Hoping that someone has been through this already and can give some guidance. In order to start the Tech Nation endorsement application, you need to go through the Home Office and pay for the stage 1 visa fee but I believe it also includes the 400 GBP/year health insurance surcharge. I haven’t found a way to apply on the Home Office site without paying the health insurance surcharge. Am I doing something wrong? Has anyone else figured this out?
TIA
You don’t need to pay the NHS fee for Stage 1. Here’s the relevant link:
Hope it helps.
Thanks for replying, I’ve checked that site several times which eventually leads you to this site with the information below about the fees. Is this not correct or am I not reading it correctly?
The visa application costs £152, or £97 if you’re from Turkey or North Macedonia.
You can include your partner and children (‘dependants’) on the same application form, if they’re eligible. There is an extra cost of £608 for each dependant.
You also need to pay the healthcare surcharge as part of your visa application. This is usually £400 per year for each person applying - you can calculate the amount you’ll need to pay.
When I submitted my Stage 1 application I also had to pay 1 year’s worth of health surcharge. I believe this might be a mistake on HM’s end of things, because it contradicts what’s written on the previous pages. Hopefully they resolve this… I read that they will reimburse health charges if your application is denied, so you should be able to get that money back either way.
Hi Theresa,
Perhaps, this is a slightly different angle of the discussion but if you have to pay £400 for IHS - it’s still not too bad. Even if you need to pay on Stage 1.
Sure, this is not in accordance with the procedure, which we had in the past. However, a refundable payment of £400 on the Endorsement Stage is better than higher sum on the Stage 2.
According to official decision of the Government, from October 2020 the IHS is £624. Hence, if you need to pay £400 now, this means only that it is a temporary situation and soon it may be increased and charged on the Stage 2.
I also discuss this question in this article as IHS plays the important role in the overall cost of the visa application.
Hopefully, these thoughts will be helpful to you.
Sincerely,
Andrii Seleznov
Thanks Andrii. I was mainly concerned about the confusion being created by the Home Office’s inconsistency in their documentation vs. actual process. Additionally, it’s not obvious that the health surcharge is refundable so 400 GBP is a hefty sum if one were to be denied and not get that money back.
Hi Theresa, if you click on the Apply for Endorsement link in the first line of the article, it leads you to this page where you don’t have to pay the NHS fee for stage 1 endorsement: https://visas-immigration.service.gov.uk/product/global-talent-endorsement
I applied about 4-5 months back for the endorsement using the above link and didn’t pay for NHS during stage 1 application, so hopefully it still works that way. I agree it’s a little confusing if you click on the ‘Apply for the global talent visa’ page which is towards the bottom of the article.
Thanks! I’ll give it another go. I think the other confusing part is that there is an option to do stage 1 and 2 at the same time which definitely requires you to pay for the health surcharge for the full term of your requested visa length.
I had to restart my Stage 2 application (and cancel it…), and they refunded me the IHS charge within 28 days.
Hi, I’m facing the same problem right now with the health surcharge fee. I’m applying stage1 and stage 2 at the same time. I have submitted the application of the Home Office for endorsement and paid the £456. I don’t know where to pay the Health surcharge. May I know how did you do at the end? Thanks