Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Answer of to Question 147200 on Visas: Charities, if she will outline her Department's application process for Immigration Health Surcharge partial refunds; whether it is her Department's policy that Immigration Health Surcharge balances automatically carry forward to any extension period.

The Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) is refunded in full where an application is refused or rejected as invalid. A partial refund may be due where the applicant is granted a shorter period of immigration permission than requested.

The IHS is charged and refunded in six-month blocks. For an applicant to receive a partial refund where granted a shorter period of immigration permission than requested, the period granted must result in the applicant falling into an earlier charging block. For example, an applicant who applied for a two-year visa and was granted one year would receive a partial refund for the two six-month blocks.

Where an applicant is due a full or partial refund of the IHS, the refund is automatically processed by the casework team as part of the application process and refunded to the bank account from which it was initially paid. If an applicant believes they are entitled to a refund and have not received a refund within six weeks, they should contact UKVI.

The IHS paid as part of an application is specific to that visa and is not transferred to a new application. Applicants must pay the IHS covering the full period they are applying for at the point of application.