Immigration News, Individuals, Legislation, Sponsorship, Visas
Free One Year Visa Extension for NHS Workers and their Families
Good news for those on the front line of the Coronavirus battle as the Home Office announces a free, automatic one year extension to all NHS workers and their family who have visas expiring before 01/10/2020.
The scheme will apply to doctors, nurses and paramedics and will affect around 2,800 NHS workers. The extension will also apply to their family members as a gesture of goodwill and to demonstrate ‘how valued overseas NHS staff are to the UK’. This means NHS workers will not have to endure the added stress and uncertainty of a visa application on top of the incredible amount of pressure they are already enduring on the front line and will allow them to focus fully on combating Covid-19, without the distraction of uncertainty about theirs or their families’ visa statuses.
There will be no fee attached to the extension, and it will also be exempt from the Immigration Health Surcharge, which is normally charged to all migrants in the UK on a temporary visa to allow them to access the NHS. Given that these migrants are risking their safety and working around the clock to support the NHS it seems only fair that this fee has been waived for them, and it would be nice to see more recognition of their contributions in the future given that the Home Office raised the fee these workers would have to pay to use the NHS by nearly double just a few weeks ago.
In addition to the extension, the Home Office has made several other changes with the hope of improving NHS capacity. These include lifting restrictions on the amount of hours student nurses and doctors can work in the NHS as well as giving more time to pre-registered overseas nurses to pass their exams so they can spend their immediate time working to combat Covid-19.
While this is a big relief for NHS key workers, there are still many other people who’s visas will be impacted by Covid-19. If you have any coronavirus related visa concerns please do get in touch at [email protected] or on 01403 801 801 for a video consultation.