Tuberculosis Screening and Immigration Health Surcharge 

Tuberculosis Screening  

If you apply to come to the UK for more than 6 months, you may need to be tested before you apply for your visa to show that you are free from Tuberculosis (TB).  

If you are required to have the TB test, but you refuse or fail the test, your visa application may be refused. 

If you have a Tuberculosis (TB) test before you apply for your visa, you will need to provide this information to NHS staff when you arrive in the UK.   

In some cases, additional TB screening may be needed. Please look out for an email about latent TB testing (see ‘Further information’ below).   

To find out whether you need a TB test before you apply for your visa, check the UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) information for your country.  

Immigration Health Surcharge 

If you are applying to study in the UK for more than six months, you will usually need to pay the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS), which gives you access to NHS services while your visa is valid. Some services, including prescriptions, dental treatment and eye tests, may still require payment. For further information, including the cost, visit our Student visa requirements pages. 

Further information 

About active TB 

When people talk about TB, they usually mean ‘active TB’. If you have active TB, the bacteria are making you ill and you might be passing TB on to other people. Active TB can be very harmful to your health, but it can be cured with a course of medicine. 

About latent TB 

If you have latent TB, the TB bacteria in your body are ‘asleep’. You are not ill and you cannot pass TB on to others. However, the bacteria might ‘wake up’ in the future, making you ill with active TB. The good news is that latent TB can be treated to prevent this happening 

How do I know if I have latent TB? 

Latent TB does not have any symptoms. The only way to find out if you have latent TB is to have a blood test or skin test. 

Why might I need to be tested for latent TB? 

You may be more likely to have latent TB or have a higher risk of developing active TB if you were born or lived in a high-risk country for more than six months, or if you have arrived in the UK from one of these countries within the past five years.  

The latent TB test is different to the X-ray that you may have as part of your visa application process because the X-ray only looks for active TB. Having a test for latent TB in England does not affect your right to be in this country, whether the test shows you have latent TB or even if you have developed active TB since you arrived. 

The University will email you if you need a latent TB test with instructions on what to do next. Please ensure you take action or ask for help if you need it.  

Durham University makes every effort to ensure that the information published on this page is accurate. However, the University cannot guarantee the information may not be altered owing to circumstances beyond the University’s reasonable control. Such circumstances include (but are not limited to) change in Government policy, or change of law. Any changes will be incorporated into the University’s website as early as possible.