Healthcare Surcharge Refunds and Settlement on a Spouse Visa
A widely repeated claim is that getting settlement releases a refund of the healthcare surcharge you have already paid. GOV.UK says the opposite. This guide sets out what the published refund rules actually are on the family route.
- Section
- Costs, English & General
- Reading time
- 7 min
- Last checked
- 18 February 2026
- Source
- The published Immigration Rules and GOV.UK guidance, linked throughout this guide.
- Rowan does not
- Look at your own case, tell you which route to choose, or say what the Home Office will decide. This guide shows the published rules and where to read them.
In short
- There is no refund when you are granted settlement. GOV.UK says so directly.
- There is no refund for leaving the UK before your visa ends.
- Refunds for refusal, withdrawal, double payment or a shorter grant are automatic — you do not apply.
- A refund goes back to the card or account it was paid from, usually within 6 weeks of the decision.
- The surcharge is £1,035 a year, or £776 for students, their dependants, Youth Mobility and under-18s.
Being granted settlement does not produce a healthcare surcharge refund: GOV.UK lists applying for indefinite leave to remain among the situations where no refund is due. The refunds that do exist are for refusal, withdrawal before a decision, a double payment, or a shorter grant than you asked for — and they are paid automatically, usually within 6 weeks.
The Rule People Have Backwards
You will find it said in a lot of places that when settlement comes through, the unused part of the healthcare surcharge you paid on your spouse visa is refunded. It is not.
GOV.UK’s healthcare surcharge refunds page lists the situations in which no refund is due, and one of them is: “you’re applying for indefinite leave to remain”. The surcharge paid on your last spouse visa bought the period of that visa. Being granted settlement part-way through it does not buy any of it back.
The Rest of the No-Refund List
GOV.UK says you will not get a refund if:
- you withdraw your application after the visa is granted
- your application succeeds but you do not come to the UK at all
- you leave the UK before your visa ends — for example, to make a new application from outside
- you are told to leave the UK before the visa ends
- you are applying for indefinite leave to remain
- you switch to a visa that does not require the surcharge at all
No refund is due on the death of the person who paid it either. This list is worth reading before you plan around money you expect back: most of the ways people expect to recover the surcharge are on it.
The Refunds That Do Exist
Full refund
- You paid the surcharge twice for the same visa application.
- Your visa application is refused.
- You withdraw the application before a decision is made.
Partial refund
- Your visa is granted but for less time than you asked for. You get back the surcharge for the time you did not get.
- A dependant on your application is refused. Their share comes back.
- You paid twice for the same period when extending or switching inside the UK. GOV.UK rounds that down to the nearest 6 months, and a duplicated period of under 6 months gets nothing back.
You Do Not Apply. It Is Automatic.
This is the other half that gets described wrongly. GOV.UK says of a refund you are due: “you do not have to do anything to get it. It will be paid to the account or card you paid with” — or to whoever paid it on your behalf. There is no refund form to complete and no reference number to hunt for.
You “usually get your refund within 6 weeks of getting a decision on your visa application”. It can take longer if there is an appeal or an administrative review running.
If more than 6 weeks have passed since a decision that should have produced a refund, that is the point to contact the Home Office. Have the card or account details the payment came from, and the date of the decision.
What the Surcharge Costs on the Family Route
The surcharge is £1,035 a year for most people. It is £776 a year for students, their dependants, Youth Mobility Scheme applicants and anyone under 18 at the date of application. You pay it up front for the whole length of the visa you are asking for.
The totals GOV.UK gives for a family visa are:
- Adult: £2,587.50 for 2 years and 6 months, £3,105 for 2 years and 9 months, £5,175 for 5 years
- Child: £1,940, £2,328 and £3,880 for the same three periods
See our visa fees guide for how this sits alongside the application fees, and our healthcare surcharge and spouse visa guide.
Dependants
Each person on a family visa application pays their own surcharge, and each person’s refund is worked out separately. If one dependant is refused and the others are granted, the refused person’s surcharge comes back and the others’ does not. Again, nobody has to apply for it.
After Settlement
Once you have settlement, you do not pay the surcharge again. It is charged on applications for permission to stay for a limited period, and settlement is not one. That is the real financial change at settlement — no future surcharge, rather than a refund of a past one. See our guide to what changes after settlement and our general healthcare surcharge refunds guide.
Questions and answers
Can I get a healthcare surcharge refund after settlement on a spouse visa?
No. GOV.UK lists 'you're applying for indefinite leave to remain' among the situations in which you will not get a refund. The surcharge you paid on your spouse visa covered that visa, and being granted settlement part-way through does not give the unused part back.
When does the healthcare surcharge get refunded?
GOV.UK gives a full refund if you paid it twice for the same application, if the application is refused, or if you withdraw before a decision. There is a partial refund if you are granted less time than you asked for, if a dependant is refused, or if you paid twice for the same period when extending or switching inside the UK.
Do I have to apply for the refund?
No. GOV.UK says: 'you do not have to do anything to get it. It will be paid to the account or card you paid with.' You usually get it within 6 weeks of the decision on the application.
What if I leave the UK before my visa runs out?
That is also on the no-refund list. GOV.UK says there is no refund if you leave the UK before your visa ends, for example to make a new application, and none if your application succeeds but you never come to the UK.
This guide is general information about published immigration rules. It is not advice about an individual application under s.82 Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, and Rowan is not regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority. Immigration rules change several times a year. For advice on a particular situation, contact an adviser authorised by the Immigration Advice Authority or an immigration solicitor. Always check GOV.UK for the authoritative current rules.