It is “wholly unacceptable” for the Home Office to pass on the cost of public sector pay rises to migrant nurses by increasing visa fees, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has said.
The nurses’ union has condemned the Government’s increase of visa fees by up to 35 per cent on Wednesday, saying it will only make it harder for the NHS to retain “desperately needed nursing staff”.
Many NHS nurses relocated to the UK with their families and are pursuing a visa pathway to settlement. However some have told the Standard they are now considering job offers in Canada and the US because visa costs are unaffordable.
The Home Office has said “it is right and fair” to increase visa application fees so it can fund “vital public services and allow wider funding to contribute to public sector pay”.
But RCN chief executive Pat Cullen has written to Home Secretary Suella Braverman urging her to “revoke” the decision.
Mr Cullen said: “Government has suggested that fee rises are in part to fund pay rises in the public sector, the RCN is clear that it is wholly unacceptable to pass on the cost of much-needed public sector pay rises to these staff.”
He said the increased visa costs are detrimental to a workforce increasingly reliant on international workers, saying the decision is “not only unjust but divisive and short-sighted”.
On Friday the union said there are tens of thousands of nursing vacancies in the NHS and cutting the supply of internationally educated nursing staff will only add to the pressure on health and care services.
More than half (53 per cent) of nurses joining the Nursing and Midwifery Council register have been trained internationally, the RCN said.
Mr Cullen explained in the letter sent on Tuesday: “We are concerned that these fee increases will make the UK a less attractive place to live and work for the nurses and other health professionals who make vital contributions to our health and care sector every day.”
The union said migrant nurses will have to pay 15 per cent more for an application for the health and care visa, now paying £284 where a certificate of sponsorship is issued for up to three years and £551 for more than three years.
Overseas nursing students in the UK now have to pay £127 more for their visa, from £363 to £490.
Together with recent changes that prevent overseas students from bringing their families to the UK, visa fee increases will “further disincentivise overseas applicants from studying in the UK”, Mr Cullen told the Home Secretary.
It comes at a time when the number of international students from outside the European Economic Area is rising by 69 per cent.
“Raising the costs for students to undertake nursing degree programmes in the UK risks stalling this growth,” the letter said.
Meanwhile the cost to apply for indefinite leave to remain, a permanent residency visa route used by many nurses, increased on Wednesday by 20 per cent to £2,885 per person.
Mr Cullen wrote: “By improving pathways to indefinite leave to remain, the Home Office could help to tackle abusive labour practices and reduce the ability of employers to use immigration status to tie staff to exploitative situations.”
Last week the British Medical Association, which represents doctors, said the Government risks “worsening the NHS workforce crisis” by increasing fees, labelling the move “self-defeating”.
Income generated from visa fees can only be used to fund the migration and borders system, the Home Office said.
The Home Office said it recognises “the significant contribution” of overseas NHS workers, especially during the pandemic, but “must be fair” to all who use the immigration system.
Those who directly benefit from the system should contribute to its funding, it added.
