Fee Increases On UK Visa Processing

For 2009 and 2010, the UK government has announced that there will be an increase on fees for nationality, visa, and immigration applications. The good news is that there should be very few changes made to the government fees for all in country applications. The out of country applications are those that are likely to double in price. This includes all long term visit visa applications among other things. This increased fee on visa processing could prove to be difficult to pay due to the hurting global economy.

Not only are the prices of visa processing going up for all out of country applications, but a number of new rules and regulations are being added as well. This is the biggest shake up in the immigration system in over 45 years, according to the UK government. Now fingerprints will be checked before people come and leave the UK. There will also be a stronger force that watches over the UK border. They will also start counting all people that come in and out of the UK now. Most of this is linked back to the UK government wanting tighter border control.

To do all of this, the UK Border Agency is planning on spending well over £2.2 billion on immigration system and border control. This is a price that they are willing to pay. However, the UK Border Agency expects that about thirty percent of this cost will be paid for with the increase in visa fees. This helps to lighten the blow of the large sum of money that will need to be paid.