Exemption for pharmacy teams from immigration health surcharge

Many of you have been asking us if pharmacy teams are covered by the recent news about exempting migrant health and care workers from paying the Immigration Health Surcharge.

We’ve spoken to the Department of Health and Social Care today who have confirmed that migrant pharmacists and pharmacy technicians will be exempt from paying the surcharge.

We also asked whether support staff such as dispensers and counter assistant will be exempt. We understand that, while the details of the policy are being finalised, the Government intends to make the exemption as broad as possible for health and care workers and will be looking at how this works in practice for wider pharmacy teams.

This also follows news earlier in April that pharmacists from overseas will be granted an automatic, free extension to their visa.