visa fees

Dear HMRC, I have been paying visa fees (health and care visa since i work in NHS), for me and my family. I wanted to ask if the visa fees can be claimed as an expense and tax relief could be claimed for that amount? Kind regards.

Hi drshreq,
No, these are not an allowable expense.
Thank you. 

 

This seems very biased. If the same fee is paid for the by employer, they're allowed to claim relief citing employee expenses. This is what happens in the case of all private employers. However when someone works for the NHS, the fees are borne by the employee. This can amount to thousands for an entire family sometimes paid every year. It's as if people are being fined to work in the care industry and public organisations. The least one could ask is tax exemption on the payments made to a government body like Home office. Why can't HMRC consider making an exception?