New Government proposals – immigration fees and premium services

The UK government has announced proposals to change the fees it charges for its visas, immigration and nationality applications as well as introducing new premium services for applicants. If the proposals are approved by Parliament then the new fees will apply from 6th April 2014. Some fees for their premium services will be applicable from 31st March 2014.

The new premium services, and their fees, include the following:

• a 3-5 day priority visa service costing £100;
• a priority settlement application service for a fee of £300;
• a super priority visa service for £600, which will expedite the application process to the shortest period possible;
• new user pay visa application centres, in addition to the current centres, where applicants can submit applications and enrol biometrics at additional locations for an additional fee of £53;
• appointments outside of office hours for a fee of £50; and
• offering a passport passback service at more locations, which will be charged at £40 per applicant.’

At present there is very limited information about exactly what the above priority services include, however we shall update you once there is further information available regarding the proposed services.
The government also proposes to reduce their fees for the following:

• reducing the fee for direct airside transit visa to £40;
• reducing sponsorship fees for Tier 2 large sponsor licenses and sponsor action plans, and freezing a number of other sponsorship fees;
• introducing a Tier 2 shortage occupations fee of £428 for applicants both overseas and in the UK; - this is £150 cheaper than the current Tier 2 (General) application fee
• introducing a new 5 year Tier 2 general/ICT application; and

At present these are only proposals and will only be applicable if they are approved by Parliament. We will of course keep you updated on the progress of these new fees and the premium service proposals.