Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS)

If you are applying from outside of the UK

All students applying for entry clearance for a period of more than 6 months will need to pay the IHS. You must pay this fee as part of your visa application. Some EU and Swiss students can claim an IHS reimbursement (refund) – see the later section for details.

If you are applying for entry clearance for a period of 6 months or less, you must take out private health insurance as you will not be eligible for NHS treatment.

If your course is longer than six months overall but you are applying for entry clearance to return to your course for a period of 6 months or less than see the section below for incorrect IHS calculations.

If you are applying from within the UK

If you are applying for an extension of your visa from inside the UK, you will be required to pay the IHS for any length of visa even if your course length is less than 6 months

The amount you pay depends on the length of your stay in the UK. The fee is £776 for every stay that lasts 6–12 months and £388 for any additional period that is less than 6 months.

Example of the Immigration Health Surcharge costs: if you are coming to do a course that lasts 12 months, your visa should start one month before your course start date and should cover the length of your course plus an additional four months. Your visa should last for 17 months, so you will be required to pay an IHS fee of £1,164 (£776 + £388). 

If you are studying a three-year undergraduate degree course, you will have to pay £776 IHS for each year of your course plus £388 for the additional amount of time you are given on your visa before the start of your course and at the end of your course. Therefore, you will have to pay a total of £2,716.

Check GOV.UK to see how much IHS you need to pay.

If the Student Visa application form incorrectly calculates your IHS you should check that you have added the correct course length details in the form, then you will need to finish the application and make the payment. See a common calculation mistake described below. 

If the amount calculated is more than you should pay, an overpayment will be automatically refunded back to the account or card the payment was made from. You do not need to do anything for the refund to occur. It should be processed automatically within 6 weeks of a decision being made on your application. If you have not received the refund after 6 weeks please contact Student Advice.

If the amount calculated is less than you should pay, once your application reaches a caseworker, they will email you with a web link to make a top up payment for your IHS – you need to click on this link and pay the remaining balance. Before paying a top up you should make sure you have calculated the IHS and you are confident a mistake was made and you need to make a top up payment to the UKVI . The caseworker will then complete the application once the payment is received. Please ensure you check your emails frequently. If you do not receive a top-up link from UKVI please contact Student Advice. 

Common IHS Calculation mistake

If you are a student who is returning to complete part of a course and the remaining time left is less than 6 months, then it is common that the amount calculated for IHS is less than you should pay and that you will end up with a student visa which is shorter than it should be. 

The time added to a student visa at the end of a course is set by the overall course length and not the remaining time in the UK. For example, a student returning to the UK whose course finishes in 2 months, but whose overall course length was 12 months or more, should be given a visa that expires 4 months after the course finishes. However, the IHS calculator will often get this wrong, leading to 7 days being added at the end of the course and resulting in no IHS charge. 

Hopefully a caseworker will correct the mistake and will send a link to top up the IHS payment. If the mistake is not corrected and you are issued a visa that is shorter than it should be but gives you enough time to come to the UK, then you can consider applying for a correction in the UK. You should contact Student Advice. 

• If you apply for a Student Visa and overpay, you will automatically be refunded once your visa is granted
• If you apply for a Student Visa in the UK and pay the Immigration Health Surcharge twice for the same period of time, then you should receive a partial refund. If unsure, please contact Student Advice for help
• If your Student Visa is refused or you withdraw your application before it’s decided, you will receive a refund 
• Overlapping payments made outside the UK are not normally refunded. Payments are not refunded if the visa is not used (for example, if you receive your visa but do not travel to the UK)

Find out about refunds on the Government website.

If you are an EU or Swiss national student, you can apply for a full or partial IHS refund (also called an IHS reimbursement) if relying on an EHIC card (European Health Insurance Card) issued in your own country.

You should carefully consider the pros and cons before applying for an IHS reimbursement. 

• If you get a reimbursement, you will not be able to get as much free healthcare in the UK. You will only be entitled to ‘medically necessary healthcare’ 
• As a student you will not be able to work during the time the IHS reimbursement covers as you will be relying on your EHIC card
• Your EHIC will be invalidated if you work in the UK, potentially leaving you without a good level of health cover

You can find out more about eligibility, the application process and pros and cons on the Government website.

You may get a full or partial IHS refund if you have an S1 certificate registered with the NHS Business Services Authority.

Find out more about eligibility and the application process on the Government website.