THOUSANDS of migrant health workers have narrowly missed being eligible for Home Secretary Priti Patel’s visa extension scheme because their visas expire outside the dates set, Unison claims.

Ms Patel announced in April that foreign NHS professionals including doctors, nurses, paramedics and dentists, whose visas expire between March 31 and October 1 2020, are eligible for a free one-year visa extension. 

However she has refused to extend the scheme further to care workers and NHS support staff such as hospital porters, cleaners and healthcare assistants. 

Unison claims that many others who are in professions officially covered by the scheme are not eligible because their visas expire just outside the dates set. 

As a result, the union claims that just 3,000 NHS professionals are covered by the extension. 

Migrant health and social care workers have expressed their “dismay” at having to fork out thousands of pounds to stay in the country despite having battled on the front lines of the pandemic. 

A pregnant nurse from the Philippines, who spoke to Unison, said she should qualify for the scheme but because her visa expires outside the nine-month timeframe she is not eligible. 

“As foreign workers, we’re not entitled to any state support, which means we don’t get free school meals or child benefit, even though we’re really struggling,” she said. “We celebrated when Boris Johnson scrapped the immigration health surcharge, but nothing has happened.”

In May, PM Boris Johnson announced that the immigration health surcharge – a £400 annual fee for non-EU citizens to use the NHS which will rise to £624 in October – would be scrapped for health and social care workers. 

However, many foreign front-line staff say they are still being charged the fee. 

Unison assistant general secretary Christina McAnea said the government’s handling of this “has made a bad situation worse.”  

Ms McAnea added that leaving out thousands of front-line staff from the visa extension scheme is “perverse” and “completely ignores the contribution of care and NHS support staff who have been putting their health on the line to fight Covid-19.”

It comes as MPs backed the third reading of the new Immigration Bill by 342 votes to 248. 

The proposed legislation passed through the final stages in the Commons on Tuesday night without any amendments which had sought to end some of the hostile environment policies including the NHS surcharge for migrants. 

A government spokesperson said: “These remarks do not reflect the extensive action taken across the immigration system to support frontline NHS and other eligible health and care workers with a one-year visa extension free of all fees and charges.

“We are also bringing in an exemption from the Immigration Health Surcharge and have expanded the coronavirus bereavement scheme, which will apply to all NHS, health and social care workers.”.