Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of adopting the proposals on costs of visa processes recommended by the report entitled We Are Here: Routes To Regularisation For The UK’s Undocumented Population, published by The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants in April 2021.

When setting visa, immigration and citizenship fees the Home Office takes into account a number of factors set by Section 68(9) of the Immigration Act 2014. Full details of which can be reviewed at:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/22/section/68.

These include the cost of processing the application, the wider cost of running the migration, borders and citizenship system, international comparisons and the benefits which are likely to accrue from a successful application.

The Home Office provides exceptions to the need to pay application fees in several specific circumstances to ensure the Home Office’s immigration and nationality fee structure complies with international obligations and wider government policy. Fee waivers are available on affordability grounds where the payment of a fee would be incompatible with an applicant’s Convention, (ECHR) rights. Where the immigration application fee is waived on affordability grounds, the requirement to pay the Immigration Health Surcharge may also be waived. The detailed guidance can be found via the following link:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment­data/file967231/Revised_fee­_waiver_guidance - FINAL.PDF