UK Student Visa IHS and Application Fees: What You Pay, When, and What Is Not Refundable

The UK Student visa fee is not the only charge to check. UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) says on GOV.UK that applicants must also pay a healthcare surcharge as part of their application. The Student visa application fee and the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) are separate charges, and the IHS amount depends on the length of the visa.

Student visa application fee

UKVI’s GOV.UK page Student visa: documents you’ll need to apply states under “It costs” that it costs:

• £558 to apply for a Student visa from outside the UK.
• £558 to extend or switch to a Student visa from inside the UK.

The supplied guidance gives the inside-UK figure specifically for extending or switching to a Student visa. It does not provide another inside-UK Student visa fee figure.

The same section of the UKVI page says: “You must pay the visa fee for each person that joins you.” The £558 figure therefore cannot simply be treated as a single total for everyone named in an application. No family or group total is stated here because the official page does not provide one.

Check the “It costs” section of Student visa: documents you’ll need to apply on GOV.UK before applying.

Immigration Health Surcharge rates

UKVI’s GOV.UK page Pay for UK healthcare as part of your immigration application says the exact IHS amount depends on the length of the visa. Under “Cost for a year”, it lists:

• £776 per year for students, their dependants and people on a Youth Mobility Scheme visa.
• £776 per year for visa and immigration applicants under the age of 18 at the time of application.
• £1,035 per year for all other visa and immigration applications.

The same section gives £1,552 as the example for a 2-year student-category visa. It separately gives £3,105 as the example for a 3-year visa under “all other visa and immigration applications”. The £3,105 example should not be relabelled as the Student visa rate.

For dependants, UKVI says those aged 18 or over usually need to pay the same amount as the main applicant. The official material used here does not provide a combined family or application IHS total.

These rates are linked to visa length rather than simply the length of the course. UKVI expressly warns on the same page: “A visa may last longer than your course of study or period of employment.”

Verify the annual amounts under “Cost for a year” on Pay for UK healthcare as part of your immigration application. Do not use the £1,035 “all other applications” rate for a Student visa when UKVI has listed students in the £776 category.

Part-year and longer visas

The IHS is not calculated only by multiplying a course fee by an assumed period. UKVI says the part-year amount depends on both the length of the visa and where the application is made.

For a visa of 6 months or less:

• An application made from outside the UK does not require the IHS.
• An application made from inside the UK requires half the yearly cost. UKVI gives £388 for students, dependants or under-18 applications, and £517.50 for any other application.

For a visa of more than 6 months but less than one year, UKVI says the full yearly cost applies wherever the application is made. For a student, the applicable yearly rate listed by UKVI is therefore £776.

For a visa lasting more than one year, the official guidance states:

• The yearly cost plus half the yearly cost if the visa is for 18 months or less.
• The cost of 2 full years if it is for more than 18 months but less than 2 years.

The cited material does not provide a separate Student-category example for a 3-year visa. The £3,105 example belongs to the “all other” category. Check the live GOV.UK fee table for a visa length not covered by the examples above rather than extending the figures yourself.

The relevant place to verify this is Pay for UK healthcare as part of your immigration application, under “Cost for a year” and “Cost for part of a year.”

When payment happens

UKVI says the healthcare surcharge must be paid “as part of your application”. The cash required at the application stage therefore cannot be planned around the Student visa application fee alone: the applicable IHS must also be allowed for.

The official figures should remain separate. For example:

• For an outside-UK Student visa application, UKVI lists the application fee as £558. Its IHS section gives £1,552 as the example for a 2-year student-category visa.
• For an inside-UK extension or switch to a Student visa, the application fee is £558. If the visa is for 6 months or less, the inside-UK student IHS example is £388.

The cited pages do not state a combined total, so no total is calculated here. They also do not establish that the application fee and IHS form one card transaction or provide a separate payment deadline. The source-supported timing is that the IHS forms part of the application.

If the surcharge is not paid, or not enough is paid, UKVI says it will send an email explaining how to pay. That statement should not be read as a promise that payment can always be deferred: the cited guidance does not set out a later-payment process.

For planning purposes, UKVI’s Student visa: documents you’ll need to apply says the earliest application date is 6 months before the course starts when applying from outside the UK and 3 months before when applying from inside the UK. The same page says a decision will usually be received within 3 weeks for an outside-UK application and 8 weeks for an inside-UK application. Those are the page’s stated usual timescales, not guaranteed decision dates.

Refunds when an application is cancelled

UKVI’s GOV.UK page Cancel your visa, immigration or citizenship application says the refund available after cancellation depends on what has happened and how identity was proved.

For the Immigration Health Surcharge, UKVI gives a clear rule: the applicant receives a full refund if the application is cancelled before a decision has been made. The refund is paid automatically to the account or card used. UKVI says that, if eligible, the IHS refund is paid within 6 weeks of cancelling the application.

The application fee follows a different rule:

• If the applicant was told to attend an appointment, the fee is refunded if fingerprints and a photo have not yet been given.
• If fingerprints and a photo have already been given, UKVI says the fee “will not usually be refunded.”
• For the smartphone app, UKVI says the fee is refunded if the applicant has not selected “confirm and upload” to upload evidence or confirm there is nothing to upload. It also states that the fee is refunded where the application is withdrawn before the evidence-upload deadline given.

UKVI says there is no need to claim the application-fee refund separately. If eligible, it is paid automatically to the account or card used. The stated processing period is within 4 weeks of cancelling the application.

These statements concern cancellation, not every possible end to an application. In particular, the cited page does not explain the IHS position when cancellation occurs after a decision has already been made.

Refusals are a separate question

The cited UKVI refund page does not provide a refund outcome for a refused Student visa application. It explains refunds after cancellation only. It therefore does not settle whether a refusal leads to a refund of the £558 application fee, the IHS, or either charge.

Readers should check the applicable official GOV.UK decision or refund guidance for a refusal rather than applying the cancellation rule to it. The full IHS cancellation refund must not be treated as a promise after refusal, and the application fee must not be described as invariably non-refundable merely because biometrics may already have been given. The official distinction is the one UKVI makes: before biometrics, the appointment-route fee is refunded; after biometrics, it will not usually be refunded.