Immigration fees to increase again in April 2011
The Immigration Minister, Damian Green, has issued a written ministerial statement proposing increases to immigration and nationality application fees for everyone applying to visit, study, work or remain in the UK.The proposed new fees are summarised in a UKBA document and represent increases for most applications.
As the Home Office is currently facing significant budget cuts - a headline figure of a 20% reduction is given in the UKBA press release - it is hoped that the increases in fees will help to offset this loss.
Following the embarrassing incident at the end of last year when the interim cap on Tier 1 and 2 visas was declared unlawful because it had not been presented to Parliament, the UKBA is keen to note that ‘These fees will not come into force until they have been debated and approved in Parliament, but are due to take effect from 6 April 2011.’
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