The UK government has announced significant upcoming changes to the cost of applications for UK visas, affecting visa applicants and their employers, with the aim of raising £1 billion to fund public sector pay increases.

ANNOUNCED CHANGES

The government has announced upcoming changes to fees across a range of immigration and nationality routes. Further details will likely be laid out in regulations in due course. The key changes for employers are as follows:

• Work and visit visa fees will increase by 15%.
• The fees for Certificates of Sponsorship, settlement (indefinite leave to remain), and all other leave to remain as well as entry clearance applications and priority services will increase by 20%.
• The main rate of the Immigration Health Surcharge will increase from the current £624 per year to £1,035 per year (with the discounted rate for students and those under 18 increasing from £470 per year to £776 per year).

The government has not, however, announced changes to the Immigration Skills Charge which is payable by employers at the time that they issue a Certificate of Sponsorship and is calculated by reference to the period for which the worker will be sponsored and the size of the employing organisation.

Notwithstanding this, these proposed increases to application fees and the Immigration Health Surcharge (which is paid at the time of application unless an exemption applies) will present employers with additional costs when recruiting foreign national workers.

IMPACT ON EMPLOYERS

Although no date has been set for these changes, in light of their scale and scope, employers should review their upcoming recruitment plans and may wish to bring forward application timelines so as to avoid paying the higher fees if possible.

Employers should note that Skilled Worker visa applications can be submitted up to three months prior to an individual’s proposed start date.

Further, there are a number of exemptions to both the Immigration Skills Charge and Immigration Health Surcharge for which employers may wish to seek specialist advice to ensure that they maximise any available savings.

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