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Content
1. Introduction
2. Eligibility
3. Purpose of Immigration Loan
4. Loans and Taxation
5. Repayment Terms
6. Applications
7. Impartial and independent advice
Introduction
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.
This document is intended to be guidance only and does not form part of the loan agreement between you and UCL.
Eligibility
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.
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.
Immigration Loans are not available to employees with less than 12 months remaining on their contract.
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 upon request.
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.
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.
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 below.
Purpose of the Immigration Loan
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.
You must apply for the loan within 3 months of any expenditure already incurred.
Payment of the loan
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.
UCL will not charge interest on the Immigration Loan.
Loans and Taxation
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.
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.
Repayment Terms
The sum borrowed will normally be recovered through equal monthly deductions from your salary over a maximum 36 month period.
Repayments will ordinarily start in the calendar month following payment to you of the Immigration Loan.
In the case of termination of employment before the loan has been repaid, the outstanding balance will be recovered from the final salary payment. By applying for the loan, the borrower agrees to repay immediately any amount outstanding after such final salary recovery has been effected.
Applications
To apply for an Immigration Loan, please complete the application form and submit it via email to eustaffqueries@ucl.ac.uk. 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.
UCL does not accept any liability for the legal advice obtained or any immigration applications made using the Immigration Loan.
Impartial and independent advice
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.