For health care workers who are waiting to extend their visas now, there is good news for you. With COVID- 19 in the limelight, the UK government has announced that health care workers are eligible for a visa extension for 1 year free of cost.
Eligibility Factors to avail the Free Visa Extension
You are eligible:
If your visa expires in the period between October 1 2020 and March 31, 2021
If you are working for an independent Healthcare provider in any eligible or suitable profession or with the NHS
The visa extension is considered to be applied from the expiry date of your visa.
In case you are eligible, then automatically, the rest of your family members are eligible for the one year of free visa extension.
You are not eligible:
If your visa expiry date is dated after March 31, 2021
If you are changing your employer
In such a case, you need to proceed with the visa extension in the normal procedure.
What are Eligible Professions?
In case you happen to be one of the below-mentioned professionals, your visa is eligible for the free visa extension:
Biochemist
Biological scientist
Dental practitioner
Health professional
Medical practitioner
Medical radiographer
Midwife
Nurse
Occupational therapist
Ophthalmologist
Paramedic
Pharmacist
Physiotherapist
Podiatrist
Psychologist
Social worker
Speech and language therapist
Therapy professional
In case of doubt, it is best to consult with your employer about your profession and whether you are eligible for the same.
Eligibility of Family Members
Your family members, who happen to be dependents against your visa, are also eligible for the one-year free visa extension.
Dependent includes:
Your child under 18 years of age
Your husband, partner, or wife
In order to attain extension eligibility, the below-mentioned criteria should be met:
If you are an eligible healthcare worker, and the visa expires between the time period of October 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021
If the visa of your family member expires, between the time period of October 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021
The visa extension is considered to be applied from the expiry date of your visa.
Suppose you happen to be a health worker with an indefinite leave to stay, then your dependents or family members are not eligible for a free visa extension. Their visas need to be extended by the normal procedure.
Steps to follow to get the free Visa extension
First, your employer will have to inform the UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI), about your eligibility for the extension
The eligible health worker can apply online. Please provide:
Your photo
The photo of your BRP – Biometric Residence Permit
If family members are included in the application, please provide:
Family Member’s photo
Family Member’s BRP photo
In case, you do not have a BRP or even your family member does not have, then it is best to take a photo of the personal details in a passport. This can be shared for the same purpose.
Also, healthcare workers do not have to pay the Immigration health surcharge (IHS).
What happens if you already applied for a visa extension?
Suppose you had already paid the fees for your visa extension and now if you are eligible for the free extension, the payment can be claimed back.
Depending on the status of the visa extension application, you can apply for the free extension. Suppose you had applied for the visa extension under Tier 2 (Health and Care), you need not do anything. The concerned officials will contact you.
In case a decision has been made on the application
Make sure to claim back one year’s visa fees. In order to apply for the same:
Send across an email to the UKVI NHS team, and make sure to give the subject line as “COVID-19 health extension - ex gratia claim”. Send the email to UKVINHSTeam@homeoffice.gov.uk
Along with this, attach:
The unique reference number for your application
Your full name
Your passport number
Your employer
Your role
Alongside, attach a photo or a clear scan of the employer letter affirming that they will employ you in the future too, in the eligible professional roles.
Once eligible, they will send the one-off payment to the bank account that was used for your visa application. The time for processing and receiving the payment will take about 6 weeks.
In case you are still awaiting a decision for your visa application:
The following steps can be undertaken:
You need to wait for the decision and then go forward applying for the visa fees worth for one year.
Then send across an email to the UKVI NHS team, mentioning that you would like to withdraw the extension application and also apply for a refund.
For the withdrawal of the visa extension application, you need to do the following:
Send across a mail with the subject line: “COVID-19 health extension - refund request”. The mail needs to be sent to UKVINHSTeam@homeoffice.gov.uk
Add the email address that you had used to apply for your visa extension application
The time for processing and receiving the payment will take about 6 weeks. Once that is done, you can apply for a free visa extension.
