If you had applied for natualisation prior to the 2nd April 2007 you would have paid £268 rather £655. Having seen the price for ILR rise from £335 to £750 on the same date (my wife applied for ILR a few months later) it became very obvious to me that it was best to get through the immigration process as quick as possible.
I don't agree it should be free if you've paid taxes for a few years as a lot of people wouldn't then end up paying for naturalisation (and even more would apply if it was free...). The trouble is now the application fee is appearing to be used to subside other things like the searching for illegal workers (anyone who thinks overstayers who work aren't causing any harm shouldn't moan about the applications fees) rather than just the cost of processing your application.
