UK Visa Fees – Scheduled for a Hike

The British government has reported a decision to hike up the visa fee from 18 March 2016 across many categories.

Impact on Students

It can have a huge impact on the international student business apart from other visa seekers in the British economy. There is an estimated contribution of £2.4bn to the UK economy by the international students studying in this country.   Britain has great business schools, with 15 of these ranked by the FT global MBA rankings to be in top 100 business schools of the world. UK business schools coach up to 15% of all university students.  The increased visa fee will have an acute effect on the MBA post graduate programs with 52% international students.

Impact on Workforce

Every year a large number of skilled workers are granted visa to strengthen the workforce in UK. The recent changes in the UK visa fee directly imply a 2% hike including the short term visas.

The student graduates and the immigrant skilled work force, looking for settlement are up for a 25% increase in fee for settlement visa appeals and also nationality applications. These applications also called the "Indefinite Leave to Remain" (ILR) application within the UK will see a fee hike from 1,500 pounds to 1,875 pounds. The next step post ILR clearance is at 1,236 pounds for naturalization as British citizens.

Apart from the impact on visas concurrent with economic growth, like skilled workers and students, the 2% increase is also set for tourists visas.

Other visa fee increases include the optional premium services which are offered by the Home Office. These will see a hike of up to 33% in the priority visa services and the super premium visa services overseas.

Effect on family visas is at an increased fee of £2, 676 for “Adult Dependent Relatives” and family and spouse visas at £1,195. Also a £25 fee has been introduced for processing of invalid applications.

With the complex visa legal framework, frequent changes and the recent alterations in fee system it is important to engage expert immigrant and visa law firm for your visa application.