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Protect the Frontline / Scrap the Surcharge

DAUK in BMJ: Scrap NHS fees for overseas healthcare staff, says Labour

We have written a letter to Priti Patel condemning the government's u-turn on the IHS (Immigration Health Surcharge) at a time of national crisis. DAUK’s letter was read at PMQs.

"Speaking at Questions to the Prime Minister on 20 May, Labour leader Keir Starmer said, “Every Thursday we go out and clap for our carers. Many of them are risking their lives for the sake of all of us.

“Does the prime minister think it’s right that care workers coming from abroad and working on our frontline should have to pay a surcharge of hundreds—sometimes thousands of pounds—to use the NHS themselves?”

In a letter sent on 18 May, the Doctors’ Association UK, the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, and the Association of Pakistani Physicians of Northern Europe criticised the home secretary’s decision not to review the surcharge.

The letter to Priti Patel said, “At a time when we are mourning colleagues, your steadfast refusal to reconsider the deeply unfair immigration health surcharge is a gross insult to all who are serving this country at its time of greatest need.

“Not only is this a betrayal of all these hardworking people, but also represents a deterrent to attracting talented and skilled workers to the UK—a stated aim of this government’s immigration policy.”"

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May 21, 2020
Scrap the Surcharge

DAUK intervenes in case of stranded NHS Consultant due to visa administrative error

Dr Chan had been working as Clinical Fellow in Ophthalmology since 2017 and had recently been offered an NHS locum consultant post in Ophthalmology. Owing to ambiguous application guidance on the Home Office webpage Dr Chan mistakenly filed a ‘new application’ for a Tier 2 visa on the instead of a ‘change of employment’ application. Dr Chan did so whilst in the UK and on an active visa which was valid until the 14th of November. 

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October 16, 2019
Scrap the Surcharge

The Independent: Dr Mu-Chun Chiang: Home Office backtracks on threat to deport NHS doctor

Following widespread coverage in the news media, the Home Office has now granted Dr Mu Chiang, a GP trainee threatened with deportation, leave to remain. This week the DAUK intervened in Dr Mu Chiang’s case, calling on the Home Office to reconsider their decision. DAUK’s call on the Home Office was published in both The Independent and The Guardian. Dr Rinesh Parmar, DAUK’s Vice-Chair said the government should review its “senseless” hostile environment policy.

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October 3, 2019
Scrap the Surcharge

The Guardian: DAUK intervenes in case of NHS doctor faces deportation over visa application error

Dr Samantha Batt-Rawden, the Chair of the campaign group The Doctors’ Association UK, criticised the handling of Chiang’s case as “ludicrous and nonsensical”. She added: “Telling a young doctor to leave the country within 10 days or else face prosecution over a technicality is inhumane and shows a flagrant disregard for Dr Chiang’s contribution to society and the NHS.”

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October 2, 2019
Scrap the Surcharge

The Independent: DAUK intervenes in case of GP trainee threatened with deportation by the Home Office

A junior doctor who has lived in the UK for most of her life has said she felt like packing up and leaving after being told to leave the country or face deportation. DAUK has intervened in her case and urged the Home Office to reconsider. Dr Mu-Chun Chiang, 27, has spent 18 years in the UK. But despite this, she received a letter telling her she had a week to leave the country or risk either being kicked out or up to six months’ imprisonment after her visa application was rejected over what campaigners described as a “nonsensical administrative issue”.

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October 2, 2019
Scrap the Surcharge

PRESS RELEASE NHS 10,000 Doctors Short: DAUK calls directly upon the Home Secretary to address Health Service Immigration Crisis

The Doctors’ Association UK has noted with great trepidation and concern, the potential for an abrupt reversal of the exemption placed on foreign doctors from Tier 2 Visa caps. This was inferred from a letter from Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, to the Migration Advisory Committee, which was reported on 11th October 2018.

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October 14, 2018