National Insurance, IHS, NHS and they all work together - UK visa useful info

By 1st 4Immigration - #1 UK Immigration Experts -

 

We are often asked what happens once a migrant is in the UK, how they could get a National Insurance number or how paying IHS affects using the NHS. Here is some useful info! 

1. National Insurance number (NI number or NINO) is like a social security number, used for taxes and many other things. You could usually apply for it when you have a job offer. If you are on a Skilled Worker visa, it would be issued automatically with the visa. 

 

2. There is tax also called National Insurance. It’s deducted from wages of workers and passed on to the tax authority. Not connected to any immigration fees paid for visas. It applies to all workers (migrant or not), will be deducted by the employer’s payroll system before they pay your money. It is also used to calculate your entitlement to UK state pension. 

 

3. Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) is what most migrants pay during the visa application. It’s supposed to be passed on to the National Health Service. It is a one-off payment and ref number, and that ref number has no use after that (it’s not NHS number). You can use the health service in the same way as British citizens can, as long as you have a valid visa. 


 

4. National Health Service (NHS). You can use the NHS if you are on a resident-type visa, basically not a visitor/tourist. It is “free” at the point of use and not limited to the amount of IHS you paid during the visa application. You will need a yet another number - NHS number (not connected to IHS ref number), which you can obtain from a GP surgery when registering with them. 


For immigration advice, Book online consultation here. A call over Zoom or WhatsApp costs £150 if you prefer to talk to a lawyer. An email consultation costs only £120 and we provide answers by the next working day. Advice fee counts towards our future services with a visa application, so the final fee is the same, just split into 2 stages. 


1st 4Immigration is one of the most experienced UK immigration law companies, OISC – accredited at the highest Level 3. We have been in business for over 15 years, our OISC reference is 200800152, in which 2008 stands for the year accreditation. Office: Tower 42, 25 Old Broad Street, London, EC2N 1HN. Website 1st4immigration.com

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