Can IHS be refunded? Four situations for refund after permanent residency approval

IHS Standard annual fee £1,035, student and youth exchange category £776. A three-year work visa paid in one lump sum £3,105, five years paid in full £5,175, the money is deducted from the card at the moment of online submission. Therefore, every time someone gets permanent residency approved, the back office receives the same question: the old visa still has two years remaining, can those two years of IHS be refunded?

Permanent residency approved, the remaining two years of the old visa IHS, will they be refunded?

does not refund.

The reason is that the charging object of IHS is "a time-limited license." The settlement application has no expiration date, and GOV.UK lists the application for permanent residency as a case not requiring payment in the IHS payment page, so the step of applying for permanent residency itself did not generate any IHS, let alone overpayment. As for the old visa fee, it was paid in advance for the entire period of the license; the GOV.UK refund page lists "leaving the UK before the visa is approved" and "switching to a category exempt from paying IHS" as non-refundable cases. Applying for permanent residency earlier is considered not using up the entire period of the license, rather than the Home Office providing less time - these two situations are separate categories in the refund rules, and only the latter will result in a refund.

By the way: From April 8, 2026, the permanent residency application fee will be £3,226 per person, and it is non-refundable even if rejected.

Which several payments will be refunded?

According to the rules, the only refund channels that truly exist are the following categories. The first four categories do not require you to take any action:

The overlapping period, no refund for less than 6 months

This one is the easiest to miss, and the amount is also the largest. When renewing or transferring within the country, the new permit starts from the date of approval, while the old permit usually still has several months before it expires. During this time, you are essentially paying twice for the same period IHS.

Home Office"Immigration Health Surcharge" Case Guidance (10.0 Edition as of 30 September 2025) stipulates that overlapping refunds are calculated in full 6-month units and rounded down: an overlap of 13 months results in a refund for 12 months; an overlap of 5 months results in a refund of 0. Moreover, the overlapping period is counted from the day the new permission is approved to the expiry date of the old permission, starting from the decision date, not the day you submitted it online.

Convert to money: Standard rate per year is £1,035, if overlapping for 6 months, £517.50 will be returned to the card; if a few days short of 6 months, this amount will be reset to zero.

So when choosing the date to renew, it's worth calculating this first. Submitting when the old permit has 8 months remaining, and getting the result two months later, will cause overlap to fall around 6 months, right on the boundary. My judgment is: if the overlap is destined to fall within 6 months, submitting early just to finish earlier won't gain any IHS, but only move the payment of the next installment forward; if you really want to submit early, do it so that the overlap definitely exceeds 6 months, or just follow the original plan. Expedited service will move the decision date forward, thereby extending the overlap period, which is also a variable to consider when calculating.

How long does the money take to arrive, and who should be contacted if it is delayed?

The refund policy of GOV.UK is: full or partial refunds that meet the above five categories will be processed automatically, and the money will be returned to the card or account used for payment. It usually takes up to 6 weeks, and if it hasn't arrived after 6 weeks, you should contact UKVI. Repeatedly asking during these 6 weeks will not speed it up.

Only when the system fails to identify the issue (wrong level paid, wrong fee calculated, or over-deducted due to technical failure) is it necessary to manually submit the IHS refund application form. Before filling out the form, make sure you have all four items: IHS number (the string starting with IHS), visa application number, payment method and payment date, and the country where the application was submitted. Missing any one of them will cause the form to get stuck.

The only one you need to handle yourself IHS refund channel

This "Health and Social Care" route is two separate things from the well-known "Health and Care Worker visa exemption for IHS", which are often confused. The former does not charge at the time of application; the latter is a refund channel for other visa holders who have already paid IHS, such as those working in NHS or regulated care organizations with a standard Skilled Worker, Dependent, or Student visa. These people still paid the full IHS initially, and can apply for a refund on a regular basis.

The conditions are very detailed: working for an eligible organization, continuous employment in the same position for at least 6 months, and an average of at least 16 hours per week; if unemployment or unpaid leave exceeds 28 days during this 6-month period, this period will not count. Applications are made in 6-month segments, which can be traced back to time in the UK after March 31, 2020. Each 6-month segment requires a separate application, which will not be automatically renewed. You need to prepare the IHS number, national insurance number, employment contract, and 6 months of pay slips for that period. Those who have changed positions, worked part-time, or taken maternity leave may be unsure whether the 6 months count as continuous. They can pay £5 on justiscript.com to get a written response from a UK-qualified lawyer within 24 hours for a specific question, saving time instead of repeatedly thinking it over.

Automatic refund also has a prerequisite; many people only find out after five years.

It was mentioned earlier that the refund will be automatically returned to the original payment method. There's a half-sentence missing: the premise of returning to the original method is that the card is still valid. GOV.UK clearly states that the refund will be returned to the card or account used for the initial payment. From the first payment IHS to obtaining permanent residency, it often takes five or even ten years. It's very common for people to have changed banks, closed old cards, or had their parents pay on their behalf, making the original account obsolete. If the card is no longer available, the refund will be stuck and you need to contact UKVI separately to explain and provide payment proof.

So the real small thing you can do right away is not to calculate how much can be refunded, but to record each payment's number, amount, and the last four digits of the payment card into your permanent residency file. You won't be able to get the money back at the permanent residency stage, but the portion that should have been returned to your card during previous renewals needs a place to go.

This article is for reference only. For specific issues, please consult a licensed attorney.

[Data source] GOV.UK "Pay for UK healthcare as part of your immigration application: Refunds" https://www.gov.uk/healthcare-immigration-application/refunds; Home Office "Immigration health surcharge" caseworker guidance v10.0 (30 September 2025) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-health-surcharge-caseworker-guidance; GOV.UK "Get an immigration health surcharge refund if you work in health and care" https://www.gov.uk/apply-immigration-health-surcharge-refund

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