On Friday 16th March 2018, the Home Office published the new immigration and nationality fees that will apply to all Home Office applications submitted on or after 6th April 2018.
As expected, the fees payable for most visa applications are due to rise, but at different rates. Most Points Based System application fees will rise by 4%, including Tier 1 Investor and Entrepreneur, Tier 2 General and Intra Company Transfer, Tier 4 Student, and Tier 5 temporary Worker and Youth Mobility Scheme categories. For example, the new visa application fee for a prospective investor will rise from £1,561 to £1,623. In previous years these increases have been lower, with most Point Based System applications rising by 2% in 2016 and 2017.
The application fee for entry clearance under the settlement routes, such as spouse applications under Appendix FM, along with the application fees for further leave to remain under similar categories will also be increased by 4%. For example, if you are the spouse of a British national applying for an extension to your leave to remain after 6 April 2018, you will have to pay 4% more, i.e. an increase from £993 to £1,033. The 4% increase will be applied to the indefinite leave to remain fee as well, which will rise from £2,297 to £2,389 for applications submitted after 6 April 2018. This is in contrast to steep increases from previous years; the same fees were increased by 22.5% in April 2017 and over 25% in 2016.
Interestingly, the fees for the Home Office Same-Day Premium Service will increase by £20, from £590 to £610. The fee for this service was previously increased by £100 in April 2017. The Home Office Super Premium Service fee will remain unchanged at £10,500. This is the first time that the Home Office has not increased the fees for this service since 2014.
Most nationality fees will also increase by 4%, which is the same rate of increase as in April 2017. The fees for EEA applications have not been affected and will remain £65.
The increases in Home Office immigration fees come at a time when the Home Office continues to place stricter restrictions on immigration, with net migration numbers falling. Earlier this year the government also announced plans to increase the Immigration Health Surcharge in a bid to generate more revenue from migration.
Gherson has over 30 years of experience in assisting with various immigration matters. If you need assistance or wish to receive some more information regarding your immigration matters, please contact us.
The information in this blog is for general information purposes only and does not purport to be comprehensive or to provide legal advice. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the information and law is current as of the date of publication it should be stressed that, due to the passage of time, this does not necessarily reflect the present legal position. Gherson accepts no responsibility for loss which may arise from accessing or reliance on information contained in this blog. For formal advice on the current law please don’t hesitate to contact Gherson. Legal advice is only provided pursuant to a written agreement, identified as such, and signed by the client and by or on behalf of Gherson.
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