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Content
- Introduction
- Eligibility
- Purpose of Immigration Loan
- Payment of the Loan
- Loans and Taxation
- Repayment Terms
- Applications
- Impartial and independent advice
Introduction
1. UCL offers an interest-free loan (“Immigration Loan”) up to a maximum amount of £10,000 for eligible employees to enable them to secure a legal right to live and work in the UK.
2. This document is intended to be guidance only and does not form part of the loan agreement between you and UCL.
Eligibility
3. For the purpose of the Immigration Loan, “Immediate Dependants” includes:
- spouse, civil partner or partner
- children under the age of 18 at time of application
- children who are over the age of 18 who live in the UK as a dependant.
- parent(s) who live in the UK as a dependant.
4. In order to be eligible for the Immigration Loan employees must be employed by UCL on an open ended contract, or on a fixed term contract of employment.
5. Immigration Loans are not available to employees with less than 12 months remaining on their contract.
6. Immigration loans are available for those on Skilled Worker visas if the repayments would not take their salary below either the minimum salary threshold or the going rate (whichever is applicable to their individual circumstances).
7. UCL can only provide immigration loans to individuals for whom UCL is the primary employer/sponsor. Where this is not the case, individuals should seek advice and support from their primary employer/sponsor, who will be responsible for determining any eligibility for immigration-related financial assistance.
8. The university has sole discretion to determine: (i) whether or not to provide an Immigration Loan and (ii) the amount of any Immigration Loan.
Applications for an Immigration Loan can only be made by completing the form linked below (see "Applications - point 21").
Purpose of the Immigration Loan
9. Immigration Loans may only be used for the approved purpose set out below, and appropriate evidence of how the Immigration Loan has been used will need to be provided within 3 months of receiving the loan.
10. The amount requested to cover the surcharge and/or immigration advice must be the actual amount necessary to cover the immigration advice sought and applications to be made.
11. The Immigration Loan can be used to pay for :
- immigration law advice
- applications for visas for you and your Immediate Dependants to live and work in the UK
- an application for Indefinite Leave to Remain
- an application for British Citizenship
- healthcare surcharge costs.
12. You must apply for the loan within 3 months of any expenditure already incurred.
13. Failure to provide evidence of use of the Immigration Loan within 3 months of receiving the loan may result in proceedings commencing to immediately recover the loan amount.
Payment of the loan
14. When your application for an Immigration Loan is approved and you have signed the loan agreement, the amount of the Immigration Loan you have requested will be paid to you in one instalment by BACS transfer to the nominated bank account into which your salary is paid.
15. If a signed loan agreement is received after the “Deadline submission (Including Finance approval)” date provided on this page, the loan will not be paid until the following payroll month.
16. UCL will not charge interest on the Immigration Loan.
Loans and Taxation
17. Where UCL provides employees with beneficial loans that don’t exceed £10,000 throughout the whole tax year of assessment, nothing is reportable to HMRC and there is no UK tax or National Insurance to pay.
18. Loans in excess of £10,000 are likely to lead to a tax charge. Therefore if you already have a UCL loan of less than £10,000, and you take a further loan of less than £10,000, and the sum of both loans exceeds £10,000, then both the loans will lead to a taxable benefit in kind and trigger a tax charge as HMRC looks at the total value of UCL provided loans. The tax charge is based on what is known as the cash equivalent of the benefit of the loan. This is the difference between the interest actually paid and the HMRC official rate of interest for the tax year.
19. An employee can have up to 3 Immigration Loans concurrently, as long as the total amount of the loans does not exceed £10,000.
Repayment Terms
20. The sum borrowed will normally be recovered through equal monthly deductions from your salary over a maximum 36-month period.
21. Repayments will ordinarily start in the calendar month following payment to you of the Immigration Loan.
22. If you leave the employment of UCL before fully repaying the Immigration Loan, the outstanding amount will become repayable immediately. UCL will recover the outstanding balance from any salary payments and reserves the right to pursue payment of any unpaid amount. By applying for the loan, the borrower agrees to repay immediately any amount outstanding after such final salary recovery has been affected.
Applications
23. To apply for an Immigration Loan, please complete the MyServices Immigration Loan Application Form. If you meet the eligibility requirements you will be provided with a loan agreement to record the terms and will be required to sign the loan agreement prior to the amount being transferred into your bank account.
24. UCL does not accept any liability for the legal advice obtained or any immigration applications made using the Immigration Loan.
Impartial and independent advice
25. To find out more about identifying a regulated and suitably qualified advisor, visit find an immigration adviser and to search for an advisor visit the Adviser Finder Register, maintained by The Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner.
Employment Policy Team
May 2026
