New Government consultation on Home Office fees and charging principles

Posted: 18/11/2013

On 12 November, the government announced that it is carrying out a consultation on Home Office fees and charging principles. The consultation will run for three weeks from 12 November to 3 December 2013.

The proposed changes include:

• Reducing fee levels – there are currently 120 different official application fees. These will be reduced to 20;
• Imposing the same fee for an application submitted overseas as that for applications submitted in-country – in-country fees are often much higher than overseas fees
• Increasing Home Office legal powers so that fees can be altered without the need to put this to parliament;
• Introducing more VIP and premium services – for example the GREAT club;
• Enhancing services at the border;
• Introducing an administrative charge which will be non-refundable should an application be rejected as void. Currently the full fee is refunded.  

Please submit your views on the proposals and highlight any issues that may affect you or your organisation. If you would like to include your views in our response, please send these to us.

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