Home Office immigration and nationality fees: 1 December 2020

The Home Office regularly reviews its list of fees for immigration and nationality applications. In light of the recent, and significant, changes to the Points Based System, the Home Office published an updated list of fees on 1st December. It will come as a welcome surprise, particularly given that the fees tend to increase each time they are reviewed, to know that the list of fees published on 1st December is unchanged.

While the list of fees remains unchanged for now, it will likely be reviewed in April 2021, which is when the Home Office normally reviews the fees for immigration and nationality applications.

Separately, while the Home Office has chosen not to make any changes to the list of fees at present, it did recently drastically increase the Immigration Health Surcharge, which is payable for most types of application. The Immigration Health Surcharge which was until 26th October set at £400 per year of the visa rose to £624 per year of the visa from 27th October. It is worth noting that a lower figure is payable for a student or someone applying under the Youth Mobility Scheme, and for an applicant under the age of 18 at the time of the application. The decision of the Home Office to freeze the list of fees under the new Points Based System is, in light of the recent increase to the Immigration Health Surcharge, welcome.

If you wish assistance with an application under the Points Based System in place from 1st December then please do not hesitate to contact one of the solicitors in our immigration team.