On 19 March, the UK Home Office announced increases to visa and sponsorship fees to take effect from 9 April. There are increases for most fees listed which will impact almost everyone including Skilled Worker visa holders, sponsors, and those applying for settlement and citizenship. The increases range from as little as £8.50 (which leads one to wonder why bother, frankly? – the admin attached to that change must surely swallow all or most of the increased revenues) to a staggering £286. We have summarised the key changes in this post.
- Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) fees for Skilled Workers, Global Business Mobility – Senior or Specialist Workers, Ministers of Religion and International Sportsperson (over 12 months) will see the biggest increase with costs rising from £239 to £525.
- Skilled Worker applications for up to three years (outside the UK):
- Previously: £719
- New fee: £769
- Skilled Worker applications for up to five years (outside the UK):
- Previously: £1,420
- New fee: £1,519
- Skilled Worker applications for up to three years (inside the UK):
- Previously: £827
- New fee: £885
- Skilled Worker applications for up to five years (inside the UK):
- Previously: £1,636
- New fee: £1,751
- Skilled Worker roles on the Immigration Salary List (formerly Shortage Occupation List) will see increases of £39-£76 depending on the length of the visa.
- Sponsor Licence fees for medium or large sponsors will increase by £103 from £1,476 to £1,579
- Indefinite Leave to Remain (Settlement) will increase from £2,885 to £3,029
- Naturalisation (British Citizenship) will jump from £1,500 to £1,605.
- The smallest increase of £8.50, which doesn’t relate specifically to sponsorship, will be applied to a Convention Travel Document for a child, increasing the cost from £53 to £61.50.
Interestingly, premium services such as priority processing fees will largely remain unchanged even though one might have thought that that would be an easier sell.
These increases mean higher costs for businesses sponsoring workers and greater financial burdens for migrants settling in the UK. Employers should factor these changes into their recruitment budgets, particularly as the government continues to tighten immigration rules and intensify scrutiny on sponsor compliance.
In the Home Office’s most recent Statement of Changes, dated 12 March 2024, it announced that from 9 April onwards, certain payments will be deducted from a Skilled Worker’s salary when assessing whether it meets the minimum salary threshold. These include payments related to immigration costs, business costs, or investments, specifically:
- Deductions from salary;
- Repayments of loans; or
- Investments.
This means that if an employer loans an employee the cost of sponsorship or requires visa fees to be repaid through salary deductions, these amounts will be subtracted from the employee’s salary when determining whether they meet the Skilled Worker visa salary threshold.
We will have to wait for more details on what this will mean in practice once the updated caseworker guidance is released.
For full details on the new fee structure, visit the official Home Office website: UK Visa and Immigration Fees – April 2025.