A current guide to UK visa and immigration costs, including Home Office application fees, Immigration Health Surcharge, Skilled Worker, family, Student and Visitor visa fees, settlement, British citizenship, Priority services and sponsor licence costs.
The cost of a UK immigration application is often considerably more than the headline visa fee.
Depending on the immigration route, an applicant may need to budget for the Home Office application fee, Immigration Health Surcharge, Priority or Super Priority processing, English-language testing, translations and other application-related expenses.
For families, the overall cost can become substantial because application fees and the Immigration Health Surcharge are generally calculated for each applicant.
UK immigration fees also change regularly.
As at August 2026, the current principal Home Office immigration and nationality fee schedule took effect on 8 April 2026. The Home Office’s fee transparency data was subsequently updated on 17 July 2026, confirming the current 8 April 2026 fee framework.
The Knights & Shah Solicitors Visa Fees & Costs Guide explains the principal charges applicants and employers should consider when budgeting for a UK immigration application.
Fees quoted below are Home Office charges current at the date of this guide. They should always be checked again immediately before an application is submitted.
Some of the most commonly encountered Home Office fees as at August 2026 are:
| Application | Current Home Office Fee |
|---|---|
| Standard Visitor – up to 6 months | £135 |
| Visitor – 2 years | £506 |
| Visitor – 5 years | £903 |
| Visitor – 10 years | £1,128 |
| Student visa | £558 |
| Child Student visa | £558 |
| Skilled Worker outside UK – up to 3 years | £819 |
| Skilled Worker outside UK – over 3 years | £1,618 |
| Skilled Worker inside UK – up to 3 years | £943 |
| Skilled Worker inside UK – over 3 years | £1,865 |
| Health and Care Worker – up to 3 years | £324 |
| Health and Care Worker – over 3 years | £628 |
| Family route to settlement – overseas | £2,064 |
| Indefinite Leave to Remain | £3,226 |
| Naturalisation as British citizen | £1,709 |
| Priority Service | £500 |
| Super Priority Service | £1,000 |
These figures come from the Home Office fee schedule effective 8 April 2026.
The final cost of an application can nevertheless be much higher once the Immigration Health Surcharge and other necessary expenditure are added.
The Standard Visitor visa is commonly used for tourism, visiting family and friends, certain business activities and other permitted short-term visits.
From 8 April 2026, the Home Office charges:
A long-term Visitor visa does not normally mean that the person can remain continuously in the UK for two, five or ten years. It allows repeated travel during the visa’s validity, subject to the Visitor Rules and the permitted duration of individual visits.
Applicants should therefore choose the visa length according to their genuine travel requirements rather than assuming that a longer visa creates residence rights in the UK.
Visitors applying from outside the UK for permission of six months or less do not normally pay the Immigration Health Surcharge.
Family immigration can be one of the more expensive areas of the UK immigration system.
For an overseas application on a route to settlement, the current Home Office application fee is £2,064 following the April 2026 increase.
This category is relevant to applications such as qualifying partner and family applications where the route leads towards settlement.
However, the application fee is only one component of the overall cost.
Many family-route applicants must also pay the Immigration Health Surcharge, usually at the standard adult rate of £1,035 for each year of immigration permission granted.
Where several family members apply, the charges can therefore multiply quickly.
Applicants should calculate the full family cost before submission rather than budgeting only for the principal applicant.
The Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) is separate from the visa application fee.
It is generally paid upfront as part of the immigration application process and gives eligible migrants access to NHS services broadly on the same basis as ordinarily resident individuals, although some services can still attract separate charges.
The current annual rates are:
£1,035 per year for most visa and immigration applicants.
£776 per year for:
The exact amount depends upon the length of immigration permission.
For example, the Home Office illustrates that a person subject to the standard rate for a three-year visa would pay £3,105 in IHS alone.
For part-years, the calculation can differ depending on the length of permission and whether the application is made inside or outside the UK.
This is why the IHS should be calculated using the actual visa duration rather than simply multiplying a headline figure without considering the Home Office calculation rules.
Skilled Worker costs depend upon:
For standard Skilled Worker applications made outside the UK, the current fees are:
£819 for sponsorship of three years or less.
£1,618 for sponsorship exceeding three years.
For applications made inside the UK, the corresponding standard fees are:
£943 for three years or less.
£1,865 for more than three years.
Reduced fees currently apply to qualifying jobs on the Immigration Salary List: £628 for up to three years and £1,235 for over three years, whether the relevant application falls within the corresponding listed fee category.
Most Skilled Workers must also pay the IHS, normally £1,035 per year. GOV.UK confirms that standard Skilled Worker application fees currently range from £819 to £1,865 depending on the circumstances.
Eligible applicants under the Health and Care Worker provisions benefit from substantially lower application fees.
The current Home Office fee is:
£324 where the Certificate of Sponsorship covers three years or less.
£628 where it covers more than three years.
A major financial distinction is that qualifying Health and Care Worker applicants and eligible dependants benefit from the separate IHS exemption applicable to the route, subject to satisfying the relevant requirements.
Applicants should not assume that every job in healthcare automatically qualifies. The immigration route, occupation and sponsorship must meet the applicable Health and Care requirements.
From 8 April 2026, the Home Office fee for both the Student visa and Child Student visa is:
£558 per applicant.
Students will commonly also need to pay the Immigration Health Surcharge.
The reduced IHS rate is currently £776 per year for Students and their dependants. The same annual rate applies to applicants under 18.
The actual IHS calculation may cover a period longer than the academic course itself because immigration permission can include additional time before or after study.
Applicants should therefore calculate costs based upon the immigration permission expected to be granted rather than tuition dates alone.
Indefinite Leave to Remain, or ILR, is significantly more expensive than many temporary immigration applications.
The current Home Office settlement fee is:
£3,226 per applicant.
This increased from £3,029 on 8 April 2026.
Unlike temporary immigration permission, ILR does not normally attract the Immigration Health Surcharge because settlement is not a time-limited visa grant.
However, each person applying for settlement generally requires their own application and fee.
For a family of several applicants reaching settlement at the same time, the combined Home Office fees can therefore be considerable.
The Life in the UK Test currently costs £50, where the relevant settlement route requires it.
British citizenship is separate from Indefinite Leave to Remain.
An individual who obtains ILR or another qualifying settled status does not automatically become British and may later need to make a separate nationality application.
From 8 April 2026, the Home Office fee for naturalisation as a British citizen is £1,709.
Other current nationality charges include:
The reduction in the standard child registration fee to £1,000 is particularly notable because many other immigration and nationality charges increased in April 2026.
Applicants should establish whether their case involves naturalisation or registration, as they are legally distinct routes.
Some applicants can pay for a faster decision.
The current Priority Service fee is £500, in addition to the ordinary application fee and any applicable IHS.
Availability depends upon:
Priority service changes the intended processing timeframe. It does not increase the legal prospects of the application succeeding.
A complex application may still take longer if the Home Office requires further enquiries or evidence.
Where available, Super Priority currently costs £1,000 in addition to the normal application fee.
For certain in-country processes, GOV.UK confirms that the Super Priority charge is £1,000 per relevant family member in addition to the application fee.
Applicants should therefore consider whether the faster decision genuinely justifies the additional cost.
For urgent employment, travel or family circumstances it may be valuable. For an application where timing is less important, standard processing may be more economical.
Priority services also do not compensate for a poorly prepared application.
Businesses should distinguish the cost of obtaining and maintaining sponsorship from the visa fee paid by the worker.
From 8 April 2026, the Worker sponsor licence fee is:
£611 for a small sponsor.
£1,682 for a large sponsor.
The Home Office also currently charges £750 for its Priority service for expedited processing of eligible sponsor licence applications.
A priority sponsorship management request costs £350.
The classification of a business as a small or large sponsor should be checked against the relevant sponsorship rules rather than assumed from headcount alone.
Employers sponsoring workers may also need to pay a fee when assigning a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) or using the corresponding Sponsor a Worker approval process.
The current fee for a CoS for routes including Skilled Worker, T2 Minister of Religion and Global Business Mobility Senior or Specialist Worker is:
£525.
For specified Temporary Worker categories and certain other routes, the current charge is:
£55.
The Student equivalent, the Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS), currently carries a sponsor charge of £55.
These are sponsor-side costs and should not be confused with the worker or student’s individual visa application fee.
For some sponsored workers, employers may also have to pay the Immigration Skills Charge.
This is separate from:
Whether the charge applies and the amount payable depends upon the sponsor, the immigration route and length of sponsorship.
Businesses planning overseas recruitment should therefore calculate the complete sponsorship cost, not merely the sponsor licence application fee.
The Immigration Skills Charge should normally be treated as an employer compliance cost rather than passed to the sponsored worker where doing so would conflict with sponsorship requirements.
Where an eligible immigration decision is challenged by Administrative Review, the current Home Office fee is:
£80.
Administrative Review is not a general reconsideration process for every refusal. It is available only for qualifying decisions and is principally concerned with identifying eligible Home Office caseworking errors.
Applicants should therefore check whether Administrative Review is actually the correct remedy before paying the fee.
Depending upon the decision, an appeal, fresh application or Judicial Review may instead need consideration.
The Home Office fee and IHS are not necessarily the only costs associated with an immigration application.
Depending upon the case, applicants may also encounter costs relating to:
Not every applicant will need all of these.
Applicants should be cautious about purchasing unnecessary services simply because they are offered during the application process.
The distinction between a mandatory Home Office charge and an optional third-party service should always be clear.
Applicants should not assume that a visa application fee will be refunded simply because an application is unsuccessful.
In many circumstances, the application fee is retained once the application has been processed.
Different rules can apply to the Immigration Health Surcharge. For example, an IHS refund may arise in certain circumstances where an application is refused or withdrawn before a decision, subject to the applicable refund rules.
Applicants considering withdrawal should therefore establish the financial consequences before taking action.
The risk of losing substantial fees makes it particularly important to check eligibility before submission.
A useful way to budget is to separate the costs into four categories:
The basic charge for the particular immigration application.
Where applicable, calculated according to the applicant and duration of permission.
Such as Priority or Super Priority processing.
Such as language testing, translations, professional evidence or legal representation.
For a family, perform this calculation for every applicant.
This gives a much more realistic picture than relying on the headline visa fee displayed at the beginning of the application process.
UK immigration fees are changed regularly.
The current principal schedule took effect on 8 April 2026, increasing numerous visa, settlement, nationality and sponsorship charges. The Home Office subsequently updated its associated fee transparency data on 17 July 2026.
For that reason, applicants should be cautious about fee tables on websites that have not been recently updated.
The Home Office also provides an official overseas visa-fee calculator for checking fees according to country and application category.
A fee should always be verified immediately before payment.
At Knights & Shah Solicitors, we can advise on both the legal requirements and expected Home Office costs of an immigration application.
We can assist with family visas, Skilled Worker applications, Student visas, Visitor visas, settlement, British citizenship, sponsor licensing, Administrative Review and other UK immigration matters.
Before an application is submitted, we can identify the correct immigration route, applicable Home Office charges, whether the Immigration Health Surcharge applies and whether additional costs such as Priority processing are necessary.
This can be particularly valuable for families and businesses where several separate immigration and sponsorship charges may arise.
If you require advice contact Knights & Shah Solicitors.
We provide clear, solicitor led advice, strategic case planning and robust court representation to protect our clients.
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