This past weekend, as part of a series of election proposals on immigration reform, the Conservative party has indicated that the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) could rise to £625 per year, should they win.

The IHS was created in 2015 and was charged at a rate of £200 per year, with a marginally lower rate for students. The purpose of this was that all migrants entering the UK should be making a specific contribution to the NHS. In some ways, this made sense. Those issued with limited leave to remain did not always have access to public funds, including non-emergency NHS treatment. This would mean that everyone present in the UK lawfully, regardless of what stage they were at on their route to settlement here, would have full NHS access.

The online outrage against the idea of this latest increase has not been particularly surprising. The last rise to the IHS was only in January 2019 when the amount went up to £400 per year, where it currently remains. As the IHS has to be paid in full for the duration of leave being applied for, and the separate visa fees have also increased significantly since 2010, this makes getting leave to remain incredibly costly.

For example, take a foreign national who has been granted limited leave to remain as she is the carer for her child, who is British. She also has a non-British child from a previous relationship that she also looks after, who also holds limited leave. She is on a 10-year route to settlement and has to apply to extend her leave every 30 months. She will have to pay £1,033 in Home Office fees, and £400 per year for the NHS. As she is applying for 30 months of leave, she will have to pay £1,000. That’s £2,033 in total and then the same amount for her non-British child, an eye-watering amount of £4,066 to the Home Office every 30 months (ignoring creeping increases in fees and IHS). Exemptions are made for the truly destitute but not the low-waged.

Whilst the Conservatives allege the IHS is of an amount that recognises the costs to the NHS of foreign nationals living in the UK, it does not recognise the value of those living here. Even those whose leave to remain mandates they have to make significant economic contributions, such as those who come here for work, to invest or to develop businesses.

It also seems odd that the amount has increased so much in such a short period of time where the justification of ‘it covers what they take from the NHS’ is trotted out so easily. If the government were so sure what migrants cost the NHS in 2015 when this was first introduced, why have they now proposed to more than triple this amount in less than 5 years? Surely their sums can’t have been that far off!

If you didn’t know better, you might think it was a money-making exercise and nothing to do with the NHS at all…

If you would like to speak to someone about the Immigration Health Surcharge, we have a team of experienced advisers who are more than happy to help! To speak with a member of our team please call us, request a callback at your convenience, message us your enquiry or email enquiry@broudiejacksoncanter.co.uk.