The United Kingdom has announced that all U.K. visa applications will be subject to higher visa fees, although some are only rising slightly while others are rising significantly.? These new fee rates took effect on April 6th:
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? Tier 1 visas for investors/entrepreneurs increased ?15 to ?690.
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??Tier 2 visas for skilled workers increased by ?5 to ?270.
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??5-year multiple entry visas went up ?20 to ?420.
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??10-year visas increased ?110 to ?610.
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??Tier 4 student visas increased ?54 to ?199.
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The group that was impacted the most by the new fee structure is those with dependent relatives. ?Settlement Visas for dependent relatives jumped from ?585 to ?1680, an increase of nearly 300 percent.?An application for indefinite leave to remain for a dependent relative in the U.K. will rise to ?1,930. ?An additional 10 percent will now also be charged for dependent children.
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The United States took similar action in 2007 with large fee increases.?This sparked widespread criticism by immigrant advocates, who argued that steep hikes could impact some immigrants more than others, perhaps resulting in some applicants not being able to afford citizenship and other immigration benefits.?In fact, immigration applications did drop off noticeably.?U.K applications could face similar sharp declines, especially in light of the shaky economy.
