2015/2016 Immigration and Nationality fees announced

The Home Office has published indicative fees for all UK immigration and nationality applications made after April 2015. These fees are subject to parliamentary approval and contain some notable increases on last year’s charges.

Whilst sponsor licence application fees are to remain the same, existing sponsors should be aware that the cost of allocating a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) is expected to increase from £184 to £199. Also worthy of note for employers of migrant workers are changes to fees for Tier 2 visa applications. By way of example, from April 2015, the following increases are likely to apply:

• Entry clearance visa costs for Tier 2 General, ICT – long term staff for a period of three years or less increasing from £514 to £564
• Entry clearance visa costs for Tier 2 general, ICT – long term staff for a period of more than three years increasing from £1028 to £1128

Those applying under Tier 1 visa categories could also face increased fees. Markedly, the cost of applying for a Tier 1 investor visa from overseas is likely to increase from £874 to £1500. A similar hike in charges is also planned to hit migrants applying for indefinite leave to remain in the UK with the charge increasing by £411 to £1500.

Premium Services

Despite the annual cost for the optional Premium Sponsor Scheme remaining at £25,000 for larger sponsors and £8,000 for smaller sponsors, other premium visa services offered by UKV&I are subject to change from April 2015.

Those applicants intending to use the Priority Visa Service can expect a 20% increase in fees (from £300 last year to £360) whilst those Super Premium Service customers requiring a bespoke application service will need to pay £7000 (previously £6000) for the privilege.

For the full list of indicative fees for the year 2015/2016 please click here