Uk Visa Fees

[Khun Bob]

Samran - fair points and this is another perspective - I guess you came to the UK as an individual to work here - you were not working for a company that sent you on a placement to the Uk and paid you slightly better than the wages you receive in your home country (well below 35-40KGBP)

I work with alot of people in intra company placements and about 50% of the staff are from outside of the UK (mainly India) on such placements. I ask them how much money they get and it is no where near a UK salary - they have to scrimp and save, but they make some good money to take take back/send home.

All the large UK based consultancie are doing this on the back of the skills shortage - even now the marking system for HSMP has been changed to make it quite easier to pass. Even the large Indian consultancies want to open offices in the UK so they can fill them with Indian graduates to do work here.

I think for an individual to apply for a job in the UK and get a visa / work permit to come here is alot harder.

Maybe a way to avoid visa fee increases is to get your loved one into an overseas office of a UK comapny then get them to the UK on a intra company placement - free visa and accomodation too - but no UK comparable salary - then holiday in a low cost new european country for a while, get the free visa and live happilly ever after in the UK

I think the government is very pro cheap labour coming to the UK - and following the (WTO?) meeting in Switzerland recently some further barriers have been removed - so by increasing charges now this will be a tidy earner for yesr to come as immigrants come to the UK to work - already last year in the IT area foreign workers are up 27% from the year before, predominantly from india. The main organisations behind this are are large consultancies, who will not really be that concerned about a price rise. Ironically many of the overseas workers end up on government projects that just attempt to strengthen the big brotherness of this country. However, IMHO, many of these project will not deliver on their required benefits - but lots and lots of tax money gets thrown at them.

Bob,

I think you'll find that the British government wants to have their cake and eat it too. One one hand migration is an excellent way to keep a lid on wages...and hence, inflation. On balance, low inflation is good for everyone, though I totally understand if you turned around and told me it doesn't feel like low inflation to you (especially in the SE and with housing prices)!

On the other hand, from my perspective, they have not only jacked up HSMP fees over the past couple of years (for applying GBP120, then getting the acual visa at the embassy -GBP100 odd, and then getting the FLR - twice in my case - GBP 335) the requirements for keeping the HSMP visa have also gone up. Essentially now, you need to be earning in excess of GBP 35-40K to be able to stay in the UK as a non-EU independent migrant otherwise the b@stards won't extend your visa. The only other option is to get a work permit, but unless you have tramped around the UK trying to get a white collar job with no work authorisation, you'll soon find that Work Permits ain't that easy to come by.

[Khun Bob]

Maybe we should bring these unfair fees to the attention of moneysavingexpert - they have been very effective with bank, credit card, mortgage, gas fees and they are on a roll now - just need to get council tax, income tax and visa fees addressed to ! Seems a fair value is about £12 usually - now that would be nice !

The European visa fees seem to be realistic whereas the UK fees are unfair and illegal ?

[samran]

Maybe a way to avoid visa fee increases is to get your loved one into an overseas office of a UK comapny then get them to the UK on a intra company placement - free visa and accomodation too - but no UK comparable salary - then holiday in a low cost new european country for a while, get the free visa and live happilly ever after in the UK

hehe.

I'm pretty sorted to be honest. Consulting to the netherworld of international companies based in far off tax free places. I'm pretty peeved though that the government has far too often changed and raised the bars on the fees, salaries and qualifications fronts in respects to getting and then maintaining the HSMP. It has been done retrospectively as well, so you'll find that people who are struggling to establish themselves in the UK (having moved them and their families there) find that they will be booted out after 3 years.

For me, I have to examine my status by mid 2008 and see where I want/need to be for work any longer. For the moment, it is worth having HSMP status given one of my employment contracts. Being a non-domiciled person for tax purposes in the UK helps that. So I am sorted till then and under the current rules I am fine to continue on should I want to, but no doubt the rules will change one more time, so I'll just wait until I see what the rules will be then!

Wifey and I have a love hate relationship with the UK. Love the summer and hate the winter!

[mrrpie]

And it is not just the visa feesgoing up on 1 April. Consular fee also increasing, so passports, letters from the Embassy etc will all cost more...

FCO ANOUNCES CHANGES IN CONSULAR FEES FROM 1 APRIL 2007 (08/03/07)

The fees for passports and chargeable consular services provided by British consular posts overseas are to change from 01 April 2007. On the same date, the fee for legalisation services provided by the FCO in London and overseas will change.

These changes will ensure that the full cost of providing services at home and overseas are fully recovered without any claim on public funds and to meet the increasing demand, while maintaining high standards of service.

Notes to Editors:

Chargeable Consular Services

The FCO undertakes 60 chargeable services. Examples include:

registering of British Nationals' births and deaths (increased from £64.50 to £92.00),

charging call out fees (increased from £84.50 to £121.00),

administering oaths (increased from £35.00 to £50.00),

solemnising or attending a marriage (increased from £88.00 to £126.00),

arranging a repatriation (increased from £84.50 to £121.00), and

registering a civil partnership (increased from £88.00 to £126.00).

The fees for these services were last increased in July 2005.

Passports

In 2006-07 British consulates overseas will have issued or amended in the region of 450,000 passports and issued 12,000 emergency and temporary passports.

From 1 April 2007 the following fees will apply:

Adult 32 page: £ 119.00 (up from £91.00)

Adult 48 page: £ 144.00 (up from £109.00)

Child: £ 76.00 (up from £ 59.00)

Emergency: £ 55.50 (up from £ 43.50)

Amendments: £ 97.50 (up from £ 75.50)

Temporary: £ 70.50 (up from £ 55.00)

Passport fees were last increased in December 2005 to cover the costs of the implementation and issuing of new Biometric Passports.

Legalisation Fees

In 2006-07 British consulates overseas and the London office, will have provided in the region of 370,000 legalisation services.

From 1 April 2007 the legalisation fee will increase from £19 to £27.

The fees for these services were last increased in July 2005.

[Khun Bob]

The governemnt has a monopoly on providing these services - the monopolies commission need to review these unrealistic and unfair charges and introduce competition to this service.

I wonder, in the age of mass automation, what is the real cost of these services and products - can they be honestly broken down and explained and justifed ?

Just like council tax bills telling me where the money for policing is going - then the newspapers say small crimes (ebay, shoplifting, small value burglary ) the police do not consider worth investigating. The breakdown does not match the reality as reported in relatively trustworthy press.

It costs a person on minimum UK wages a weeks net pay to buy a 48 page passport (outside of the UK admittedly) !

So how much will a driving licence letter from the UK Bangkok Embassy be on or after April Fools day ? (Its 1700 baht now, I think)

[GU22]

In a nutshell, from within the UK, you can go from Immigration Rules > European law, but you can't go from European law > Immigration Rules.

Scouse.

Thanks for the clarification, Scouse.

Posted on another board

I have been onto the Petitions site and feel so strongly about the increases being yet another "stealth" tax and a completely unjustifiable raise apart from "profit" and some appeasement to those that hate foreign nationals that I have created a petition that is currently being checked for approval, but when approved will last for 2 months and will be under their "Government, politics and public administration" section. Feel free to sign and pass on to others when it appears. I called the "shortname" VisaCostRise.

I urge all members to sign this petition when it appears on the petitions site.

I also urge all members to write to their MP and protest about these charges. Not that they exist, but the outrageous amount being charged which bears no relation to the actual cost involved in processing an application.

If your MP is Labour, then tell him/her that you will not be voting for him/her next time if these charges remain at such an unjustified level. If s/he is not Labour then ask what his/her party will do about these charges if they win the next election. Say that you will be voting for whichever party promises to reduce these charges to a reasonable amount.

Please do this even if, like my wife and I, you are not personally affected as you have already got ILR and even naturalisation

It might not achieve anything, but doing nothing will definitely achieve nothing.

Pass this message on to anyone you know who may be affected by this and is not a member of this forum.

[Mossfinn]

Now i'll have to go with option 2 Daniel O'Donohue

Close Mr Boj, very close, but no cigar

And glad to see that you are getting nearer to joining the Irish Diaspora.

Good Luck Finbar

Moss

[topfield]

Dear All

In fact the settlement visa will not be charged at 500 pounds at the British Embassy. If one tried to pay in sterling whether by cheque or cash it would be refused.

The amount for the Embassy will be Bht 37,500.as the exchange rate currently fixed by the Consul is

75 baht to the pound.

What will this mean in practice ? Were you to buy the baht in the UK whether by bankers draft or in cash (to buy the draft later) you will pay at least 593.60 probably ten pounds more plus charges..lets say 610 pounds at the very minimum. Then in addition you must pay the processing fees.

37500 THAI BAHT (THB) = 593.6054 BRITISH POUND (GBP) Current Bloomberg pasted rate 12 March

Were you however to change your pounds in Thailand you would pay 562 pounds

GBP United Kingdom 66.70 Bangkok Bank rate 12 March (pasted from their website)

To sum up after 1 April you will be paying nearer 600 pounds for the settlement visa, not 500 pounds .

[mrbojangles]

I urge all members to sign this petition when it appears on the petitions site.

I definately will. But it doesn't seem to have appeared yet

[GU22]

It can, apparently, take up to 5 working days for a petition to be approved. The guy who submitted it will be notified by e-mail when it is up and running. He said he'll let me know when so I can post it on here.

[mrbojangles]

"BUMP"

GU22 or anyone else. Has this petition loaded up yet ? I can't seem to find it

[GU22]

Not yet, but this note is on the petitions site

Due to unexpectedly high volume of users starting petitions on the site, we are having some difficulty meeting our own targets of accepting or rejecting within 5 working days. Please accept our apologies and thanks for your patience while we catch up

[topdjdel]

definatly gets my signiture,when the petition is running.

I know of a few people that will be affected by this unfair hinks.

delboy

[Khun Bob]

Clearly there is alot that the UK people dont like what the current government are doing. And I think that after blair it will only get worse...

But just as they tax alchohol, fags, petrol - this is recognised as being another earner - the foreign wives tax.

I remember a few years ago when alegedly there was VAT applied to condoms and there were t-shirts around with "Taxed to <deleted>" on them - guess this is another case of that, well partially !

Not yet, but this note is on the petitions site

Due to unexpectedly high volume of users starting petitions on the site, we are having some difficulty meeting our own targets of accepting or rejecting within 5 working days. Please accept our apologies and thanks for your patience while we catch up

[Vulture]

Not yet, but this note is on the petitions site

Due to unexpectedly high volume of users starting petitions on the site, we are having some difficulty meeting our own targets of accepting or rejecting within 5 working days. Please accept our apologies and thanks for your patience while we catch up

Hilarious.

I think maybe we need to get a petition going about this site being not fit for purpose

[GU22]

The petition is now ongoing.

To sign it, click here.

(I'd have posted this earlier, but I've been away.)

[atlastaname]

The petition is now ongoing.

To sign it, click here.

(I'd have posted this earlier, but I've been away.)

Good work ..

i thought you had been a bit quiet for a day or two ,which is unusual for you !!