"I have never welcomed the weakening of family ties by politics or pressure" - Nelson Mandela.
"He who travels for love finds a thousand miles no longer than one" - Japanese proverb.
"Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence." - Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
"When people's love is divided by law, it is the law that needs to change". -
David Cameron.

Tuesday 7 April 2015

British Citizens forced to pay £5015.29 in fees to be allowed to live in the UK with their spouse as a British family!


Author : LondonMark (Mark Stokes)


Yet when presenting information to justify the recent increases in fees in Parliament, they stated that the actual unit cost of processing a spouse Visa is £278 (FLR) - but they now want to charge £649.
This is very misleading.

Anybody unfamiliar with the spouse visa system (including most MPs) would reasonably think that the cost of the visa for a British Citizen to live with their wife/husband or partner is only £649.

What they fail to realise is the process now takes over 5 years and has to be applied for several times providing relatively the same information with a new fee each time!  This is a disproportionate and gross interference in people's lives by the State. During this time couples are in a state of limbo know as the 'probation period'.

The word 'probation' emphasises that they are being treated like criminals in what the Independent Inspector has called 'a culture of disbelief at the Home Office'. This has effects including: not being able get mortgages if both incomes are needed, companies being reluctant to give long term contracts because the visas are only 2.5 years long, travel is restricted due to the requirements if the spouse wishes to be naturalised later, couples living in fear of what might happen if they are between jobs when the next application is due. At a time that should be filled with joy, and that should be a couple's honeymoon period and building plans for the future, instead their world is turned upside down with often unbearable levels of stress.

This April has seen the fees rise disproportionately yet again. This is causing many families immigration fee poverty, that is if they first can earn enough to be even allowed to apply.

So why do I say the visa cost is £5015.29?

As a British citizen you have to now pay the following in stages for your spouse to stay here:

In Country Applications

  1. LTR (£649) the first in country application after being married, (£48 increase)
  2. Health surcharge at £200 per year of validity for a visa of 30 months (£500) (new this year)
  3. Biometric Fee (£19.20), 
£1168.20
  1. FLR (£649) at the 2.5 year mark (£48 increase)
  2. Health surcharge at £200 per year of validity of the 30 month visa  (£500)
  3. Biometric Fee (£19.20) at each application the same biometrics are taken again with a fee paid to the Post Office
£1168.20
  1. Life in the UK test (£50)  Life in the United Kingdom: A Journey to Citizenship Book (£12.99)
  2. ILR (£1,500) at the 5 year mark, a £407 or 37% increase in one year
  3. Biometric Fee (£19.20) yet again
£1582.19

Sub Total £3918.59
  1. Naturalisation (£925) after receiving ILR, a £19 increase 
  2. Arrangement of a Citizenship Ceremony (£80)
  3. Biometric Fee (£19.20)
  4. Passport fee (£72.50) (optional but needed for travel on an equal basis as the rest of your family)
£1096.70
Total £5015.29

But for some people it costs more:

In Person Applications

If you need to travel because of work or family and can not have your passport kept by the Home Office for sometimes over 6 months at a time then you have no choice but to do an in person application each time which costs £400 each time. So that would be (£1200) extra
Total £6215.29

Overseas Application

If you are applying from outside of the UK then it is more as the first application is Settlement instead of LTR for overseas initial applications and costs (£956) which is £307 more 
As the initial visa issued to overseas applications is for 33 months then the health surcharge is then (£600) which is £100 more. even though this is just 3 months extra the Home Office is charging people 6 months extra!
and if you are not in a country that has a visa centre then a (£115)receiving fee
and an outside of the UK visa application centre fee of (£70)
(£150) for IELTS to take an approved english test at an approved centre if you are not already exempt for the english language requirement
Some countries will need to pay to have a TB test that is about (£65
so would give 
Total £5822.29
Additionally fees can vary in different countries due to how exchanges rates are implemented and variations in exchange rates can even be 20% for more unstable currencies.

10 Year Route Applications

Anybody who has been forced onto the 10 year route then the fees would be as they need to make two more applications for FLR
Total £7351.69
If you need a Transfer of conditions to a new passport when the old one expires (this will be more common now that the probation period is 5 years) you will be charged £183 or £260 if you have ILR


This does not include the increased complexity of the forms etc that Brits have to wade through. The complexity is so bad now that even the well educated need the help of solicitors just to fill them in, or the solicitors fees, extra English Test fees, validation fees of qualifications, translation fees or court, legal and judicial review fees we have to go through when the H.O. get things wrong.
If your spouse has a non-British/non-EU child then the costs will be even higher.
Even the new Helpline now costs £1.37 per Minute  or £4.00 for the webchat


By comparison Residence Documents issued under the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations are not mandatory.

EU National Route Applications





For EU Citizens bringing their spouses here using the EU National route

  1. EEA family permit (Free)  is normally for 6 months and allows multiple entry to the UK (https://www.gov.uk/family-permit)
  2. after 6 months can apply for 5 year Residence card (£65)
  3. Permanent Residence Card (£65) after 5 years of residence in the UK
Total £130 (but is technically optional)
The spouse is only allowed outside the UK 6 months a year.



Spouse visas for British Citizens should not cost anything as the British Citizen is already paying for them indirectly through their taxes. Now with the health surcharge, many are paying 3 times for the same thing as often both members of the couple are already paying taxes and national insurance over the 5 years yet the spouse also has the endorsement on their visa not allowing them to have recourse to public funds anyway.

So why are we now being charged 21.5 times (excluding naturalisation costs) what it costs for something we have already paid for through our taxes? 

Why are British Citizens (most of them born and bred in the UK) being ripped off and discriminated against just because their spouses were born in a non-EU country!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!? This is discrimination and undue prolonged interference in their family and private life.

Even after being ripped off by extortionate above premium fees the level of service offered is lacking with many applications refused with the fees being pocketed,  applications delayed due to staff cutbacks and many mistakes made with them not quickly corrected etc

Even the application forms are still not fit for purpose and treat British Citizens like immigrants. An example is on the spouse application form 
'Question: 7.22 is your sponsor currently living in the UK? 
Put a cross (x) in the relevant box. 
If ‘Yes’ please provide the date of when he/she first arrived in the UK'

Let's put these fees into context:
An application for a visit visa for a period of five years is £588.

The Government say that all applicants should be earning a minimum of £18,600 per year  even though 47% of the working population earn below this.

So now anybody earning £18,600 would have to pay 
27% of their annual income in application and visa fees! 
last year it was 18%  

But Justice Blake in his MM ruling in 2013 suggested to be fair that the minimum income should be £13,400 

So given that any body earning £13,400 would have to pay 
37.5% of their annual income in visa fees!
just in order to exercise their fundamental right of living with their spouse. 

A household used to be considered to be fuel poor if they were required to spend more than 10% of their income on fuel to maintain an adequate standard of warmth. 





This is causing many families 'immigration fee poverty', that is if they first can earn enough to be even allowed to apply.





Is it fair that British families now have to pay  27% of their yearly income just to be able to stay together in the UK without restrictions after they get married?

Sources of current fees and costs etc:

Last year's fees:

Cost of passport:

Health surcharge:

English language test:





Appointment booking fee (premium service centre)  £100
Application in person (premium service centre) £400 includes £100 appointment booking fee
Passport pass-back £40
Receiving, preparing and forwarding documents £115
Acceptance of application at Visa Application centre outside the UK  £70

Some proposed charges are:-
If you withdraw your application before a decision is issued you will be charged £80
If a mistake is made in the processing of your application you will be charged an Administrative review fee  £80

32 comments:

  1. Not to mention all the other 'smaller' costs, like postage, photos, printing 74+ pages, photocopies, etc.

    And God forbid you should have any dependants!

    ReplyDelete
  2. As per information received from Home Office Spouse visa fee broken down into

    Unit cost £378
    Contribution towards benefits and entitlements of the applicant £507

    £378 + £507 = £885

    If an applicants visa is refused 58% of the money is being gobbled up by the Home Office which is a con.

    Link to FOI request response
    https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/255364/response/632361/attach/3/34576%20Kar%20Final%20response.pdf

    Regards
    Sumon

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Sumon for the link. As the figures in the foi request are from last year this provides evidence that the Home Office were already charging for such things as access to GP's (under the 6/12 months residence rules) So we are being charged yet again for the same things in the Heath surcharge. The Visa already was charging the immigration impact charge (even though the fund was disbanded by this government)
      http://www.nhs.uk/nhsengland/aboutnhsservices/uk-visitors/pages/accessing-nhs-services.aspx

      Delete
  3. As per the comment
    "As per information received from Home Office Spouse visa fee broken down into

    Unit cost £378
    Contribution towards benefits and entitlements of the applicant £507"

    How can the non-EU spouse be contributing to benefits and entitlements that they don't even get? That's rubbish. Or am I reading that wrong.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Check the link I provided and come to your own conclusion. This is just blatant robbery by the Home Office. Leading the way for tax dodgers and benefits cheats.

      Sumon

      Delete
  4. Further on that WDTK response:

    "The fee for a spousal visa is set above cost. This reflects the value of an application that, if successful, provides a route to stay indefinitely and bring dependants into the United Kingdom."

    Hang on. Which non-British citizen dependants are they talking about?

    "Benefits available to those in the UK with temporary leave also include:
    Unrestricted access to the labour market;
    Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) or equivalent to provide physical evidence of
    identity, status and entitlements;
    Access to state funded education for dependant children."

    It is disingenuous at best to claim that the BRP is a benefit. What does it do that a visa and stamp in a passport would not? As for access to state education, the children are very likely to be British citizens anyway, so this shouldn't really be regarded as anything special.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well done! The person who prepared this study should be given the Nobel peace. This abuse to immigrants should stop and for that this information must see greater light for everyone to see it. People abuse immigrants verbally, socially,professionally, etc... because there are no regulation yet that punish abusers of immigrant. I hope it comes soon, just the anti-racial and anti-discriminatory laws against gender came to life at some point.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The Home Office is the biggest abuser of immigrants. The current government has been nothing but hostile towards immigrants and their families whilst using them as cash cows.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Not to mention the Home Office staff in UK the its MPs refuse to help in anyway with clarity on their own rules setting the applicant up for failure so they can steal the visa fees. Also they direct queries to a premium number run by the Hinduja group. It is a scam even monkeys in a coma can see.

    Sumon.

    ReplyDelete
  8. The new regulations say: "The surcharge is only paid by non-EEA nationals who require a visa to enter the UK and are coming to the UK in a non visitor visa category for a time limited period of more than six months."

    Is this surcharge supposed to be paid also by non-EEA spouses of British Citizens coming to the UK after exercising their treaty rights in the EU? Please don't tell me they do, that would be most unfortunate.

    ReplyDelete
  9. The ridiculous thing is that lots of British citizens have moved to Australia, Canada, and the U.S., but when a UK citizen wants their Australian, Canadian or American spouse to join them in the UK, the govt is completely against it.

    Seems a bit ridiculous considering that anyone from Romania and Bulgaria can just waltz in and get a free work permit from day 1.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I totally agree, I am so naffed off with it all. Also one thing you may have missed is the English exam needed for the first visa - this cost us about £200. In addition there are many things my husband is not entitled to because he does not have 'settled status' since they have extended this to 5 years. I also think it is shocking that someone can be living, working and paying taxes in the UK for 7 years and not be able to vote! Meanwhile I can become a citizen and vote in my husband's country simply because I am married to him even though I don't live there!

    ReplyDelete
  11. The UKBA website states...
    When you don’t have to pay or get an IHS reference number:
    you’re a family member of a European national with European Union treaty rights

    Question: Im extending my second 2.5 years period of my spouse visa, do I need to pay the health surcharge?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Anon -

      It might be best to join the 'I Love My Foreign Spouse' Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/139807999382936/ where there's a community of people currently going through the process. Alternatively, check with a solicitor. These things change and probably the comments section isn't the best place to get an answer for this.

      Delete
  12. We're going through the same process and I just rang the home office, unfortunately they confirmed everyone has to pay. My wife's been paying national insurance contributions from the day she arrived and hardly used the NHS at all. We will certainly be making a lot more use of it now we're being charged £500 "because".
    The number was 0300 1232241, then option 4 if you want to contact them yourself.
    Good luck with your application.

    ReplyDelete
  13. This is British government and they talk about humanity first and other way they being greedy dogs

    ReplyDelete
  14. Pay taxes but no,access to public funds.wtf

    ReplyDelete
  15. Its not surprising people try to get benefits and claim for whatever they can to counter act this government cheating the people!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Its outrageous and with the increased cost the service gets worse! My wife's visa application was refused due to an administrative error by the Home Office. With 36% of applications now refused these errors are then forcing people to appeal or reapply - more cost!!

    The Home Office finally admitted their mistake after several months - it has cost a fortune and have to do this all again in 2.5 years!!! Keep up the good work highlighting the issue.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Im just going through this process myself and the health surcharge is just shocking as we both pay taxes i plan to speak to my local mp about this and i would encourage everone to do this an oppose this new tax

    ReplyDelete
  18. Good Blog Mark, it would be good to get on record the history of this incremental theft by the home office and our government. In the 1970s this entire process was actually FREE. Personally, I'm a native brit, I've been married to a foreign wife for 9 years and just sorting out this naturalization scam after saying 'I'm not paying that' for the past few years.

    My wife took one of these 'life in the uk' tests for her permanent leave to remain a few years ago which is pointless.. NOW there's a english language test MY WIFE has to take to become a british citizen. there are exceptions to this; if you can prove you've taken a degree with the coursework in english for example... well, she did take a degree with coursework in english and obtained an official letter from her uni to prove it.. guess what? a degree in her country isn't equivalent to a degree in england so she still had to take the test and pay £150.00 - then this naturalization fee of £1,236.00, must be paid for a human right.

    We should all be going bananas about this!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Good Blog Mark, it would be good to get on record the history of this incremental theft by the home office and our government. In the 1970s this entire process was actually FREE. Personally, I'm a native brit, I've been married to a foreign wife for 9 years and just sorting out this naturalization scam after saying 'I'm not paying that' for the past few years.

    My wife took one of these 'life in the uk' tests for her permanent leave to remain a few years ago which is pointless.. NOW there's a english language test MY WIFE has to take to become a british citizen. there are exceptions to this; if you can prove you've taken a degree with the coursework in english for example... well, she did take a degree with coursework in english and obtained an official letter from her uni to prove it.. guess what? a degree in her country isn't equivalent to a degree in england so she still had to take the test and pay £150.00 - then this naturalization fee of £1,236.00, must be paid for a human right.

    We should all be going bananas about this!

    ReplyDelete
  20. The visa went up again in 2016 spuose settlement to £1195 + £600 surcharge I"m now applying for my wife"s visa (she"s from philippines) on her behalf but found out you have to pay in dollars $1816 which converts to a whopping £1360 because the £ went down against the $ because of Brexit. Why can"t I pay in ££s? I"m going to complain about this.

    ReplyDelete
  21. mans_best_friend, to what authority are you going to complain cos we are in same situation, totally pissed off. They want to be paid at currency rate 1.52 when it's 1.29 now. Con!! and if you already complained, there was any response?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I emailed UKBA & asked if we could pay in pounds but no response. Happily we got her visa in only 5 weeks after applying.

      Delete
    2. Robert Goodwill MP: Make the UKBA charge immigration visa fees in GBP £s instead of USD $s - Sign t... https://t.co/RAXI21D2rK via @UKChange

      Delete
    3. I started a petition on change.org see here: https://www.facebook.com/tony.dunn.5494 pls. sign. Someone has to stand up for minorities.
      My wife is with me now (got her settlement visa in just 5 wks because I2m disabled but this cost has caused a lot of stress at home. They"re hoping the extortionate cost of visas will drive couples apart. Luckily my wife starts work soon, bless her.

      Delete
  22. An updated version of this posting is now available to reflect the March 2016 increases in fees and increasing requirements.(approx. £2200 more this year)
    It can be found here
    http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/british-citizens-forced-to-pay-719829.html

    ReplyDelete
  23. The reason why they put the earnings threshold on the visa is so they know they can rip you off for an exact amount of money they does not take you below the lowest threshold to claim benefit.
    Absolute bloody rip off why do we lock up criminals the government are the biggest fraudsters on the planet

    ReplyDelete