We condemn the Government’s plans to increase visa fees

The Green Party Asylum and Migration Policy Working Group condemns the Government’s plans to increase visa fees to pay for public sector pay rises.

It is not only flawed social and economic policy, but it also exploits a group of people – whose fault the state of the economy is not – who for the most part do not have a voice; the right to vote.

The UK already charges an extortionate amount of money for visas, far more than administrative costs or other competing countries. As of April 2021, the Home Office made a profit of £769.17 million from application fees alone, and visas have tripled in price (on average) since 2010. If this were being done to citizens, there would be an appropriate uproar.

Paying Twice

This includes the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS), which is the fee migrants are required to pay to access the NHS, despite many already paying tax and National Insurance contributions. The IHS fee was introduced in 2015 and has already tripled in that time; now the prime minister says it will double again.

Not only are migrants already double-taxed for the NHS, but they are also less likely to use the NHS than British citizens, as they tend to be younger and healthier¹.

Worse still, if an immigrant switches visa categories while in the UK – say, for example, they switch from a work visa to a family visa – not only do they not receive a refund for the IHS already paid, but they are required to pay it again. For those who leave the UK before their visas expire, they have no right to a refund for the IHS they paid for time not spent living here.

Where Does the Money Go?

Further, where is the evidence this fee even goes to the NHS? The Scottish government has said in the past that it does not wish for migrants living in Scotland to be forced to pay this fee, as health is a devolved matter, but Westminster has refused to relent on this issue. As the government is justifying these fee increases by claiming the money will go to help necessary salary increases for public sector workers, it is worrying how little evidence there is that the current fees do any such thing.

The austerity policies of successive Conservative governments for the last 13 years have left this country’s public services underfunded and in a permanent state of crisis, with workers overworked and underpaid. This policy does nothing to address the core funding problems of the public sector.

How Does the UK Compare

As already mentioned, across the board the UK charges substantially more for visas than any other competing country. Below we compare the three main visa categories, as of the current fees: Student, Worker, and Family.

Effect on Students

One of the UK’s strongest sources of soft power and friendly international relations is the university system, with many world-class universities that people around the world wish to study at. However, with the slow loss of public funding in the last several decades, universities have been forced to rely on international student fees to ensure their survivability.

While students can receive a world-class education, they are paying extortionate fees to be treated worse than their British or settled classmates. They are often monitored and their activities reported to the government, as universities are threatened if they do not follow the hostile environment’s protocols. This has, for example, resulted in many international students going to class when ill for fear of being reported absent and risking their visa.

Finally, at the end of their studies, international students face an uphill battle entering the British labour market, as businesses are incentivised to hire British or settled workers over international students whose skills were learned in this country. Further, their time spent on a Student or Graduate visa does not count towards permanent residency.

Effect on Workers

Work visas and the sponsor licences businesses are required to have if they wish to hire migrant workers are also so expensive that, according to findings published in 2020 by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Migration, nearly 50% of British businesses wish to hold a sponsor licence but cannot afford the fee, and a whopping 80% of businesses which do hold a sponsor licence said that visa fees for their much-needed migrant workers had negatively impacted on their business.

A Skilled Worker visa, the most common work visa route, costs a small business £2,019 in government fees for five years (this excludes the required sponsor licence fee and any related fees) and a large business £5,199.

As is shown in the below table,the cost is even higher for those already living in the UK on another visa, such as international students, which is bad social policy as we should be welcoming those living here as fellow community members. If workers have immediate family members, the spouse will cost another £4,355 and each child will cost £3,773 (including children born in the UK), and no other family members are allowed to join the worker in the UK.

Unlike Students, Skilled Workers have access to permanent residency after five years on this route. However, by charging them extortionate fees, current policy threatens to cause intergenerational poverty which harms everyone in society.

Effect on families

Perhaps the most unethical example of all is the cost of family visas. The UK already has one of the most restrictive family reunification policies in the world (according to MIPEX ²., a group of academics who study immigrant integration across the 56 richest countries in the world, the UK ranks 55th worst for family reunification rights – only Denmark is worse), and one of the many shocking reasons for this abysmal and shameful ranking are the cost of family visa, which are highly preventative for allowing family reunification to take place.

You have already seen how expensive student and work-related visas are. Family visas are even more – a lot more. A spouse visa for a migrant to join their British partner is a whopping £5,706, and any children joining will each cost another £4,936. 

Please note that the above UK fee examples are just current visa and IHS costs. Indefinite Leave to Remain (permanent residency) costs a further £2,404, with citizenship another £1,330 – including for children born in the UK. Also missing from the above are required English or TB tests, the Life in the UK test, and any biometrics appointment necessary. None of the above listed fees are the actual cost of immigrating to this country.

Impact on Undocumented Migrants

The current policy already leads to ever-increasing numbers of undocumented people who are thrust into the cruelty of the hostile environment, along with families and communities who become poorer because their savings are going into visa costs. People simply cannot afford these fees. It is terrible social and economic policy to treat immigrants like cash machines, and could lead to generational disparities and wider economic differences between groups of people living in the UK for decades to come. This benefits absolutely nobody except for the politicians looking to distract from their own failures.

In Summary

The extortionate fees required of migrants is already a policy aimed at those who have little to no political power. To announce a substantial increase in the fees is downright disgraceful. We should be encouraging integration and good social relations, along with a strong economy, yet this government constantly and consistently treats migrants as unwanted commodities to be abused at will.

The pay raises for public sector workers are very welcome and are long overdue, but they should not come off the backs of immigrants. The public sector should be funded seriously, effectively, and for the long term. If the government wants to find a way raise some quick funds, they should consider tackling tax avoidance and increasing taxes for the wealthy.

Instead of further raising these fees, the government should be lowering costs to be more aligned with administrative costs and the fees of other countries. Profiteering from immigrants is immoral, shameful, and unacceptable. Please be an ally to those whose political voices are stifled and urge the government against this policy.

1. https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/the-health-of-migrants-in-the-uk/
2. https://www.mipex.eu/family-reunion