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EU IHS Payments

Section 1: Purpose and Contents of this page:

This page has been created to give guidance to EU or Swiss students who are going to apply for a Student Visa, or, have already applied for a Student Visa and hold a vaild EU or Swiss issued European Health Insurance Card (EHIC).


Please ensure you carefully read the guidance provided for your situation BEFORE you contact Student Immigration.


Section 2: Immigration Health Surcharge

If you are a student from the EU or Switzerland coming to study in the UK for more than 6 months, starting on or after 1 January 2021, you will be required to pay the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) as part of your visa application.


Students who pay the IHS Surcharge are able to access the UK NHS the same way a UK National would.


As agreed with the EU and Switzerland, the UK Government is launching a new scheme whereby certain eligible EU and Swiss students in full-time higher education may be entitled to a full or partial reimbursement of their Immigration Health Surcharge.


It is important to note, that claiming an IHS Reimbursement will limit your access to healthcare in the UK to only medically necessary treatment covered by your EHIC.


Please also ensure you have read the guidance on the following links:


Healthcare for EU citizens living in or moving to the UK


DHSC Student_Information Pack -IHS Reimbursement PDF

Section 3: IHS Reimbursement Eligibility Criteria:

To be eligible for the scheme, students studying in the UK must have:


    • a UK visa with a start date on or after 1 January 2021

    • be in full-time higher education (level 4+ in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and level 7+ in Scotland)

    • hold a valid EU or Swiss-issued European Health Insurance Card (EHIC)

    • and must not be working or intend to work in the UK

Please see the guidance on what is considered to be work on the following link


Employment during and after your studies


You will be able to apply for a reimbursement of your Immigration Health Surcharge via a new service which will go live on 1 January 2022 with eligible payments backdated to 1 January 2021 for EU students and 1 November 2021 for students from Switzerland.


You may be entitled to a full or partial reimbursement of your Immigration Health Surcharge depending on the validity period of your EHIC.

To be eligible for a full refund, you should ensure that you hold a valid EHIC for the duration of your stay.


If you receive an Immigration Health Surcharge reimbursement you must not work in the UK.

Working in the UK will invalidate your EHIC and you may have to pay for any NHS healthcare you receive.


If you intend to apply for a reimbursement of your Immigration Health Surcharge, you should present your EHIC when accessing medically necessary treatment during your stay in the UK.

Once you have received your reimbursement, you may have to pay for any NHS healthcareyou receive that is not deemed medically necessary by the healthcare provider.


The UKVI encourage all students to consider their circumstances carefully, including their healthcare needs and whether they wish to work in the UK, before deciding whether to apply for a reimbursement.


This is particularly important if you intend to undertake any kind of work during the duration of your Student Visa.

Please ensure you have read the guidance on the following links:

 

Healthcare for EU citizens living in or moving to the UK

 

DHSC Student_Information Pack -IHS Reimbursement PDF

 

Section 4: How to apply for an IHS Reimbursement:

If you are eligible to apply for an IHS Reimbursement, and you DO NOT intend to undertake any work whilst holding your Student Visa, then you must complete the UKVI online form, which can be accessed via the following link:


GOV.UK | Immigration health surcharge for EU and Swiss students in the UK


The application takes about 30 minutes to complete.


To make an application, you need your:


    • full name as it appears on your passport.


    • date of birth


    • IHS number – find it in the email from WorldPay which confirmed that you paid. The number starts with ‘IHS’ and then has 9 digits, for example IHS123456789


    • visa share code – this code lets you prove your visa status to others


    • UK address


    • email address


    • scanned copy or photo of your European Health Insurance Card (EHIC)


    • A copy of your CAS from the UKVI Sponsor Management System.


      You will need to click on the following link and submit the online form, selecting the option "Copy of your CAS from UKVI SMS" from the "What is your enquiry about?" drop down:


      Warwick | Student Immigration | Contact Us Form

Section 5: Deadline to apply for IHS Reimbursement:

Your deadline to apply for Reimbursement will depend on when you arrived in the UK:


If you arrived in the UK between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2021, you must apply for a repayment reimbursement by 31 December 2022.


If you arrive in the UK from 1 January 2022, you will have a year to apply from the start date of your visa.


You should apply for your reimbursement as soon as possible after arriving in the UK.

This will help you to have all the relevant documents you need to make an application.

It also means we can give you important information about using your EHIC to get medical treatment.

Section 6: If you have had a reimbursement of your IHS and subsequently start working:

Under the terms of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement and Swiss Convention, you must have a valid EHIC and you must not have worked or be working or intend to work in the UK in order to be eligible for reimbursement.


If you have had an IHS Reimbursement, and you subsequently start to work, your EHIC will be invalidated.


This means you may have to pay for certain NHS healthcare services youreceive, including necessary healthcare.


Under these circumstances you may want to consider taking out private healthcare insurance, as healthcare costs can be very expensive.

Section 7: If you have further queries and useful links: