We recently applied for another 6-month refund of my wife's IHS payment - she works in the NHS - for April-Sept 2021. This is the reply we have received - "I am contacting you regarding your application for a reimbursement of the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS). There is no refund due for IHSXXXXXXXXX. As the IHS payment was originally made on 28 January 2019 there would need to be a total of at least 19 months of length of stay remaining. This is because a person would only qualify for a refund if they paid the IHS before 31 March 2020 and had at least one full 6 month period remaining on the payment after this date. When you paid IHSXXXXXXXXX it initially covered a total of 30 months. However, when each six-month refund is processed, the length of stay decreases. As you have received two refunds so far, your length of stay now shows as 18 months. Kind regards, " Does anyone understand this??? The only thing that I can 'take' from it, is that we have lost out on a 6-month refund because my wife's new 2.5-year FLR(M) Visa was granted part-way through September 2021 and 6-monthly payments cannot 'bridge' across Visas?
Thus guidance might help https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...lth-surcharge-guidance-for-reimbursement-2020
Yeah typical gobbledigook response, Iv just phoned the "Helpline" my wife is at work presently, they refused to discuss her refused application due to data protection, so i asked if they would advise me, the minute i told them the months of the claim they said sorry they couldnt discuss the claim, I said but im asking for general guidance again same response, so its not really a general helpline more like a un helpfuline its more or less a Helpline to discuss specific claims. Sometimes i feel im constantly banging my head against a brick wall and usually Goverment National/Local civil servants are the worst of the lot.
Sounds like the same 'pay-per-question Helpline' as the one for Visa applications... about as much use as a chocolate teapot!
Hi UKDJ, Interesting, so what happened to your wife's visa now in regards to the IHS refund? Does it affect her 2.5 years visa? Thank you. Vincent
This doesn't affect Visa applications... The upshot was, we lost 5-&-a-half months of a 6-month IHS refund because there wasn't a FULL 6 months remaining on the period the first IHS payment covered - even though we went straight from one 2.5 year FLR(M) Visa (& IHS payment) into another, you can't claim for a 6-month period that spans two IHS payments!!! This also leaves me wondering when we can make the first claim for 6 months IHS refund from her second FLR(M) Visa application (& IHS payment)? My guess is either 6 months after the IHS payment was made, or 6 months after the Issue Date on her second BRP?
