izharshah.com/tools/immigration-health-surcharge-calculator · The Parallel Operator · Immigration health surcharge calculator · Rates and rules checked against GOV.UK 21 September 2026
What the health surcharge really costs
The IHS is charged per person, for every year of your visa, in full before you arrive. It is not worked out pro rata: any part of a year is rounded up to the next six months, so two years and one month costs exactly the same as two years and six months. Enter your visa below and see the whole bill, and where the next step falls.
You are already counted as the applicant. Leave both at zero if you are applying on your own, and add only the partner or children applying with you.
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Your full breakdown
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Where the price actually changes
| Visa length | Charged as | Per adult | Your household |
|---|
Who pays nothing at all
Getting it back
How this calculator works
The surcharge is the part of a visa nobody budgets for. It is £1,035 a year for most people aged 18 or over, and £776 a year at the reduced rate, which covers students and their dependants, anyone on the Youth Mobility Scheme, and any applicant who is under 18 on the day they apply. It buys access to the NHS on the same terms as a resident. You pay for the whole visa at once, when you apply, not year by year as you go.
Part of a year is rounded up to the next six months, and that is the whole trick. Home Office caseworker guidance says it plainly: the charge is calculated in six-month periods, and a period including part of a year is rounded up to the next one. So a visa of two years and one month is charged as two years and six months, and two years and seven months is charged as three full years. Dividing by twelve, which is what most people do in their head and what several online calculators do in code, gives the wrong answer for any length that is not a clean half year.
There is one exception, and it runs the other way. A visa of six months or less costs nothing at all if you apply from outside the UK. Apply for the same six months from inside the UK and you pay half a year, which is £517.50 at the standard rate or £388 at the reduced one. This is an exemption sitting on top of the rounding rule rather than a result of it, which is why this calculator tests where you are applying from before it does any arithmetic.
Everyone pays their own, and there is no family rate. A partner aged 18 or over pays the same as you. A child under 18 pays the reduced rate. Four people on a five-year visa is four separate surcharges, and on the standard rate that alone comes to more than most people expect the entire application to cost. The two ways out are narrow: nobody on a Health and Care Worker visa pays it, dependants included, and nobody applying for indefinite leave to remain pays it either.
The rounding is not symmetrical, which is worth knowing before you count on a refund. What you are charged rounds up to the next six months. What you get back, when you have paid twice for the same period, rounds down to the nearest six months, and a duplicated period of less than six months is not refunded at all. You do get a full refund if your application is refused or withdrawn before a decision, and a partial one if you are granted less time than you asked for. You do not get anything back for leaving early, for never coming, or for simply not using the NHS. This page prices the surcharge only; for the visa fee and everything else, use the UK visa cost calculator.
Questions people ask about the IHS
How much is the IHS fee in the UK?
£1,035 a year for most applicants aged 18 or over, and £776 a year at the reduced rate, which applies to students and their dependants, the Youth Mobility Scheme, and anyone under 18 when they apply. You pay it for every person on the application and for the whole length of the visa at once. A three-year visa for one adult is £3,105, on top of the visa fee itself.
How is the IHS worked out for part of a year?
It is rounded up to the next six months, not worked out pro rata. Two years and one month is charged as two years and six months; two years and seven months is charged as three full years. Home Office caseworker guidance states that the surcharge is calculated in six-month periods and a part period is rounded up. Dividing your months by twelve will give you the wrong number.
Do I have to pay the health surcharge for my children?
Yes, for any child who is on the application. Children under 18 pay the reduced rate of £776 a year rather than £1,035, but it is still charged per child and for the full length of the visa, paid up front. There is no cap and no family rate, so a household of four pays four surcharges.
Who does not have to pay the immigration health surcharge?
Health and Care Worker visa holders and their dependants pay nothing. Nor does anyone applying for indefinite leave to enter or remain. Nor does someone applying from outside the UK for a visa of six months or less. The full exemption list on GOV.UK also covers asylum seekers, certain armed forces dependants, diplomats, victims of trafficking or domestic abuse, and children taken into local authority care.
Can I get the immigration health surcharge refunded?
Sometimes, and it is paid back automatically to the card you used. You get a full refund if your application is refused, if you withdraw before a decision, or if you paid twice for the same application. You get a partial refund if you are granted less time than you asked for. You get nothing back for leaving the UK early, for never travelling, or for not using the NHS. Where you have paid twice for the same period, the refund is rounded down to the nearest six months, and a duplicated period under six months is not refunded at all.
How much is the IHS for a student visa?
£776 a year, the reduced rate, and it applies to your dependants too. A two-year course charged at that rate is £1,552. The same six-month rounding applies, and student visas are often granted with extra time added before the course starts and after it ends, so the period you are charged for is usually longer than the course itself.
Do you pay the IHS all at once or every year?
All at once, as part of the application, before you get the visa. If you do not pay, UK Visas and Immigration will email you and you have 10 working days to pay from inside the UK or 7 working days from outside. If you still have not paid the full amount by then, the application is refused.
What does the immigration health surcharge actually pay for?
Access to the NHS on broadly the same basis as someone who lives here. It is not full coverage of everything: GOV.UK is explicit that you still pay for prescriptions, dental treatment, eye tests and assisted conception, the same as a UK resident does. You may also have to pay for NHS treatment during any period before the Home Office has decided your application.
Related tools
General information and arithmetic, not immigration advice. Immigration advice is a regulated activity in the UK and nothing here is a recommendation about which route to apply under. The surcharge is only part of what an application costs; the visa fee is separate. Exemptions and refunds depend on your own circumstances, and the figure GOV.UK quotes you inside the application is the one that counts.
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