Health cover costs on a UK work or family visa

Health cover on a UK work or family visa comes down to two separate costs. The first is not insurance at all: GOV.UK prints the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) at £1,035 per year for adults not covered by a reduced rate, and at £776 per year for students, their dependants, Youth Mobility Scheme applicants and anyone under 18 when they apply. The second is an optional private medical policy, which GOV.UK says does not replace the surcharge. If you are deciding whether to add one, the form on this page, which asks only for contact details and a postcode, puts you in line for a free ring-back; the FCA-authorised broker on that call can explain how each insurer's residence rules sit with your visa dates.

The surcharge on a work or family visa, at GOV.UK's rates

The rates sit in the cost section of GOV.UK's guide to paying for UK healthcare with an immigration application (gov.uk/healthcare-immigration-application; no update date is printed, read on 26 October 2026). Its yearly lines read:

• "£776 per year for students, their dependants, and those on a Youth Mobility Scheme visa, for example £1,552 for a 2-year visa"
• "£776 per year for visa and immigration applicants who are under the age of 18 at time of application"
• "£1,035 per year for all other visa and immigration applications, for example £3,105 for a 3-year visa"

That gives three kinds of reader. An adult on a work or family route is on the third line, unless one of the exemptions below applies. A child applicant is on the second. Someone on a Youth Mobility Scheme visa is on the first, and GOV.UK's page for that visa agrees, listing the surcharge at usually £776 per year among the costs. Student rates have their own page at health insurance costs on a UK student visa.

The route pages say less than the main guide does. The Skilled Worker visa page tells applicants, their partners and their children that each will need to pay the surcharge for every year of the stay, and its costs section puts the surcharge at usually £1,035 per year (read on 26 October 2026). The family visa page prints whole-visa amounts, and they follow the same yearly rates:

Those are the figures in GOV.UK's family visa guide (read on 26 October 2026), which says you might also need to pay the surcharge as part of the application. That hedge matters, and the exemptions further down this page explain why.

How the total moves with visa length and with each person on the application

The surcharge is a yearly rate multiplied out over the visa you are granted, so the sum depends on dates rather than on the job or the relationship. GOV.UK says the amount depends on the length of the visa you are given and, for short visas, where you apply from. Its rules for parts of a year run like this:

• A visa of six months or less, applied for from outside the UK, carries no surcharge.
• The same short visa applied for from inside the UK costs half the yearly rate, and GOV.UK prints £517.50 for an application not at the reduced rate, beside its £388 reduced-rate example.
• A visa of more than six months but under a year costs a full year of surcharge, wherever the application is made.
• A longer visa costs the yearly rate plus half again if it runs for 18 months or less, and two full years if it runs for more than 18 months but under two years.

For each additional person, the guide says: "Dependants aged 18 or over usually need to pay the same amount as you." A partner on a work or family visa therefore usually adds a second adult-sized charge for the same period, and a child's charge follows the under-18 line. Dependants applying at the same time go on the same application, and you pay by debit or credit card. If an amount is missing or short, UK Visas and Immigration emails you, and a late payment is accepted within 10 working days for someone applying inside the UK, or 7 for someone outside, and after that the application will be turned down.

The surcharge is paid up front for the whole visa, whereas a private premium is usually monthly, so the two are not directly comparable. A household with several people on one application should add up the charge person by person before it plans anything else.

Who pays nothing: the Health and Care Worker visa and the other exemptions

The guide's list of people who do not need to pay is long. It includes anyone applying for indefinite leave to enter or remain, applicants to the EU Settlement Scheme, asylum seekers, stateless persons and applicants under the Ukraine schemes. For a working reader the entry that matters most is: "you’re a health and care worker who is eligible for a Health and Care Worker visa (or you’re their dependant)". GOV.UK's page for that visa says the worker, their partner and their children will not have to pay the surcharge.

The Skilled Worker page points doctors, nurses and people working in health or adult social care the same way, telling them to check whether they can apply for the Health and Care Worker visa instead, which it says is cheaper to apply for and carries no annual surcharge. Eligibility for that visa is the Home Office's call, not an insurer's or a broker's, so GOV.UK's own pages are the place to settle it.

Two other lines catch readers out. The guide says a visitor visa or an application to remain in the UK permanently carries no surcharge, and it adds that a person who applies for indefinite leave to remain but is given only limited leave must pay before the leave is granted. Those who work in health or care on another visa may be able to claim money back: the guide says you and your dependants may be able to get a refund of the IHS, but only for periods worked in health or care for six months or more. What counts as a qualifying period is set out in GOV.UK's refund check.

What the surcharge gives you, and what you still pay for

The payment opens the NHS, and the guide says exactly when: "You can start using the NHS free of charge from the date your visa starts. You must have already paid the IHS if you need to." If the Home Office has not yet made a decision, NHS treatment before then may be chargeable. Some charges stay whatever you have paid: "You’ll still need to pay for certain types of services, such as prescriptions, dental treatment, eye tests and assisted conception." The guide also says you may have to prove your status online with a share code if you have a digital immigration status.

It then answers the insurance question in one line: "You still need to pay even if you have private medical insurance." The reverse is just as true. Paying the surcharge does not buy private treatment, a consultant of your choice or a quicker appointment, and what a policy adds is a separate decision. How long you might wait on the NHS is covered on private health insurance and waiting times, and the wider picture for newcomers, beyond visa holders on these routes, is on the page for foreign nationals living in the UK.

Joining a UK policy as a new arrival: the residence and GP rules insurers print

Whether you hold the right visa and whether an insurer will take you are two different tests. Insurers set their own, and several look back at how long you have already lived here. This is what each of five prints:

For someone who has just arrived on a work or family visa, the practical shape is this. WPA and Vitality look back six months from the day cover starts, to time already spent in the UK and on a GP's list. Bupa also asks for six months with a GP at the cover start date, but its wording accepts full medical records in English instead. The Exeter ties eligibility to the days you spend here each policy year and to being eligible for free NHS treatment, which for a visa holder is the entitlement the surcharge relates to; whether your own status meets that wording is for the insurer to confirm. Aviva and The Exeter also look forward: Aviva's definition wants the legal right to reside for the whole policy year, and The Exeter's for the entire duration of the policy, so leave that ends sooner is worth raising before you buy. Because Vitality, Bupa and Aviva word their rules for dependants as well, a partner or child who arrives months after you may face the test on a different date.

Which of these an insurer would apply to your own dates, and whether the others, including AXA Health, Freedom and Saga, take new arrivals on a similar basis, is the kind of question a broker can put to several insurers in one call. Mention your visa start date and who is coming with you when they ring.

The rules also run the other way. AXA Health's membership handbook (October 2024, print code PB116343a/10.24; the copy read is hosted by more-health.co.uk, PDF page 35) says: "If you move outside of the United Kingdom, you won’t be able keep your current membership and you will not be able to make any claims for treatment." Bupa's guide (PDF page 41) lets it cancel cover if you or a dependant stop being resident in the UK, and Aviva (PDF page 31) asks to be told as soon as possible if a member stops being a UK resident, or might reasonably be expected to after a renewal, and says it may then cancel that member's cover from up to 14 days after it becomes aware.

What a premium adds on top of the surcharge: indicative ranges

These are broad market ranges, not any insurer's price and not what you should expect to pay, for a UK resident's policy that includes out-patient benefit, carries a mid-sized excess and is paid by the month (indicative, October 2026):

• A single adult in their thirties: roughly £30 to £60 a month, or £360 to £720 a year.
• A single adult in their forties: roughly £40 to £80 a month, or £480 to £960 a year.
• A couple in their thirties or forties with two children, all on one policy: roughly £100 to £200 a month, or £1,200 to £2,400 a year.
• One child added to an existing adult policy: roughly £10 to £25 a month, or £120 to £300 a year.

Your own premium comes from a quote priced on your age, postcode, health and the cover you choose. Raising the excess, trimming the out-patient limit or narrowing the hospital list generally lowers a premium, with more of any claim falling to you in return, and our guide to how an excess works sets out that trade-off. Costs for a whole household are on private health insurance for families, and UK-wide figures are on what private medical cover typically costs across the UK.

A worker should also ask whether an employer already offers a scheme before buying alone, since what company health insurance costs is a different calculation, and the tax page explains how employer-paid cover is generally treated. To see where your own household lands against those ranges, the broker who rings after a visa holder sends the form on this page can set a few insurers' prices beside your visa dates.

Visa health cover costs: questions people type

What is the total health bill for a work or family visa?

There are two figures, and only the first is compulsory for most longer stays: the surcharge at GOV.UK's yearly rates above, and an optional policy priced on you personally, for which the indicative ranges above are the starting guide.

Does a UK tourist visa need health insurance, and what does it cost?

GOV.UK says no surcharge applies to a visitor visa: "You will need to pay for any NHS care you get at the point you use it - unless it’s a service that’s free." Policies written for residents mostly do not suit a short trip, and private health insurance for UK visitors goes through what is available instead.

Can my spouse or child join my policy as soon as they arrive?

That depends on the insurer. Vitality's and Bupa's rules quoted above apply to dependants as well and are tested at the date cover starts. Under Vitality's, a partner or child with under six months of UK residence and GP registration may not qualify yet; Bupa's accepts full medical records in English as an alternative to six months with a GP. A broker can check dates with several insurers on the call-back.

Do I pay the surcharge again if I extend or switch my visa inside the UK?

GOV.UK says you usually need to pay, for any length of time, when applying inside the UK. If you pay twice for the same period of six months or more, the guide describes a partial refund rounded down to the nearest six months, with nothing back for an overlap of under six months.

Once you know which of the two costs you are facing, the enquiry on this page is the one thing left to do: submit it, and a broker rings back to set the insurers' residence rules against your own dates, free of charge.