The Home Office has announced new visa, immigration and nationality application and service fees for the year 2016 – 2017. It has also set out the maximum potential fee amounts that could be charged over the next four years, although it has stressed that it currently has no plans to raise fees to those maximum amounts.
Sponsor licence related fees for all three tiers (2, 4 and 5) will remain at the same levels for the year 2016 – 2017.
Fees for Tier 2 sponsor licence applications will remain at £536 (small sponsor) and £1,476 (large sponsor) for the next year. The proposed maximum is £2,000.
Fees for assigning a Tier 2 Certificate of Sponsorship will remain at £199 next year. The proposed maximum is £300. Fees for assigning a Tier 4 Confirmation of Acceptance of Studies will remain at £21 and the proposed maximum is £300.
The fee for a Tier 4 sponsor, for example, to become a Premium Sponsor, currently set at £8,000, will remain at that level for 2016 – 2017. The proposed maximum is £40,000.
Small fee increases will come into force in relation to leave to enter and remain applications for those applying under Tier 2 (General) and Tier 2 (ICT) – for example £564 to £574 for leave of up to 3 years. The change in the proposed maximum to £1,500 could signal significant increases after the end 2017.
Controversially fees for those making applications under the family migration routes are set to rise by up to an astonishing 25% for 2016 – 2017.
If you are considering making an application in the near future we recommend that you review the proposals in full now. The detailed table of fee changes can be found here.
