Immigration Fees: Unfair and inefficient

This briefing explains how the UK’s immigration fee system unfairly charges far more than processing costs to generate revenue, outlining the harms and inefficiencies of this approach and proposing reforms.

People are charged immigration fees that are generally set far above the cost to the Home Office of processing the application for which they are charged the fee. This is done to raise vast sums of money (well over £1 billion per year) in an effort to make the immigration system pay for itself.

But this system of immigration fees is unfair and inefficient in several ways. This briefing explains the unfairness, inefficiency and harms of this system; and includes some proposals for reform.