menu
menu
Today the governement have increased visa fees for most types of immigration applications, including work, study, family and visitor visas.
This is despite a recent warning from the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee who stated in a recent letter to the Home Secretary, saying High up-front visa costs in the UK are identified as a significant deterrent, particularly for early career researchers and postdoctoral scientists. The letter highlights that applicants can face up-front costs exceeding £10,000.
Someone coming to the UK to be with their spouse on the standard 10 year route will now need to pay £17,342 to be with their partner in the UK, this is on top of paying taxes and national insurance.
Confusingly the actual cost of processing these visas appears to have gone down in some cases.
The government publish costs here and looking at the Home Office figures for an In-country Indefinite Leave to Remain application we can see that in the October 2023 data the cost was £646 and the fee to the applicant was £2,885, however the cost has now reduced to £523 but the cost the applicant has increased to £3,029.
This is the government exploiting vulnerable people for huge profits
We have been running a series of events around the UK on who the hostile environment already causes destitution, including a fringe panel event at the Green Party Autumn Conference with GMIAU discussing their report A slow violence: How immigration control forces people in Greater Manchester into destitution.
This is not the first statement we have had write on this topic, in our last one we said The government’s recent decision to implement steep increases in visa fees is a regressive and punitive move that disproportionately impacts migrant communities and undermines the principles of equality and fairness.
Our policy has not changed and is clear, All fees charged for visas will be at cost and not for profit (MG 302) We call on the government to stop exploiting the vulnerable and instead implement a fair and humane system of migration.