On 16 January 2025, the Home Office announced that they intend to increase fees on certain immigration applications and products, including the ETA fee, the naturalisation application fee, the cost of Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS), and other nationality services.
The government intend to increase the fees in an attempt to “reduce the reliance on taxpayer funding of the migration and borders system”. These proposed changes and increases to fees will be presented to Parliament.
The proposals must still be approved by both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, prior to implementation. The amendment of existing legislation, in the form of the Immigration and Nationality (Fees) Regulations 2018, will include the proposed new fees, if the legislation is subsequently approved in Parliament.
Proposed changes to fees and services
The proposed amendments include:
- the application fee for naturalisation as a British citizen rising to £1,605;
- the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) fee rising to £16 per applicant;
- CoS fee on work routes more than doubling to £525; and
- general increases to a selection of nationality services.
Additional information regarding the announcement
An Explanatory Memorandum was also released alongside the announcements, which can be found here: The Immigration and Nationality (Fees) (Amendment) Order 2025.
The Explanatory Memorandum states the following: “This Order increases the maximum amounts chargeable for the exercise of a number of functions specified in the 2016 Order. It also removes references to Electronic Visa Waivers, which have now been replaced by electronic travel authorisations, in both the 2016 Order, and the 2018 Regulations.”
Furthermore, a table with details of fees can be found here: Visa fees transparency data – GOV.UK; and the Fees Order and draft legislation can be found here: The Immigration and Nationality (Fees) (Amendment) Order 2025.
ETA and the Airside Transit exemption
It was also announced that there could be quite significant changes to the ETA rules regarding airside transit.
The announcement stated: “Following feedback from the aviation industry, the government has agreed a temporary exemption for passengers who transit airside, and therefore do not pass through UK border control, from needing an ETA.”
This move should mainly affect Heathrow and Manchester Airports (as they are currently the only UK airports which offer transit facilities). This temporary exemption will be kept under review, and this may be amended if future abuse or difficulties are reported.
It has been confirmed that the new ETA exemption is effective from the day of the announcement, Thursday 16 January 2025.
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