Immigration Health Surcharge and UK visa fees to increase dramatically

An announcement by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury yesterday confirmed that the annual rate for the Immigration Health Surcharge (commonly referred to as the IHS) is set to increase from £624 to £1,035. Children and students will pay a lower rate that will increase from £470 to £776.

This would see the Immigration Health Surcharge for an applicant for a spouse visa increase from £1716 to £2846 for an application from outside the UK; and from £1560 to £2588 for an application from within the UK.

Health and care workers will remain exempt from the immigration health surcharge.

Visa fees will increase by at least 15%.

The announcement did not include details of when the increase will take place but clients are advised to consider the forthcoming increases when deciding planning their UK immigration matters. You may wish to bring forward your plans to avoid these very hefty increases.