The Home Office bereavement
scheme had previously only applied to certain professions, such as nurses.
The families of overseas
NHS support staff and care workers who have died with coronavirus can stay in
the UK permanently.
Home Secretary Priti Patel
has extended it to cover cleaners, porters and other low-paid roles after
pressure from Labour and the unions.
But a free visa extension
scheme still does not apply to support staff.
The offer of indefinite
leave to remain for bereaved families of support staff will be effective
immediately and retrospectively, the Home Office said.
Ms Patel said: "Every
death in this crisis is a tragedy, and sadly some NHS support staff and social
care workers have made the ultimate sacrifice in the pursuit of saving the
lives of others.
"When I announced the
introduction of the bereavement scheme in April, I said we would continue to
work across government to look at ways to offer further support.
"Today we are
extending the scheme to NHS support staff and social care workers."
'Unthinkable'
The announcement was
welcomed as "very good news" by Labour's Yvette Cooper, who chairs
the Commons home affairs committee.
She said her committee had
been "pushing on this for weeks", adding on Twitter that it would be
"unthinkable to ask family who lost a loved one on the UK Covid social
care frontline to leave their home & UK".
But she said the government
now needed to expand free visa extensions to cover care workers, NHS porters
and care workers too.
In March, the Home Office
brought in a one-year free visa extension for some staff in the NHS and care
sectors.
The list was initially
limited to NHS doctors, nurses and paramedics.
For those eligible, the
extension covers visas which expire between 31 March and 1 October 2020.
NHS fees
Last month, Priti Patel
extended the scheme to more NHS staff, including radiographers and social
workers, and said some social care staff would also benefit.
But the list does not
include jobs like porters and cleaners.
Prime Minister Boris
Johnson has also rejected calls from Labour and the SNP to scrap the fees
overseas health workers have to pay to use the NHS.
The health immigration
surcharge on non-EU migrants is £400 per year and is set to rise to £624 in
October - but the opposition says health workers should be exempt from it.
Speaking at Prime
Minister's Questions, Mr Johnson said he understood the
"difficulties" NHS staff faced but the country could not afford to
scrap the charges in the current economic climate.
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