Home Office extends visa for NHS workforce amid shortage of doctors

Tuesday 31st March 2020 14:08 EDT
 
 

On 31st March Tuesday, Home Secretary, announced a one year extension of the visas of NHS workforce for free for all oversees staff whose visas are slated to expire on October 1.

Home Office estimates that this extension will apply to around 2,800 migrant doctors, nurses and paramedics, employed by the NHS besides their family members, in a demonstration how valued overseas NHS staff are to the UK. This comes as the UK appears to struggle to combat the increasing number of cases affected by coronavirus and continues to follow Italy in its mortality curve according to the Financial Times. Home Secretary Priti Patel in a statement said,

“Doctors, nurses and paramedics from all over the world are playing a leading role in the NHS’s efforts to tackle coronavirus and save lives. We owe them a great deal of gratitude for all that they do.

“I don’t want them distracted by the visa process. That is why I have automatically extended their visas – free of charge – for a further year.”

NHS visas will be extended automatically, and the Home Office has also suggested that the staff will be exempt from the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS). Trainee doctors and nurses will also not be limited by the number of hours they can work in the NHS during term time. Jags Chopra, is currently a foundation trainee in her second year of training at the NHS. Originally from Singapore, the trainee doctor has campaigned for the abolition of the IHS. She said,

“I am doing extra shifts during the Covid Pandemic as our overworked doctors are off sick. I will be working in A&E from April as the outbreak peaks. Yet the UK Home Office is charging me £1,200 health surcharges even though I pay my taxes and National Insurance.

“Chancellor of Exchequer’s 2020 budget raised IHS. For a family of two adults and two children, this is £2,188 for a year. It affects doctors, nurses, paramedics across the health system. At a time of staff shortages, what message are we sending?”

As part of its new scheme and to get more doctors and nurses on the frontline, the Home Office has also lifted the restriction on the amount of hours student nurses and doctors can work in the NHS.

On top of these changes, pre-registered overseas nurses who are currently required to sit their first skills test within 3 months and to pass the test within 8 months, will now have this deadline extended to the end of the year as well. This is likely to give overseas nurses more time to pass their exams, whilst they spend the immediate term working on the frontline.


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