How Much Is the IHS for a 5-Year Skilled Worker Visa From Nigeria?
If your Nigerian employer is sponsoring you for a longer Skilled Worker visa — 5 years rather than the more common initial 3 — the Immigration Health Surcharge bill looks very different, and it's worth understanding exactly how before you commit to a start date.
The maths for a 5-year visa
At the standard rate of £1,035 per year, a 5-year Skilled Worker visa means an IHS payment of £5,175 for the main applicant alone — paid as a single upfront sum when you submit your application, not spread across your five years in the UK. For context, that's more than the application fee itself (£1,618 for a visa longer than 3 years, applying from outside the UK), and it's easy to underestimate if you've only budgeted around the application fee figure you saw first.
Why the visa length matters so much for total cost
The Skilled Worker application fee itself only has two tiers — up to 3 years, or more than 3 years — so the fee jump from a 3-year to a 5-year visa isn't proportional to the extra time (£819 to £1,618, roughly double, not 66% more for 2 extra years). But the IHS scales precisely with visa length, since it's charged per year. This means for longer visas, the IHS becomes an even larger share of your total cost compared to the application fee itself — worth factoring in in when weighing whether to request a shorter or longer visa grant from your sponsor, where that choice exists.
Total cost for a 5-year visa, single applicant
Putting the full picture together for a single applicant on a 5-year Skilled Worker visa from outside the UK: £1,618 (application fee) + £5,175 (IHS) = £6,793, before biometrics, travel, or any dependant costs. This is a substantial upfront sum, and it's exactly the kind of figure worth confirming with your specific visa length before accepting a job offer or planning your move date.
With dependants, the numbers grow fast
If you're bringing a spouse and children on the same 5-year visa, each dependant pays their own £1,618 (or the appropriate fee tier) plus their own £5,175 IHS — meaning a family of three (main applicant, spouse, one child) on a 5-year visa could be looking at roughly £20,000+ in application fees and IHS alone. This is precisely the kind of total that's worth calculating in full before you finalise plans, rather than discovering incrementally as each family member's application comes due.
Is a shorter visa ever the better choice?
If your employer offers flexibility on the visa length they'll sponsor, it's worth weighing the upfront cost difference against the hassle and cost of extending later (which involves its own separate application fee and further IHS payment for the extension period). There's no universally "right" answer — it depends on your cash flow, how certain you are about staying long-term, and whether you'd rather pay more upfront for fewer separate applications, or spread the cost across two smaller payments over time.
Saving toward a 5-year IHS payment
Because £5,175 (or more, with dependants) due in one payment is a significant sum, it's worth planning your savings specifically toward this figure well before your application date, rather than treating it as part of general moving costs. Some applicants save from an existing job in Nigeria in the months before their visa process begins; others negotiate with their new UK employer about relocation support that might help offset some costs, even though the IHS itself remains the applicant's own responsibility to pay directly as part of the application. Whatever your approach, having the full amount confirmed and accessible before you start your application avoids the stress of a payment failing partway through a time-sensitive process.
How this compares to the 3-year figure
It's worth explicitly comparing the two common visa lengths side by side: a 3-year visa costs £3,105 in IHS, while a 5-year visa costs £5,175 — a difference of £2,070 for two extra years of coverage, which works out to exactly the standard annual rate for each additional year, as you'd expect from a strictly per-year calculation. There's no discount for committing to the longer period upfront; the cost scales in a straight line with visa length, which at least makes the maths predictable even if the total figure is substantial.
Why some employers sponsor 5 years from the outset
Employers sometimes choose to sponsor a longer initial visa for roles they consider genuinely long-term — a senior engineering position or a specialist clinical role, for example — partly because it reduces the administrative burden of a renewal partway through, and partly because it signals commitment to the employee. If you're offered a 5-year sponsorship, it's worth understanding it as a sign of the employer's intent rather than purely a cost decision, even though the larger upfront IHS payment falls to you as the applicant to fund. It's a reasonable question to raise directly with a prospective employer during the offer stage: why this particular length, and is there flexibility if you'd prefer a shorter initial grant instead of the longer default option.
What happens to unused IHS if your circumstances change
If you're granted a 5-year visa and pay the full £5,175 IHS, but your circumstances change — a new job requiring a different visa, a decision to return to Nigeria, or any other reason you don't use the full 5 years — remember that a proportional refund for the unused portion is generally available, following the official gov.uk refund process. This is worth keeping in mind if the size of the upfront 5-year payment feels daunting: it isn't necessarily money you're locked into losing if your plans change down the line.
Weighing the 5-year decision against your career plans
Beyond the pure cost comparison, it's worth thinking about a 5-year visa in the context of your broader plans. If you're confident you'll be in the same role, with the same employer, for the full 5 years, the longer visa avoids the hassle of a mid-point extension application — separate paperwork, another round of evidence gathering, and the administrative burden of renewing while also managing a busy job. If your plans are less certain, or you think you might change employer or role within a few years anyway (which would likely require a new visa application regardless of your original visa's remaining length), the cost of committing £5,175 upfront to a visa you might not use in full is worth weighing against the flexibility of a shorter, cheaper initial commitment.
Get your exact figure
Use our IHS Calculator to calculate your precise IHS cost for any visa length, and our Visa Application Cost Calculator for your full application cost including fees.
Frequently asked questions
Can I choose to be sponsored for 5 years instead of 3 if I'd prefer to pay once?
This depends on your employer's sponsorship decision and your Certificate of Sponsorship — it's worth discussing directly with your employer if a longer initial grant is something you'd prefer.
If I extend a 3-year visa to a further 3 years, do I pay IHS again for the new period?
Yes — each new grant of leave, including extensions, requires its own IHS payment for the new period being granted.
Does a 5-year visa bring me closer to ILR faster than two separate 3-year visas?
The path to ILR is generally based on your total continuous residence (usually 5 years), not the number of separate visa grants, so the underlying qualifying period is the same either way.
If I pay for 5 years of IHS but change employer within that period, do I need to pay again?
Changing employer generally requires a new visa application with a new Certificate of Sponsorship, which would involve a fresh IHS payment for the new grant — you'd then be able to claim a proportional refund on the unused portion of your original payment.