The surcharge will increase from £624 to £1,035 per person, and the discounted rate for students and children will increase to £776.
The cost of work visas and visit visas will increase by 15%, and the cost of study visas, certificates of sponsorship, settlement, citizenship, wider entry clearance, leave to remain and priority visas will rise by at least 20%.
However, the increase has been criticised by immigration lawyers and support groups.
Immigration barrister Colin Yeo, of Garden Court Chambers, questioned whether increasing immigration fees to fund a public sector pay rise was legal, since s 68 of the Immigration Act 2014 ‘sets out an exhaustive list of considerations to which the home secretary may have regard’, which does not include the purpose stated by the government.
Yeo, in his freemovement.org.uk website, calculated that ‘the cost of a settlement application will therefore rise to at least £2,885 per person.
‘For a family of four, that will be over £11,500 in total. That family will also have paid something like £15,000 in immigration health surcharge costs, and that assumes no further price rises in the next five years. And their visa fees will typically have amounted to around £6,200.
‘They will have needed to pay for additional services from the Home Office and there’s the cost of a lawyer as well. The cost is at least £33,000 before paying for your lawyer. That’s a lot of money to be forking out compared to your co-workers and fellow residents.’
The government will also equalise costs for students and those using a priority service, so people pay the same whether they apply from within the UK or from outside the UK.
