The updated list of fees for immigration and nationality applications that apply from 6 April 2020 shows that all remain unchanged from last year.

The amount the Home Office charges to process visa, settlement and citizenship applications had been rising steadily above inflation for many years up to 2018. For the past two years these fees have mostly been frozen — although the Immigration Health Surcharge, a separate tax on immigration, has increased sharply.

At the end of 2018, the health surcharge was £200 a year. A spouse applying for leave to remain in the UK would have paid £1,033 in processing fees for leave valid for two and a half years, plus £500 in health surcharge. The health surcharge doubled at the start of 2019 and is set to rise to £624 a year in October. So by the end of 2020, even with the headline fee staying the same, the total cost of that spouse application will have jumped from £1,533 to £2,593 in just two years.

Money from the Immigration Health Surcharge is ringfenced for the NHS, but the Home Office makes a hefty profit on the processing fees as well. A migrant applying for indefinite leave to remain in the UK must pay £2,389. The cost to the Home Office of processing an ILR application is £243 — so the fee is set at ten times higher than the actual administrative cost. A Tier 2 work visa for someone working in a “shortage occupation”, where the UK is desperate for workers, has an administrative cost of £127 but is charged at up to £928.

Most outrageous of all is the application fee for registering a child as British. The fee in 2020/21 is still over £1,000, but the actual cost is £372. The High Court found last year that the Home Office had failed to assess the best interests of children in setting this fee, although it remains in place for the time being.

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It is not just individual migrants who are being squeezed for fees. Employers who recruit foreign workers from outside the EU face a charge of £1,000 per worker per year. A lower charge of £364 per worker per year is applicable to small businesses and universities and some exemptions apply. The charge only applies to new recruits, not existing ones, but is scheduled to kick in for new arrivals from the EU from the beginning of 2021.

The full list of old fees and new fees is below. We have omitted the usual column showing the change from last year because it is £0 in all cases.

1. Visas and applications made outside the UK

2. Points based system – applications made outside the UK

3. Optional premium services outside the UK

4. Optional premium services in the UK

5. Discretionary services at the border

6. Applications made in the UK

7. Points based system – applications made in the UK

8. Points based system – sponsorship

1. Application fee of £95 where the applicant is a Chinese national applying in mainland China under the Chinese visa scheme.

2. A Council of Europe Social Charter (CESC) discount of £55 applies for main applicant.

3. Administrative Officer, Executive Officer and Higher Executive Officer are Civil Service staff grades. 

4. The citizenship ceremony fee of £80 has been added to the application fee.

5. Additional £80 per applicant is required to cover the ceremony fee should the minor turn 18 during the application process. This will be requested at point of decision. 

This article is updated annually to reflect the coming year’s fees. Older versions of the article stated the fees applicable at the time, which for reference can be found at UK visa fees. The authoritative source for visa fees is the Immigration and Nationality (Fees) Regulation 2018, as amended.