The NHS surcharge is paid even before you pay for your visa. They take that money first.
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Immigrating to the UK
- Thread starter AchmatK
- Start date
Yes you have to pay for the visa, but depending on your sponsor they might pay it for you or reimburse you. My employer is reimbursing my visa cost in full and assisting with relocation so in the end I pay very little out of my own pocket.
Edit: the visa application fee is not actually the expensive part, it's the upfront IHS fee
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gregmcc
Honorary Master
Yes. British Councl
gregmcc
Honorary Master
If English is your first language you will have no problems. Nothing to prepare for really, maybe just read up on what to expect.
It's valid for 2 years.
Sinbad
Honorary Master
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Jesus that's criminal
Do some research and see if there are alternatives?
If you are outside of the UK
You can only take a SELT with one of the following providers:
PSI Services (UK) Ltd – Skills for English (UKVI)
IELTS SELT Consortium
LanguageCert
Pearson
Pearson is the same price fwiw.
@Priapus as greg said, you’ll definitely be fine if you speak a good amount of English. I’m Afrikaans (although mostly speak English since 10 years ago) and got 95/100…but it’s a good idea to check a YT vid on what to expect. The test is quite long and there’s a section where you have to write a short essay as well.
English is my only language; so I guess I'll be fine then. Will checkout some YT videos to see what to expect though.
I'll take the test in January - I consider that month the official "kick-off" for this immigration process for us.
gregmcc
Honorary Master
The IELTS is valid for 2 years but there is a gotcha. If you are applying for a spousal visa which for 2.5 years, then when you apply for the next 2.5 FLR visa there is a section saying that if you used the IELS in the previous application then it's still valid, so you don't need to do it again.
However when doing your ILR visa you need to then redo the IELTS.
The exam was very easy, the only 'tricky' part was you need to listen carefull when doing the listening test. They play a audio track and then ask you questions about it.
However when doing your ILR visa you need to then redo the IELTS.
The exam was very easy, the only 'tricky' part was you need to listen carefull when doing the listening test. They play a audio track and then ask you questions about it.
The Voice
Honorary Master
Has the test changed or something? Or more hectic if you do it in SA? I literally walked into an interview room at the testing centre in the UK, and chatted to the interviewer about football (topic had to be something about Britain) for like 20 minutes. It was basically just a conversation.
gregmcc
Honorary Master
You got away with a easy test. I did it in SA and UK and was the same:
Listening, speaking, reading and writing tests.
As it should be, imho.
The Voice
Honorary Master
How come you did it twice? Was yours for a skilled worker visa? May be a completely different test to the one I did in 2020 for ILR which only required that I achieve a B1 level: IELTS 4-5 Aptis Gen PET according to this scale:
gregmcc
Honorary Master
Initially for spouse visa and then again for ILR as it has expired by then.
The Voice
Honorary Master
Lol an investigation found that there were people who had been living in the UK for over 30 years who couldn’t speak a word of English (mostly living in Pakistani enclaves in Birmingham). People were actually upset because Cameron (PM at the time) said that it should be a basic requirement that you communicate in English when living in the UK. They even called him a racist.
The Voice
Honorary Master
Ah right. Did you do apply for ILR on your own, or did you use an agent? And when was that?
gregmcc
Honorary Master
Did all the visa applications on my own. Was around 2018
My partners was the same. She just had a conversation
My friend who has quite a strong afrikaans accent had a much more rigorous test, not sure if its luck of the draw or the accent was related to the harder test
I tend to agree with him in all honesty.