Did You Know ...

[Arthur Little]

... that applying for 'Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK' *USED to be FREE?

Yes ... right up until the year 2003, in fact; at which point, Labour decided to introduce fees ... initially £155 ... rising rapidly - and steeply - to the present £820 [or, alternatively, for an additional payment of £200, one can elect to appear in person, either at the Home Office in London, or one or other of the Regional Centres around the country].

*This only became apparent to ME yesterday afternoon ... whilst I was searching around in an attempt to address a related issue raised by another member of the forum.

As if to "add insult to injury" ... in what is already a sickening "body-blow" for applicants about to press ahead with their ILR submissions ... consider this:

The Government has readily admitted that the present level of fees payable, far and away exceeds overall administration costs ... claiming that the excess amounts derived from the issuance of visas :bluegrab: is being utilised for funding various other projects currently in the pipeline (like ploughing more money into a struggling National Health Service ... in a bid to attract more, much-needed doctors and nursing staff, for instance? What a !). Seemingly, a petition calling for a Govt. review of the extortionate fees was flatly rejected!

Roll on May 6, right enough ...

[keithAngel]

Frying pans and fires Arthur

[Doc Alan]

An outrageous fee to be added to the budget for those of us even considering such a future But will the situation improve after May 6 (or whenever the election is to be) ?
Unfortunately even if every ILR fee went to the NHS it would make no difference The NHS annual budget of over £100bn equates to about £2000 for every man, woman, and child in the UK. It's faced with efficiency savings of £20bn over the next 3 years, and maybe even a real cut in funding to help pay off the national debt

[darren-b]

The Government has readily admitted that the present level of fees payable, far and away exceeds overall administration costs ... claiming that the excess amounts derived from the issuance of visas :bluegrab: is being utilised for funding various other projects currently in the pipeline (like ploughing more money into a struggling National Health Service ... in a bid to attract more, much-needed doctors and nursing staff, for instance? What a !). Seemingly, a petition calling for a Govt. review of the extortionate fees was flatly rejected!

Roll on May 6, right enough ...

I don't think that's correct as though in general the fees for visas may exceed their admin cost, the fees received only cover 30% of the funding required for the UK Border Agency, the rest of the funding is from UK tax payers.

Do you think any party will reduce the fees? Because reduction of visa fees is not a vote winner as most people who are affected by them are not allowed to vote. British spouses of non-eu partners are obviously an exception, but they are a small minority and not worth bothering about for the few years that they are affected.