Visa Fees

[srisatch]

Fees for Leave To Remain in the UK and some other visas are set for huge increases from April 1. The fee for a Settlement Interview in the UK will rise from £250 to £500 and from £150 to £335 for postal applications....This will surely find its way through to Visa fees abroad.

Act now!!

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Fees for Leave To Remain in the UK and some other visas are set for huge increases from April 1. The fee for a Settlement Interview in the UK will rise from £250 to £500 and from £150 to £335 for postal applications....This will surely find its way through to Visa fees abroad.

Act now!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Pommy Bastards

[aletta]

Five hundred quid,that's a joke.

[Khun Larry]

Fees for Leave To Remain in the UK and some other visas are set for huge increases from April 1. The fee for a Settlement Interview in the UK will rise from £250 to £500 and from £150 to £335 for postal applications....This will surely find its way through to Visa fees abroad.

Act now!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Paang

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Fees for Leave To Remain in the UK and some other visas are set for huge increases from April 1. The fee for a Settlement Interview in the UK will rise from £250 to £500 and from £150 to £335 for postal applications....This will surely find its way through to Visa fees abroad.

Act now!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Paang

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Mark duay

[TizMe]

They are trying to raise a few pounds for a wedding gift for Charlie and Camilla.

[GU22]

The whole issue of paying for ILR etc. is grossly unfair. Up until 2003 ILR etc. used to be free as the fee for the original visa covered the cost of this. At least that was the official reason for the cost of a settlement visa being over 6 times the cost of a visit visa.

Then the government introduced these fees, and have now added on this huge increase, with more to come.

The reason given by the government is that those who use the service should pay for it, which is fair enough on the surface. But if you decide to pay the premium for a personal application you will find that the average time between handing in the application and receiving the passport back with the ILR stamp in it is 30 minutes!

£500 for 30 minutes work!

Once ILR is granted then you will have to pay these massive fees again to transfer the ILR stamp to your new passport when the original one expires. This used to be done by presenting old and new passports to an immigration officer at a port of entry who would then simply place a new stamp in the new passport, or by sending old and new passports to the IND who would transfer the stamp. Now you have to re-apply to the IND and pay the extortionate fee again!

£500 for 5 minutes work!

It's called Indefinite Leave to Remain. How can the government justify charging people to renew it?

Of course, you can avoid having to renew ILR by taking British citizenship once qualified, but the cost of doing this is shooting up as well.

The IND does cost a lot to run. Most of the money is spent on processing asylum claims. Asylum seekers are exempt from paying these outrageous charges.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

They are trying to raise a few pounds for a wedding gift for Charlie and Camilla.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Are there gonna be any guests at all ?

[Thetyim]

Maybe you get paid for attending

[srisatch]

I wanted to post the actual IND account for these fees....but Surprise from the moment I saw it til now...3 days IND is inaccessible from Sukothai....If you can get them look at Settlement Visa Rules/Regulations

But a question.. Me friend..who started all this..asks...wife has 1 year left on Thai Passport plus 5 year extension...granted as she was going 'Tang Prathet'...are you really saying that if she gets ILTR..Indefinite Leave to Remain..to you...she will have to pay another £500, or whatever the fee might be then!!! to transfer it to a new Thai Passport??

Me friend also says. Wife has Shengen Multiple Entry Visa and French Permis de Sejour..all free..can stay in France as wife of EU citizen as long as she wants...but he suspects that if they wanted to leave there might be a problem if she did not have UK Indefinite FLTR....Info??

[taxexile]

pay another £500, or whatever the fee might be then!!! to transfer it to a new Thai Passport??

you shouldnt need to transfer it to the new thai passport , just show the iltr stamp in the old passport as well as showing the new passport when going through uk customs or leaving for the uk.

[srisatch]

pay another £500, or whatever the fee might be then!!! to transfer it to a new Thai Passport??

you shouldnt need to transfer it to the new thai passport , just show the iltr stamp in the old passport as well as showing the new passport when going through uk customs or leaving for the uk.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well that is what I thought...but I DOread what people write...and who knows what idiocy Immigration UK as well as Thai are capable of

[taxexile]

my wife had iltr for a few years before getting her uk passport and citizenship , when the passport with the iltr stamp had expired , she applied for and got a new thai passport , and then she always showed both passports ( stapled together ) and never had any trouble entering the uk or exiting other counties en route to the uk.

once you have iltr then nothing will be stamped in the new passport , it isn't necessary because there is no limit on the stay in the uk , indefinate leave to remain has already been granted.

iltr stamps are granted and stamped by the home office , not by immigration jobsworths at airports .

check in staff at airports were familiar with the iltr stamp , and immigration staff at uk points of entry are too , if you come across one who isnt then just ask to see another one.

indefinate leave means just that , indefinate.

nothing to do with the expiry date of the passport.

[GU22]

Whether there is a need or not to transfer an ILR stamp to a new passport, the point is that it is a five minute job that used to be free, and now the government are charging up to £500 for. Of course, you can avoid this charge by taking out British citizenship, but that currently costs nearly £300!

Fiancé visa..........£260

FLR.....................£335 (£500 in person)

ILR.....................£335 (£500 in person)

Naturalisation .... £268*

Total..................£1198 (£1528)

*does not include the cost of proving language ability, or the citizenship test to be introduced some time in the summer of this year.

The governments justification for this extortion? "To bring our charges in line with comparable nations, such as Australia."

Edited March 22, 2005 by GU22

[srisatch]

Whether there is a need or not to transfer an ILR stamp to a new passport, the point is that it is a five minute job that used to be free, and now the government are charging up to £500 for.   Of course, you can avoid this charge by taking out British citizenship, but that currently costs nearly £300!

Fiancé visa..........£260

FLR.....................£335 (£500 in person)

ILR.....................£335 (£500 in person)

Naturalisation .... £268*

Total..................£1198 (£1528)

*does not include the cost of proving language ability, or the citizenship test to be introduced some time in the summer of this year.

The governments justification for this extortion? "To bring our charges in line with comparable nations, such as Australia."

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Re naturalisation/citizenship...

Of course the rub there is you actually have to LIVE in the UK! and not leave for more than a certain number of days in the qualifying period.....

I have another friend with a LOS wife who decided they did not want to do all that and moving between UK and LOS had all kinds of hassles in BKK with just wanting ordinary tourist visas for wife once Marriage Visa had expired.....suggestion: no longer living together as man and wife.....as though marriage was any good reason to live in the UK...!...had to translate all Thai documentation into English as of course all bank statements etc were in Thai!¬

..and their kid has a UK passport...it is all crazy? What are they scared of, when people are clearly family?

But he is a UK citizen...have to do all this...compare with France...I am a French citizen, she is my wife...no more to be said or done!

[hopeless]

Fees for Leave To Remain in the UK and some other visas are set for huge increases from April 1. The fee for a Settlement Interview in the UK will rise from £250 to £500 and from £150 to £335 for postal applications....This will surely find its way through to Visa fees abroad.

Act now!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thats not too bad, its not like 1/4 of our wages goes to the taxman ya know...