Government announces immigration fees increases will be effective from 18 March 2016

On 26 February 2016, the government announced that its fees increases for visas, immigration and nationality applications and associated premium services will now come into force earlier than expected and will be effective from 18 March 2016. This is earlier than initially reported in our last alert which we sent you on 12 January 2016, as the government has brought forward the date from 6 April to 18 March.

As previously reported, the main changes are:

Small increases (2%) for visit, study and work visas as follows:

• Entry clearance fees for Tier 2 will rise from £564 to £575 for a three year visa and from £1,128 to £1,151 for a visa up to five years
• In-country Tier 2 further leave to remain will rise from £651 to £664 for a three year visa and from £1,302 to £1,328 for a visa up to five years. The same fees will be charged for each dependant

Priority processing fees will rise by 25% as follows:

• Same day premium processing fees for leave to remain applications will rise from the current £400 to £500
• Priority postal processing fees for leave to remain applications will increase from the current £300 to £375
• Priority processing fees for entry clearance as a Tier 2 applicant will rise from £120 to £150
• Super priority same day processing fees for entry clearance will rise from £600 to £750

Fees for settlement and naturalisation as a British citizen will increase by 25% as follows:

• For a main applicant and every dependant applying for settlement, the fees will rise from £1,500 to £1,875 each. If same day processing is required, each applicant will now need to pay £2,375
• For a main applicant and every dependant applying for naturalisation, the fees will rise to £1,156, up from the current fee of £925

Fees for all sponsor licensing applications will stay at the current rates.

The new fees for applications can be found in the fees table.

Further information

Should you have any questions about the issues raised in this blog post please contact Nicolas Rollason or a member of our immigration team.