UK announces new visa and immigration fees

Visa, immigration, and nationality application fees are set to increase in the UK, especially for premium services. The UK government has released its proposed changes to the fees for visas, immigration and nationality applications and associated premium services for 2016/2017. Specific fee changes for 2016/2017 will apply after further legislation is laid in Parliament by April this year. The new legislation will set maximum levels on the amounts for broad categories of fees that can be charged by the Home Office over the next four years, but officials said that there are no current plans to raise fees to the maximum levels. “These increases will allow us to reduce taxpayer contributions towards the border, immigration and citizenship system and ensure that by 2019 to 2020 the system is self-funded by those who use it,” said a Home Office spokesman. There will be a 2% increase for visit, study and work visas while fees for settlement, residence and nationality will increase by 25% in the 2016/2017 financial year. Officials confirmed that targeted increases have been applied to premium services, such as the priority visa service, but fees for all sponsorship categories will stay at the current rates. For some it will not mean a huge hike. A six month visitor visa will go up from £83 to £85, an extended student visa from £150 to £162 and a two year visitor visa from £300 to 324. The Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa rises from £1,093 to £1,800 and the Tier 1 Investor visa from £1,093 to £1,500, both in country. From overseas the fee for an entrepreneur goes from £874 to £944 and for an investor from £874 to £1,500. http://www.expatforum.com/united-kingdom/uk-announces-new-visa-and-immigration-fees.html