UK GOVERNMENT’S VISA FEE HIKE TO AFFECT STUDENTS, VISITORS

Sun 17 September 2023:

Travelling to the United Kingdom is set to be expensive for tourism, visiting or studying purposes. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government announced that the UK visit visas for stays less than six months will incur an additional cost of ₹1,543 (GBP 15), while UK student visas will see an increase of ₹13,070 (GBP 127) for travellers worldwide, including Indians.

The new visa fees will come in effect starting October 4th.

The UK Home Office said that while the fee for a UK visit visa for less than six months will increase to ₹11,835 (GBP 115), the fee for applying for a UK student visa from outside the UK will be ₹50,428 (GBP 490). This matches the amount charged for in-country applications.

The UK Home Office has also noted a 15 per cent increase in the cost of most work and visit visas, along with a minimum 20 per cent hike in fees for priority visas, study visas, and certificates of sponsorship.

This decision follows British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s announcement in July to significantly raise fees and health surcharges paid by visa applicants to support the UK’s state-funded National Health Service (NHS) and meet public sector wage increases.

“We are going to increase the charges that we have for migrants who are coming to this country when they apply for visas and indeed something called the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS), which is the levy that they pay to access the NHS,” he said at the time.

“All of those fees are going to go up and that will raise over GBP 1 billion, so across the board visa application fees are going to go up significantly and similarly for the IHS,” he said.

Furthermore, this fee hike extends to various visa categories, including health and care visas, applications for British citizenship, fees for visit visas spanning six months, two, five, and ten years, and numerous entry clearance and leave to remain fees in the UK for work, study, indefinite leave, and certificates of sponsorship.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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