When Elizabeth Ebosele (pseudonym), a widowed care worker, needed to pay the United Kingdom Immigration Health Surcharge in 2021, she sent the naira equivalent of the dollar amount ($2,036) to Dafe Esiri, an acquaintance, using his bureau de change operator’s rate. Now, Esiri wants to refund her at the 2021 naira rate.
The Immigration Insurance Surcharge (IHS) is a fee paid upfront when making a UK visa application in order to have access to the National Health Service without additional charges. For Ebosele, she paid it for herself and her son.
Ebosele needed to pay the IHS fee for a UK study visa for herself and her son.
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In 2021, she sent Esiri a sum of N1,526,000, the rate he claimed to have got from his own BDC operator.
Ebosele told FIJ that although she had a domiciliary account, she could not use a dollar card, neither did she bother to get one since she would soon move to the UK. These two reasons necessitated the help she wanted to get from Esiri.
“Because I did not have a dollar card on a domiciliary account, I asked to fund his own so he could use his dollar card for me. He called his BDC and then advised me with the rate before I went to transfer the naira equivalent to him,” Ebosele told FIJ.
After Ebosele completed her studies, she secured a job in healthcare. Afterwards, UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) decided to reimburse her with the IHS fund.
“I applied and the money was paid back into his (Esiri) card, but getting the money back from him has been very difficult,” Ebosele said.
The money was sent in three instalments — September, October 2023 and May 2024, both for her and her son.
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Ebosele explained that Esiri returned the $339.04 for September and $339.04 for October 2023 but refused to give her the funds for May 2024. She also told FIJ that Esiri had not returned any funds for her son’s payments.
“I had to report him to his wife when the first two instalments were made before he sent mine. But my son’s own has been pending,” Ebosele explained.
Ebosele told FIJ that she inquired about her son’s reimbursement from Esiri in July, but he did not respond.
To clear all her uncertainties, Ebosele inquired about her son’s IHS reimbursement from the UKVI and they confirmed that the money had been sent to Esiri’s dollar card ending with the number ‘0891’.
UKVI confirmed the refunds had been sent to Esiri’s card.
When Esiri later responded to Ebosele in December, he denied having the money.
Ebosele explained that she later found that Esiri used a different card for her son.
When FIJ contacted Esiri, he denied having a card ending with ‘0891’. He also sent a list of all the cards in his possession.
He told FIJ that he had contacted Access Bank to help him check if he ever used any card that ended with ‘0891’ between 2021 and 2022.
On Tuesday, Esiri said that Access Bank had responded that he actually owned a naira card that ended with ‘0891’, but the card had expired.
He also said that the UKVI refunded Ebosele’s son’s money in naira, but he refused to comment on Ebosele’s missing third refund.
Ebosele told FIJ that Esiri was being dishonest.
“I sent him my money and my son’s money at the exchange rate he got from his BDC operator. The day he paid mine, he paid with his dollar card, but obviously because I wasn’t there when he paid for my son, he paid with his naira card,” Ebosele said.
“I specifically instructed him to use his dollar card, and he confirmed the exchange rate before I proceeded with the payment. His subsequent use of a naira card for my son’s transaction, without my knowledge or consent, is a matter for him to address. I only request that he fulfil his obligation and return the money in USD.”
When FIJ asked Esiri if he had an agreement with Ebosele to make the payments in dollars, he denied it.
“The payment was a dollar payment, so regardless of whether she even paid me in dollars, I made those payments in dollars based on the prevailing exchange rates. The HO (UKVI) refunded the dollars and the conversion was done based on the rates in 2021. I am not responsible for that conversion rate.,” Esiri said defensively.
“I’m really surprised she expects me to pay her dollars when the HO refunded naira.
“I gave her options to pay the money in naira or dollars using the prevailing rate. How can I agree to refund her dollars when she didn’t even know she was going to do care work?.”
The post Dafe Esiri Refuses to Refund Full Value of Widow’s 2021 IHS Fees appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.