IHS fees for UK student visa: current rates in 5 minutes
- The Immigration Health Surcharge for a UK Student visa is £776 per person per year.
- It is not a one-off visa fee.
It is charged separately from the visa application fee and calculated against the period of immigration permission UKVI expects to grant.
That distinction produces the figure many applicants miss: a 12-month course can generate an £1,164 IHS bill, not £776.
From 8 April 2026, the Student visa application fee is £558 for both out-of-country applications and in-country extensions or switches. The IHS sits on top of that fee. A student applying for a standard 12-month course from overseas may therefore need to budget at least £1,722 in mandatory application charges before maintenance funds, travel, accommodation or tuition.
The current student IHS rate is £776 a year
The current student-rate Immigration Health Surcharge has applied to eligible Student route applicants since 9:00am on 6 February 2024.
It covers:
- Student visa applicants;
- Student visa dependants, where dependants are permitted under the Student route rules;
- Youth Mobility Scheme applicants;
- Applicants under 18.
The published rate is £776 for each year of permission. The operative word is “permission”. UKVI does not calculate the charge solely from the course duration stated on a Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies.
A course may last nine months, 12 months or two academic years. The visa issued may be longer because the Student route includes time before and after the course. That added immigration permission is chargeable.
The IHS calculation follows the visa grant period, not the marketing label on the course.
The surcharge gives a visa holder access to the National Health Service on broadly the same basis as a UK resident, subject to the standard NHS charging rules. It does not replace every possible cost, and it is not optional simply because the applicant has private medical insurance.
Private cover may be sensible for personal reasons. It does not remove the statutory IHS liability.
Why a 12-month course often costs £1,164 in IHS
The standard Home Office example is straightforward and routinely misunderstood.
An applicant outside the UK is applying for a 12-month course. UKVI would normally grant:
- one month before the course starts; and
- four months after the course ends.
That creates 17 months of immigration permission.
The IHS system charges in six-month blocks. Seventeen months is therefore charged as 18 months, not 17. At the student rate, the result is:
| Permission period used for IHS | Charge calculation | IHS payable |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 6 months, in-country application | Half-year rate | £388 |
| More than 6 months but less than 12 months | Full annual rate | £776 |
| More than 12 months and up to 18 months | £776 + £388 | £1,164 |
| Two years | £776 × 2 | £1,552 |
This is why a student visa IHS calculator should not be treated as a course-price calculator. The relevant inputs are the application location, course dates and expected visa period.
For a 12-month course applied for from overseas, £1,164 is the normal IHS expectation under the Home Office example. It is not a penalty. It is the mechanical effect of additional leave before and after study, then rounding to the relevant six-month charging block.
The financial implication is material for couples and families. If a student is eligible to bring a dependant, the surcharge is assessed per person. A student and one dependant facing 18 months of chargeable permission would each pay £1,164, producing a combined IHS bill of £2,328 before either visa application fee is added.
That is precisely why dependant eligibility needs to be established before a household builds its budget. The Student route rules restrict who may bring dependants. The IHS portal does not correct an eligibility mistake made earlier in the planning process.
The six-month rule is where estimates fail
The IHS fee schedule is simple in principle and awkward in practice. UKVI applies annual and half-year units. Small differences in the permission period can therefore produce a meaningful increase in the amount due.
For an application from outside the UK, the broad position is:
1. Permission of six months or less will usually not require IHS payment.
2. Permission of more than six months but less than one year attracts a full annual student-rate charge: £776.
3. Permission beyond one year is charged in six-month increments after the first year.
4. The final total depends on the permission period entered or calculated through the application process, not merely on the course dates supplied by the education provider.
An in-country application works differently at the short end. A person extending or switching within the UK can be charged IHS for an application of any length. A six-month-or-less period can therefore produce a £388 charge at the student rate.
The distinction matters most for students moving between immigration routes. A Student visa extension, a switch from another category, or an application made during a course interruption may not fit the simple “course length plus four months” pattern used for a new overseas application.
This is not an area in which broad online comparisons help. A page about Damien Hirst’s Saturday work series may be useful to a digital-art collector, but it has no bearing on a Home Office payment calculation. IHS estimates must be built from the actual immigration facts.
The figure is paid upfront, not annually
“£776 per year” describes the rate. It does not mean the applicant pays £776 each year after arriving in Britain.
The relevant IHS amount is normally paid upfront when the visa application is submitted. For an 18-month chargeable grant, the applicant pays the full £1,164 at that point. For a two-year visa, the relevant total is £1,552 upfront.
This creates a cash-flow issue that university admissions material often understates. Tuition deposits, the visa fee, the IHS, maintenance evidence and flights can converge within a narrow period. The IHS is not generally a cost that can be deferred until enrolment or spread over monthly instalments.
“Annual rate” is a pricing unit. The charge itself is generally collected in full with the visa application.
IHS payment for international students: timing and shortfalls
Students generally pay the surcharge during the online visa application process, using a debit or credit card. The application will ask for course dates, among other details, to establish the proposed immigration period and generate the IHS reference number.
That reference number is linked to the specific application. It can be used once. If an application is abandoned and a fresh application is made, the applicant should expect to generate a new IHS reference rather than recycling the earlier one.
There are two practical payment risks.
First: submitting with the wrong course or visa details
The IHS system’s result is only as reliable as the information supplied. Incorrect start dates, end dates or route details can lead to a mismatch between the paid amount and the leave UKVI decides to grant.
The application is not insulated merely because the payment page accepted the card.
If UKVI identifies an underpayment, it may contact the applicant and require the balance to be settled within a defined period:
- 7 working days for an applicant outside the UK;
- 10 working days for an applicant inside the UK.
Those deadlines are operational, not advisory. A payment shortfall should be resolved immediately. Leaving it until the end of the window is an unnecessary risk where card limits, exchange-rate movements or international payment controls are involved.
Second: confusing IHS with the visa fee
The Student visa application fee and the Immigration Health Surcharge are different charges, collected through connected but separate stages of the overall process.
For applications made from 8 April 2026, the Student visa fee is £558. It should not be folded into an IHS calculation or described as part of the healthcare surcharge.
A clean budget line is more useful:
| Cost item | Standard figure cited here | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Student visa application fee | £558 | The application for Student permission |
| Student-rate IHS for 12 months of chargeable permission | £776 | NHS access surcharge, payable upfront |
| Student-rate IHS for 18 months of chargeable permission | £1,164 | Common outcome for an overseas applicant on a 12-month course |
| Student-rate IHS for two years | £1,552 | Two full years of chargeable permission |
The final amount may be collected in the currency used for the applicant’s location. That amount cannot be fixed in advance from the sterling fee schedule because the payment system applies the applicable exchange rate at the point of payment.
Refunds are narrower than applicants assume
The IHS refund rules are specific. A student should not treat the surcharge as a refundable deposit.
A full refund is generally available where:
- the visa application is refused;
- the applicant withdraws the application before a decision is made; or
- the surcharge was paid twice for the same application.
The inverse is equally important. A successful applicant will not usually receive an IHS refund because they:
- decide not to travel after the visa has been granted;
- leave the UK earlier than expected;
- finish the course early; or
- choose not to use the full period of permission.
The Home Office’s position is based on the immigration permission granted, not on how extensively the holder uses that permission. That can appear inflexible. It is nevertheless the rule applicants should price into the decision.
A withdrawal after a visa has been granted is not the same as a withdrawal before a decision. The timing controls the outcome.
EHIC reimbursement exists, but it is not a general student discount
Some full-time higher-education students may qualify for a full or partial IHS reimbursement through an eligible European Health Insurance Card arrangement.
This is not an automatic exemption at the application stage. The applicant normally pays the IHS first and then assesses reimbursement eligibility against the relevant conditions.
The scope is limited. Qualification depends on factors including:
- holding a qualifying EHIC issued by the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein;
- the issuing country and validity of the card;
- the date the student’s visa began;
- enrolment on an eligible full-time higher-education course; and
- whether the student works, or intends to work, while studying.
The employment condition is frequently overlooked. A student who plans paid work alongside study should not assume an EHIC-based reimbursement remains available. The eligibility position must be tested against the current rules before the visa application is treated as financially viable.
Nor should students confuse the EHIC reimbursement process with a private-insurance exemption. They are unrelated. Private medical insurance does not cancel the IHS requirement.
The calculation to use before submitting
The relevant question is not, “How long is my course?” It is, “What period of Student permission is UKVI likely to grant, and how will that period fall into the IHS charging blocks?”
For most overseas applicants, the immediate actions are limited and concrete:
1. Confirm the exact course start and end dates on the CAS before beginning the online application.
2. Budget the visa fee and IHS separately: from 8 April 2026, the Student visa fee is £558; the IHS is additional.
3. Assume a 12-month overseas course may cost £1,164 in IHS, because 17 months of permission is charged as 18 months.
4. Calculate per applicant, not per application. Every eligible dependant creates a separate surcharge liability.
5. Use the IHS reference only for the application that generated it. A reapplication requires a new reference.
6. Keep funds available for a shortfall request and meet UKVI’s seven- or ten-working-day payment deadline without delay.
7. Do not budget for a discretionary refund if travel plans change after the visa is granted.
8. Check EHIC reimbursement conditions separately if relying on that route; it is conditional and does not remove the upfront charge.
The fee schedule is stable only at the published rate level. The final student visa IHS total is determined by the permission period, the location of the application and the six-month charging rule. That is the calculation that matters.