University departments and faculty will reimburse the Skilled Worker or Global Talent visa fee and associated NHS Surcharge costs for international staff, recruited from 1 January 2025 onwards.
This applies to international staff who are new to the University, or existing international staff commencing a new role, with start dates from 1 January 2025 onwards.
The reimbursement of the NHS surcharge should not exceed the length of employment contract.
Costs will be reimbursed via their departmental or faculty expenses process, following commencement of employment.
Please note that reimbursement of the visa fee and NHS surcharge cost is regarded as a taxable benefit unless it is a new employee applying for their visa outside the UK. Where a tax liability is created these costs will sit with the department or faculty.
For more information on the reimbursement of visa fees, please contact james.baker@admin.ox.ac.uk.
Please refer to the reimbursement policy for employees starting before 1 January 2025.
Reimbursing other visa costs and visa extensions:
- Departments may decide to pay Skilled Worker and Global Talent visa extensions.
- Departments may decide to pay the premium appointment fee for new and extensions visas in order to ensure that the employee’s work related travel plans are not interrupted.
- Visa and other fees should be paid for out of grant funding where allowed. We would encourage visa and NHS fees to be considered and included in grant costings where permitted by the funder.
It is recommended that departments should not pay for Tier 5 visas, Indefinite Leave to Remain visas, any NHS Surcharges for visa extensions, applications for British citizenship and any dependant related visa costs.
