The United Kingdom has raised visa application fees for Nigerians and other foreign nationals entering the country.
Rishi Sunak, the British Prime Minister, said this on Thursday, July 14.
In addition, the Immigration Health Surcharge paid by visa applicants will “significantly increase,” according to the United Kingdom.
The rise, according to the prime minister, would assist bridge the gap after the county approved a pay raise in the public sector.
He said: “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
“So, what we have done are two things to find this money. The first is, we are going to increase the charges that we have for migrants who are coming to this country when they apply for visas and indeed something called the immigration health surcharge (IHS), which is the levy that they pay to access the NHS.
“All of those fees are going to go up and that will raise over £1 billion. So, across the board visa application fees are going to go up significantly and similarly for the IHS,” he said after announcing a wage increase.”
The surcharge paid as part of a visa application will rise to £1,035, while the cost of work and visit visas will rise by 15%.
The cost of study visas, sponsorship certificates, broad entrance clearance, leave-to-remain and priority visas, among other things, will rise by at least 20%.
According to the government, more than one million public sector personnel, including teachers, police officers, and doctors, have been awarded salary raises ranging from 5% to 7%.
According to the suggestions, police and prison officers in England and Wales would receive a 7% wage increase, while teachers and junior doctors in England would receive 6.5% and 6% raises, respectively.
