Mum fears being separated from husband and 18-month-old child as she can’t afford NHS visa surcharge

An NHS worker who has lived in the UK for 18 years can’t afford to renew his visa after finding out he has to pay a £2,600 fee to access the health services he now helps and fears he may be asked to leave the country. Marie Madrid, 33, an NHS healthcare navigator, has spent around £12,000 renewing her visa to stay in the UK for the past 10 years, but this time she can’t afford the surcharge of healthcare, a fee charged by most applicants to access public healthcare. Services.

Marie, who lives with her husband Aled, 30, and 18-month-old son Cayden in Conwy, Wales, did not expect to pay the £2,600 tax, thinking she could claim indefinite leave to remain, the most secure immigration. status in the United Kingdom other than British citizenship. But in April 2024, her lawyers broke the news that Marie would have to wait another two years before she could apply to stay in the UK indefinitely, and in the meantime she would have to renew her spousal visa once more, which includes NHS tax.

In total, the application will cost around £5,000, including £1,200 in solicitor’s fees, £1,048 for the visa and £2,587.50 for the NHS charge, according to Maria, who fears she may be told to leave the country because they cannot afford it. . The mum, who finally achieved her dream of working for the NHS earlier this year, first applied for a temporary visa in 2014, known as the right to remain, before switching to a spousal visa in 2021. not knowing that this would delay his application indefinitely.

Marie, who has worked in private care for many years, started her new NHS job in March and said she is not yet eligible for the government’s health and care reimbursement scheme, which allows foreign nationals working in the health and care in the UK. sectors to recover the surcharge.

“Even though I work for the NHS, I still have to pay the surcharge,” said Marie. “It doesn’t make sense because I work for them and I also pay tax into the NHS.

“I’m what you call a care navigator, which means I’m basically the best person to deal with patient questions. My child and husband are safe because they are British by birth.

“My fear is that I would have to leave my child and my husband… and it’s not right, especially since I’ve always tried to do things the right way.”

Her husband, Aled, added: “If it gets worse, I will lose my partner, the person I rely on every day. I couldn’t survive without her.”

Marie, who was born in Hong Kong when it was still a British colony, moved to Wales in September 2006 where she completed her BA before going on to study graphic design at university. In 2014, after an unsuccessful attempt to renew her student visa, Marie applied for leave to remain, which gives people the right to stay in the UK for a limited period of time, usually two to three years.

Her application was accepted, which meant Marie could now live and work legally in the UK, and she soon started working as a receptionist at Gala Bingo. A few years later, in 2017, she met Aled at work and the pair married three years later during the Global Pandemic.

This meant Marie was eligible for a spousal visa, which she got in 2021. Marie said: “Every time I have to apply for a visa it’s so stressful.

“This year I was supposed to apply for indefinite leave to stay, but it seems I no longer qualify for that. It’s really frustrating because I saved enough money for an indefinite leave to stay visa and they said I don’t have to pay the NHS surcharge. So imagine my surprise when they said yes, and this time it was £2,587.50.”

From April 2015, those applying for temporary leave to live in the UK must pay an additional immigration health tax on top of the visa application fee. The levy, which helps fund Britain’s National Health Service, has risen from £200 a year to £1,035 a year in 2024.

Marie first got a temporary visa 10 years ago and has so far spent £12,000 renewing her visas, including the NHS surcharge. Under this visa scheme, she would now be eligible to apply for indefinite leave to remain, which allows people to stay in the UK for as long as they want.

However, when she got married she switched to a spousal visa which has different requirements and her lawyers have confirmed she will have to wait another two years, until 2026, and therefore need to renew her visa by husband one last time. Marie and her husband did not anticipate this and cannot afford the claim plus the £2,600 health care surcharge.

They said the “cost of living”, along with having to pay £420 a month for nursery school, stretched their wages to the limit. Fearing she could be asked to leave the UK, Marie launched a GoFundMe fundraiser which has raised nearly £1,400.

“We’ve always tried to get by and we’ve always managed, but this time, we’ve been caught out because we expected to apply for indefinite leave and not worry about the NHS surcharge. That’s why I did the GoFundMe, more out of desperation.”

Marie, whose parents are from the Philippines, and her husband, who was born in Bangor, Wales, took out a mortgage to buy a house in November 2019.

“If everything went wrong, how will I cope?” Aled said. “Financially, I couldn’t support myself, a child and the house, all on one salary.

“I feel that when people have been here long enough to be paid into the NHS through National Insurance anyway, I don’t see why they should have to pay the surcharge. Most people, immigrants and people who were born here, don’t have that kind of income. Unfair is a nice way of saying it.”

A Home Office spokesman said: “While we recognize the significant contribution migrants make to the UK, it is Government policy that migrants contribute to the comprehensive and high-quality NHS services available from the moment they arrive in the UK.

“Migrants employed in the health and social care sectors can claim reimbursement of immigration health surcharges paid through the health and care reimbursement scheme.”

To support Marie, visit: www.gofundme.com/f/6vp65m-staying-with-my-family

Mum fears being separated from husband and 18-month-old because she can’t afford the NHS visa surcharge even though she works there