees will be increased as follows:

The new fees will bring a significant increase to the overall cost of applying for a UK visa, especially if applying as a Skilled Worker for a 5-year period:

These increases are part of a wider significant increase to UK immigration fees, with application fees and fees for sponsoring workers increasing last year and minimum income thresholds set to increase in Spring this year.

Consider whether you can make an early application before the increase

It is worth considering whether you can make a visa application before 6 February. The IHS fee is paid at the point the visa application is submitted, so timing the application is important to determine whether it is cost effective to make it before the increase or not. For example,

• If an individual’s visa is due for renewal, will an early application made before the increase grant the applicant sufficient permission to remain in the UK until they are eligible to apply for settlement, or will it result in them having to make a further extension application which will be more costly?
• If you are a sponsor looking to hire a worker under the sponsored worker routes (i.e. in- country Skilled Worker and Global Business Mobility) you should check you have available Undefined Certificates of Sponsorship (COS) on your licence; that the COS has been issued within three months of the date it was assigned to them; and the worker has not applied more than 3 months before the job start date, as stated on the COS.
• If you have any new hires who will be applying for the Skilled Worker route from overseas, you will need to apply to the Home Office for the Defined Certificate of Sponsorship, and these requests can take up to three weeks, so longer than the usual one to two working days.

Contact us

If you require further information or require support with your applications, please contact a member of our Immigration team or submit an enquiry form.