UK hikes student visa fee by 35%, tourist visa by 15%

The United Kingdom has announced an increase in the cost of student and tourist visas.

According to a statement by the UK’s Home Office on Friday, the cost of a visit visa for less than six months will increase by £15 to £115, while the fee for a student visa will rise by £127 to £490.

The Home Office said the increases will enable the government to allow more funding to be prioritised for the public sector.

The income from fees charged plays a vital role in the Home Office’s ability to run a sustainable immigration and nationality system, the statement added.

The changes come less than six months after the UK announced increments in the cost of visa applications and health surcharges.

“If we’re going to prioritise paying public sector workers more, that money has to come from somewhere else because I’m not prepared to put up people’s taxes and I don’t think it would be responsible or right to borrow more because that would just make inflation worse,” Rishi Sunak, the British prime minister, had said in July.

The new changes will also affect the majority of fees for entry clearance and certain applications for leave to remain in the UK including those for work and study, among others.

“Today’s changes do not include the planned increase to the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) which are scheduled to be introduced later in the Autumn,” the statement added.

The fee hikes which are subject to parliamentary approval will take effect from October 4. 

Editor’s note: This report has been modified to correct the errors in the percentage of increase.