Fee Rises: Food for Positive Thought

The news that the UK government has agreed to adopt the independently recommended increases to the salaries of key public sector workers was accompanied by announcements that immigration visa fees across the board, as well as the Immigration Health Surcharge, will be increased to partially fund these pay settlements.

We are told that application fees for work visas will increase by 15% and the cost of a Certificate of Sponsorship will rise by 20%. There are reports that the Immigration Health Surcharge will increase by £400—a more than 60% increase—making it more than £1,000 in total.

These fee increases are substantial, and invite immediate reflection and review of budgets and strategies for those accessing overseas skills pools to work in the UK—particularly when budgets are tight and cost-containing measures are already in situ.

However, some policy over-points invite an optimistic and positive outlook for the role of immigration going forward:

• • Immigration is now indispensable to the UK – it is placed at the heart of the funding regime of its critical services. Doctors, teachers and the police force are being funded by the collection of immigration fees. The success of public services is now coupled with the success of the country’s immigration system.
  • The attitude towards immigration is therefore moving to a much more positive space: the more (legal) immigration there is, the more funds are available for public services. This is a significant shift in perspective, and puts those employing overseas workers amongst the cohort of civic contributors.
  • We are now moving to a space where increases in net migration will, in concert with what is said above, be seen as positive.
  • The UK immigration regime has always been the most expensive in the world, and these fee increases only further confirm that position. However, the fees are now at a point where any further increases are likely to be marginal. In other words, we have reached the “precipice of pain,” and this perspective allows forward planning to be more certain.
  • In conjunction with high immigration fees, the UK government may be encouraged to deliver further liberalisations and user experience improvements that businesses require as a quid pro quo for sustained demand, including vis-a-vis short-term productivity facilities/routes and processing times.
  • Separately, there is now a strong case to be made for encouraging projects triangulating the issue of labour shortages with the utility of populations that are in the UK through displacement.  

From a policy perspective, these points highlight that the cost changes just announced, though unwelcome on one level, can potentially be treated as fuel for positive change.

Ultimately, the use of immigration fees is entirely consistent with Fragomen’s Worldwide Immigration Trends Report’s prediction that governments use migration as a tool for economic and political purposes.

Need to know more?

For questions regarding these fee increases and their impacts, please reach out to Senior Manager Shuyeb Muquit at [email protected].

This blog was published on 17 July 2023, and due to the circumstances, there are frequent changes. To keep up to date with all the latest updates on global immigration, please visit our dedicated COVID-19 site, subscribe to our alerts and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.