The Home Office has announced a proposal to increase by 25% the immigration application fees for settlement, residence and nationality and by 2% the fees for visit, study and work visas as from 18th March 2016.
The proposed increase of the fees reads as follows:
- The family and spouse visas application’s fee will increase by £239. The current fee of £956 will rise, after the HO increase, to £1,195.
- Settlement application’s fee will increase by £375, being now £1,500, and from 18 April 2016 £1,875.
- Adult Dependant Relatives application’s fee will increase by £535. The current fee of £2,141 will go up to £2,676.
- British citizen naturalization (Adult) application will in future cost £1,156.
- British citizen naturalization (Child) application’s fee will increase by £187. The current fee of £749 will increase to £936.
The proposal also introduces:
- A new £85 fee for 2 year visit visa for Chinese nationals.
- A new £25 fee for processing invalid applications.
You can see the full list of proposed fees.
The UK Home Office said in a statement that the increases will reduce the taxpayer contribution towards the system. This will ensure that the border, immigration and citizenship system is self-funded by 2019 – 2020 by those who make use of the services.
However, as other sources claim, by the new increase of fees which would be unaffordable for some families, “the Home Office is attempting to make immigration control self-funding” being clear that it is family migration what the government want to reduce. Indeed, families will be the most affected by the new immigration application’s fees while e.g. the Tier 2 sponsor licence fee is not increasing.
It is actually peculiar that the Home Office’s increase of fees comes at the time where the income threshold of £18,600 per annum for visa applications is being challenged at the Supreme Court for being disproportionate and unjustified. Bottom-line is, even if the pending R (on the application of MM (Lebanon)) (AP) (Appellant) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Respondent) 2016 case may hopefully see the reduction of the income threshold ( Fingers Crossed) things are about get even more expensive for migration ; so if you have a visa to apply for and you can do it now, APPLY NOW
If you have been affected by this issue or any other UK immigration matter, please contact Tito, a UK Immigration and Human Rights Solicitor, for a Free Initial Consultation about your legal options – it’s free! Call 07544 669131 / 01163800744 Or on Skype: tito.mbariti.