MSCA in UK: How to get back the visa cost

[kstn]

Hello

I am a MSCA fellow at University of Birmingham (UK). Initially, I have to apply for 3 years visa to cover the whole length of the project, which also includes the insurance cost. As a result, it is quite costly (~4k£). As in the budget guide, I see that the visa cost is covered in the Research, Training & Networking cost. But it seems that noone in the University, including the administrative staff, know about this. A colleague in the same apartment sent the query to the finance team but received no reply. So if anyone has experience in this regards, please share with us, and may guide us the right channel to address this problem.

Best wishes to you all.

[Redcoffee]

The grants office who is the signatory for your application should clarify with your EU assigned project officer for how to handle that. Ideally, your university should then be able to reimburse you later. It might be tricky since the grant is for 2 years and you have to claim IHS fees for 3 years. So you might have to pay out of pocket for the last year.
I am at a UK university on a global talent Visa and my entire fees was reimbursed. I know that might not be the case for all universities. But they should be clear about at least reimbursing your visa fees ( if not the health surcharge).

[Elol]

As written in the MSCA Financial Guide page 13 last point:

" Ensure that the researcher does NOT have to bear any costs for the implementation of the action as described in Annex 1. The recruited researcher must NOT be requested to pay visa related fees, residence permit fees or tuition fees for their research training, teaching, supervision, examination and graduation neither from their own funds, nor from contributions for them (allowances for the recruited researcher).

I hope this help you to fix your issue

[dmex]

Hi there, just chiming in as I am doing my fellowship in the UK. The university reimbursed me the visa fee, but not the payments to the social security/national insurance (which were substantial).

Cheers,
dmex

[Kevin90]

Hi there, just chiming in as I am doing my fellowship in the UK. The university reimbursed me the visa fee, but not the payments to the social security/national insurance (which were substantial).

Cheers,
dmex

Thanks for the information.
So I have to pay the health surcharge? But will the health insurance be charged again from my salary?
A bit confusing about this health surcharge.
Best regards,
Kevin

[dmex]

That was my case, there was a fee for the visa (somewhere around 700 pounds), then the variable health care surcharge (per year/per dependent). For global talent visa, it is up to 5 years, but I would advise to limit it to 2 years unless you strongly suspect that you will stay (it is about 1000 pound per year, per person, which is a lot of money).

I couldn’t claim that surcharge from my fellowship. For what it’s worth, your actual salary will be high enough that it makes it worth it nevertheless should you go alone for 2 years. Beyond that, I guess it will depend where you came from, what salary you were getting.

Cheers,
dmex

[scout]

Hi everyone,

I have a similar question. Can the visa (+IHS) costs for dependents be reimbursed using RTN budget? An incoming MSCA-PF at cambridge. Also, would love to connect with MSCA fellows at cambridge.
Thanks alot.