Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether an individual is entitled to an Immigration Health Surcharge refund where they have paid the surcharge but have been refused registration with a GP as they were leaving the UK within 6 months.

Primary medical care, which includes access to, and medical care provided by, GP services, is free of charge to all overseas visitors, regardless of immigration status. Individuals, who have been refused registration with a GP are not entitled to a refund of the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS).

The IHS is paid by temporary migrants who make an application to come to the UK to work, study or join family for more than six months, or to extend their stay in the UK. Payment of the IHS enables migrants to access the NHS on broadly the same basis as UK residents for the duration of their valid immigration permission in the UK.