On 1 December 2020, the list of fees for immigration and nationality applications was updated to reflect the new, or rebranded visa routes. The list confirms that the considerably high fees will remain largely unchanged, as they have been for the last 2 years.
One of the few changes made in the update is to the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS), a fee levied on the majority of UK visa applications, which has risen sharply. The surcharge will add £624 per year per person to the cost of a UK visa, or £470 a year for children, students and Youth Mobility visas.
The IHS has increased rapidly in the last few years; from £200 at the end of 2018, it then doubled at the start of 2019, finally rising again in October. This inflation of such charges has been heavily criticised by rights advocates, with many labelling it:
“shameless profiteering”
The government has also come under fire for its lack of action regarding the reduction of application fees, with many arguing that the difference between the amount charged and the cost of processing is unacceptable.
For example, a tier 2 work visa for someone working in a “shortage occupation” has an administrative cost of £127, but is charged at up to £928.
Additionally, migrants applying for indefinite leave to remain in the UK must pay £2,389 whereas the cost to the Home Office to process the application is just £243 – making the fee around 10 times higher than the actual administrative cost.
Most shocking of all, however, is the administration fee for registering a child as British. The fee will remain at £1,012, despite the fact that the actual cost is £372.
In December 2019, the High Court ruled that this practice was “pricing children out of their rights” and that the best interests of the children were not considered. The court found “mass evidence” that the charge was preventing children from attaining British citizenship, leaving them feeling “alienated,” “excluded” and “not fully assimilated into the culture and social fabric of the UK.”
This ruling was eventually appealed by the Home Office in October 2020, with the court’s decision now pending. While the results of this appeal are unknown, the fee will remain.
“British citizenship is the right of these and thousands of children and that the consequences of blocking their registration rights is alienating and harmful” -Solange Valdez-Symonds, Project for the Registration of Children as British Citizens (PRCBC)
IOHR continues to call on the UK government to waive the fee charged to children applying for UK citizenship, and ensure that no child is priced out of a status our laws recognise they have the right to possess.
Read more about the IOHR’s #ChildrenNotProfit campaign here: