Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, announced that a significant hike in visa application fees will take place soon.
He claims that the increase in the visa application cost is one of several steps the UK government is employing to raise money to close a revenue shortfall as well as pay down debt.
He made this announcement during an address at Downing Street on Thursday, July 13, 2023, which was monitored by 1Family Radio. His speech was in regard to an increase in public sector wages.
“We are going to increase the charges for migrants when they are applying for visas to come to this country, and indeed there is something called the Immigration Health Surcharge, which is the levy that they pay to access the NHS,’’ he stated.
“So across the board, visa application fees are going to go up significantly… None of these fees have been increased recently, and we think it is appropriate given that the cost of everything has gone up,’’ he added.
The government has said that work and visa costs will increase by 15% and that all other visa expenses will increase by at least 20%. The increment’s effective date has not yet been made public.
Source: 1Familyradio