New Fees

[alvonhumb]

Here are the new postal fees for UK visa applications:

Leave to remain (student): £250 --> £295

Leave to remain (non-student): £335 --> £395

HSMP fee: £315 --> £400
Leave to remain (HSMP): £335 --> £350

Work permit fee: £153 --> £190
Leave to remain (work permit): £335 --> £350

Indefinite leave to remain: £335 --> £750

Naturalisation: £200 --> £575

These are the implications in my case, which I don't believe will be unique:-

For ILR: People who got caught by the 4/5 year rule and have had to renew for a year at least (FLR) will have been forced to pay £335 for an extension. One year on another £750, plus in our case a son who turns 18 in the fifth year (would have qualified to apply on same form if rules had not changed, but now has to apply separately) £750. So, instead of £335 a grand total of £1835.

The above listing is not comprehensive - E.g. Application fee for ancestral visa in Rands when applying in Pretoria?

[Cheffie]

Hi Alvon

Are these fees immediately applicable or is there a date from when they are changed?

If you can edit your post to reflect as such and FA can delete my post when it is updated

Thanks

[sammyjoe]

Hi i was wondering if there is anyone that can help me out. Im British by decent and have been living in the uk for nearly 4 years now. I came over here with my partner and our daughter, they both came over on an ancestrial visa. Which at the time was 4 years, so do they still fall under the 4 years or is it now 5 years? Then how do i go about applying for leave to remain for them? And is it possible for my daughter to get a british passport even though i am only british by decent? As i have heard that a child born out of wedlock takes on the mothers nationality. There visa expire in oct 2007 but im wanting to travel to SA in oct and im scared they wont allow them back into the country. Im really confused by all this and starting to stress so any help will be greatly appreciated ive looked on all kinds of sites but must admit im hopeless so if you can put it in everyday english i might understand it. Thanks once again

[alvonhumb]

Sammy,

With an ancestry visa the qualifying period is now 5 years. If your partner is going that route she will have to get an extension from the four years, and will be able to apply a year later for ILR, citizenship a year beyond that. There is normally no hassle with an AV extension provided the applicant still meets all the criteria (see IND website below). We have recently renewed, and other people I know have also done so - the extensions being granted are for five years in all the cases I have heard of.

I'm not clear on your particular circumstances but would suggest the starting point is Immigration and Nationality Directorate.

Here's the official link to the fees.

As I understand it the fees go up from April 1, 2007. Your partner could apply for an extension before that date - maybe worth finding out.

Good luck.

[sammyjoe]

Alvon
Thanks so much for the help with that info. I went to those sites and had a look but for some reason could not download the FLR (0) form i needed and just needed to know what documents i would need to apply for the extention as i had returned all my birth and marraige certificate once i obtained my partners AV do i need to get them all over again. I only have my full birth certifacate and my passport but gave my grandparents back to my uncle in SA So its a mission to get them again. Or is it a simple process. If there is every a simple process. Wow they make money out of us making us now apply for an extension then in a years time we have to pay up again.

Thanks once again for your help and advice.

[330kitten]

what a rip off, cant believe how much some of those prices have gone up, conveniently as i am just about to apply for indefinite leave to remain, but i think i might get it for free as my husband is dutch and i think that spouses of eu get it for free, can anyone confirm this for me?

[alvonhumb]

Sammy - the documents will all be required again.

It's just like the original application: proof of grandparent's birth (in the case of your partner's AV), parent's birth, your own bc and marriage certificate etc... Must say though, our experience was that once all the info was provided (and the fee cheque cashed!) there was no problem. Beware though of possible delays getting new docs from SA House. Can take a while.

Good luck again. Persevere with the IND site, the downloads should work.

[BlackHawk]

Hi Alvon

Are these fees immediately applicable or is there a date from when they are changed?

If you can edit your post to reflect as such and FA can delete my post when it is updated

Thanks

Hi Cheffie those fees apply from 01 April without exception.

Even if you go to the national Checking Service before that date, if the Home Office has not received the paperwork and fee by 01 April the new fees will be charged.

Michelle was due on 30 March but the office has now brought it forwards 3 days because of this. Lady on the phone said she's disgusted with it all - brought in without warning and no lee-way at all.

[alvonhumb]

...just like the retrospective 4/5 year rule change. Anyone feeling not wanted?

Won't get rid of us that easily :crylol:

[alvonhumb]

Although there doesn't seem to be much interest on the site from UK immigrants (maybe most people have already got ILR or citizenship) there are big cost implications for those of us who don't. There are campaigns building - here is an extract from the UK Resident site:

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As you must know, the IND have increased fees for ILR (Permanent Residence) & Naturalisation (Citizenship) phenomenally. This is nothing but a political stunt that hopes to dissuade people from applying for residence and making the immigration statistics look better. The govt will also be seen as doing something to control immigration . The truth is this prohibitively penalises legal and law abiding migrants and does nothing to prevent illegal migrants from misusing the system. We have an option to make our voices heards. Registering your support at the Prime Ministers e-petition site will let us have a response and make them aware of our concerns. The link appears below.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Immigration-Fees/

Every adult resident is eligible to register support, so if your partner has a unique mail Id and would like to support, please make sure they do so as well.

To make our campaign take off we need as much support as we can. So please forward this info to -

1) Any of your friends that will be affected by the new fee structure

2) Any of your friends that have already been through ILR & naturalisation as they will aprreciate our concerns

3) Any of your friends that are British Citizens who see through this gimmick and are willing to support us Please make sure you do not spam people unknown to you.

Administrators, could I make a request to post this as a sticky ?

Thanks & regards,

John T S

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Give it support if you're interested.