Home Office Visa Fee Increase 2026: Costs, Changes & Deadlines
Visa fees are going up on 8th April
Home Office visa and immigration fees usually go up in April and on this occasion they are going up on 8th April:
As is typical, most fees are going up by about 6% but some fees are remaining unchanged (eg High Potential visa, Certificate of Sponsorship) and one fee is actually going down: the application by a child for registration as a British citizen is deceasing from £1,214 to £1,000.
A short visa application fee will increase from £127 to £135 and, on the subject of visits, the Electronic Travel Authorisation fee will increase from £16 to £20.
Spouse/partner visa application fees are going up in line: the application from outside the UK is going up from £1,983 to £2,064 and the application from within the UK is going up from £1,321 to £1,407.
Sometimes the visa application fee has to be seen in the context of other arrangements. For example the fee for Indefinite Leave to Remain has increased from £3,029 to £3,226, and this looks a lot, but it is important to know that there is no Immigration Health Surcharge fee for this application, which makes a difference – the IHS can be very hefty.
And also it may be important to take into account the Fee Waiver scheme. This applies to some routes/applications and not others and potentially enables a migrant who really cannot afford the fees to get a full waiver or a partial waver. Incidentally, one of the applications that does qualify for a fee waiver is a child’s British registration application.
And if you submit your application before 8th April you will of course be charged the old fee but you will have to hurry!
Oliver Westmoreland
Senior Immigration Lawyer
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