UK extends work visas for Indian, foreign doctors amid coronavirus outbreak

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

Trainee doctors and nurses will also not be limited by the number of hours they can work in the NHS during term time, the Home Office said. The extension to NHS visas will not only be fee-free and automatic but also exempt from the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS). The annual IHS, which was recently further hiked, has been branded as "unfair" by Indian doctors because they already pay their taxes. "We believe that this surcharge is discriminatory and unfair, as the overseas workers are already paying their due share of National Insurance contributions, superannuation and income tax," the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) said in its letter to the Prime Minister just last week.

"We request you to remove the health surcharge with immediate effect. The NHS has been in a workforce crisis for several years, but now with the COVID-19 epidemic, there has never been a worse time for an overstrained service, and we require all the help we can get to meet the challenges, read the letter, signed by the BAPIO President, the chair and the Secretary Professor.

The latest move could be seen as a sign that the UK government may be having a rethink on the surcharge, hiked from 400 pounds to 624 pounds per year and aimed at boosting NHS funds, being imposed on medics working for the health service. 

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