Hike in visa fees poses new threat to nurse retention
Posted 06 October 2023 - 07:00
RCN warns home secretary Suella Braverman that ‘unaffordable’ visa fees will price vital overseas nurses out of the NHS, jeopardising long-term workforce plans
Planned increases to health and care visa fees are ‘short-sighted’ and will add further barriers to overseas nurses working in the NHS, the RCN has warned.
Hike in visa fees will price overseas nurses out of the NHS, warns RCN
Writing to home secretary Suella Braverman today the college warns that hikes in visa fees would be unaffordable and act as a significant barrier to retaining vital overseas healthcare staff.
As from 4 October, the cost of applying for a health and care visa, which allows nursing staff from overseas to work in the NHS or adult social care, rose by 15% taking the total for staff who intend to work in the UK for more than three years to £551.
The cost to apply for settlement in the UK – indefinite leave to remain – will increase by 20% to £2,885. Additionally, nursing students will see their visa fees rise by £127 to £490.
The RCN warns that, in the context of a decade of pay erosion, many nurses would not be able to afford to remain in the UK despite the NHS desperately needing them.
Additional levies are 'unjust, divisive and short-sighted'
RCN general secretary Pat Cullen said: ‘Nurses and care workers, regardless of their country of origin, make a vital contribution to this country in the care they provide and the taxes and national insurance contributions they already pay.
‘They deserve to be valued and recognised. Subjecting our much-needed internationally educated staff in the health and care sector to additional levies is not only unjust but divisive and short-sighted.’
Unison national officer for nursing Stuart Tuckwood told Nursing Standard: ‘A lot of overseas nurses uprooted themselves and their families to come here, they were invited and actively recruited.
‘They are already paying huge amounts, they pay their taxes and other fees that come with being here, so to hit them on top of that with another visa charge is just massively unethical and wrong.’
Visa costs could scupper ambitious aims of long-term workforce plan
It comes in the same week prime minister Rishi Sunak admitted in his speech at the Conservative Party conference that not enough nurses had been trained in the past decade.
He said he wants to ‘give the NHS the staff it needs’ through the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, which promises to recruit up to 190,000 more nurses by 2037.
But the RCN questioned how this can be achieved at the same time as increasing fees for those wanting to work in the NHS.
‘While the NHS needs to reduce reliance on internationally educated staff and invest in expanding the UK-educated nursing workforce, this will take time. The long-term workforce plan predicts that in 15 years about 9%–10.5% of the NHS workforce will be recruited from overseas, but right now to ensure the NHS runs safely, one quarter of the workforce is still expected to come from abroad,’ the college said in a statement.
Latest Nursing and Midwifery Council data show around half of those who joined the UK register in the year to March 2023 were internationally educated.
Government defends visa fee rise
A government spokesperson said: ‘We recognise the significant contribution of overseas NHS workers but must keep our immigration policies under constant review to ensure they best serve the UK and reflect the public’s priorities.
‘The health and care visa also remains significantly cheaper [than other skilled worker visas] for eligible people working in health and social care to come to the UK with their families.’
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