Indicative Visa fees for 2015/16

[akhurshid]

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... o-2016.pdf

page 4.

[bobsmuss]

It is craftily hidden.
No news on GOV.UK-HomeOffice website at all.

[ouflak1]

Can we bring HomeOffice to court if they proceed with this fees amendments?
So what HomeOffice should be asked is whether sudden increase of ILR fees for 37% from 1093 to 1500 GBP wouldn't
represent a barrier for migrants to exercise their Human Rights?

There is no human 'right' to permanent residence. Further, if anything, your quote supports the idea that ILR has been relatively underpriced anyway! Also, the spirit of mentioning Human Rights is really with respect to such things as right to family life, marriage, and being able to live without constant threat of being killed/persecuted.

The fact is the UK would like to avoid splitting up families of settled residents/citizens, but must balance that with being able to provide its citizens and residents with a basic human standard of living (or an assurance that such a safety net exists if needed). One effective way of doing this by raising revenues, in this case, from its visa system. The UK not only has a right to do this, it has fundamental responsibility to do this. And the UK must also try to put itself in a position to respond to changes in the environment from within and surrounding it, so it can revise the policies accordingly for its own best interest.

I don't know what human rights case you think can be together to alter this basic and obvious strategy, but I think you will struggle to put together a winning argument no matter argument you try.

[secret.simon]

Can we bring HomeOffice to court if they proceed with this fees amendments?

Document is here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... visas.pdf
Look at the clause at the beginning of page 12.


In addition, we have certain statutory obligations to offer reduced fees or exemptions; for example,
fees must not present a barrier to migrants exercising their Human Rights. In order to maintain
the required level of funding for our immigration system, any reduction in income as a result of
lowering the fee for one route, must be offset by increases elsewhere.
This has led to a situation where the fee paid for some routes may not clearly reflect the benefits of
a successful application. For example, the fee for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) is the same as,
or lower than, the fee for some Tier 1 applications, even though ILR allows the successful applicant
to settle permanently in the UK, with access to a wider range of public funds and service

I have highlighted another part of the text that bobsmuss has so kindly provided. It explains precisely why the fees are going up at the rate that they are.

With regards to human rights, I faintly recall reading in various threads in these forums that people who are destitute or affected by domestic violence can claim an exemption from the fees when applying. Thus, people whose human rights are genuinely affected are exempt from or pay a significantly reduced amount of fees.

This exemption is unlikely to apply to people here on Tier 1 & 2 visas, one of whose conditions is a certain quantum of earning.

[t123456789]

Naturalisation fee is also going up £99. Which would probably mean anyone paying £1500 for ILR after April 2015 will be paying around £1025 (+£80 for the ceremony) for naturalisation after April 2016 (assuming they keep up the prices like this).

Stopping immigration by just making it too expensive.

[hamziyan88]

It wouldn't surprise me if they pit prices up in a few years bit included with that high cost is including the red UK passport right a

[ouflak1]

It wouldn't surprise me if they pit prices up in a few years bit included with that high cost is including the red UK passport right a

The price seems to be going up very consistently every year no matter what. It seems unlikely that pattern will change in the near future.

One doesn't ever actually need to get a passport after citizenship. For those people who don't plan on ever getting one, they might resent paying for it anyway. Also, that might create some extra bureaucracy as people who have never gone through the naturalization process would have to pay at the time of obtaining the passport. All the rest of us would maybe be issued a voucher or something, or maybe it would just all 'be on the system'? It's not a bad idea. The UK wouldn't mind the extra revenue they'd especially from those who would never go on to get a passport.

[fms05]

It seems as if the visa fee will increase above 2000 see the following link pt. no.

2.8 Indefinite leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom. £2,141

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2015/9780111128459

[secret.simon]

Well spotted fms05.

That will really set the cat among the pigeons if the ILR fees were to jump above £2000. Then again, given the recent tightening of good character requirements for citizenship, quite a lot of people will languish at ILR and the government has found its sweet spot for earning there.

[fms05]

I believe there might still be some hope because in the indicative fee table on this site:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... o-2016.pdf

There are three diff. categories of ILR with max at 2141 for armed forces....

Maybe the legislation is taking a blanket approval to take the max. amount which they can charge so within that one approval all three categories get considered, and then they would intend to keep the tier 1 -> ILR capped at 1500 for this year.

Lets hope , keep our fingers crossed, and please do two things:

a) write to your local mp and
b) ministerforimmigration@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk <- this is the email for the Immigration minister, kindly write just putting across the fact that a 40% increase in fee is unfair as we are not getting any additional benefit from the previous recipients of ILR, and also an increase hovering around th current inflation is still justified.