The British High Commission has raised visa fees across key categories from 8 April, affecting tourists, students, and working professionals travelling to the UK. It is part of the UK government’s push to build a more “streamlined, digital immigration system.”

The higher charges will help maintain a secure and efficient visa process, an official said. The UK Home Office has implemented increased immigration and nationality fees, effective 8 April. This includes a 6–7% uplift on most work visas, visitor visas, and settlement fees.

Here's how much the fees will increase: Tourist visas or short-term (up to 6 months) visas will go up to £135 from £127, which is a £8 increase. Meanwhile, tourist visas valid for up to two years will increase by £31, from £475 to £506.

10-year tourist visa's will now cost £1,128 - a sharp £69 increase from £1,059.

Students will now have to pay £558 for a study visa, up from £524. At the same time, skilled workers applying for work visas of up to three years will see fees increase from £769 to £819.

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The Health and Care visa now costs more as well. Fees for applications of up to three years have increased from £304 to £324, while those for more than three years have increased from £590 to £628.

However, premium services like priority processing have largely been left untouched—despite expectations that these fees might have been the easier ones to increase.

How will it impact the employers? These increases mean higher costs for businesses sponsoring workers and greater financial burdens for migrants settling in the UK. Employers should factor these changes into their recruitment budgets, particularly as the government continues to tighten immigration rules and intensify scrutiny on sponsor compliance, as per an article by Employment Law Worldwide.

The UK government maintains that the revisions are necessary to improve service delivery and keep pace with rising global demand.

Work visa issuance dropped in 2025 The number of work visas issued by Britain in the year to December 2025 fell by 19% from the previous year, government data released in February showed, reflecting the ongoing impact of tighter visa rules.

The data showed that 168,000 work visas were issued in 2025, down 19% on 2024 and 50% on 2023.

The fall included a halving of the number of visas issued in the health and care sector and a 36% decline in the number of other skilled worker visas.

That continues a trend seen in data released by the Office for National Statistics last year, which showed long-term net migration to Britain fell by more than two-thirds in the year to June.

There were 46,497 detected arrivals via illegal routes, up 7%. Of these arrivals, 89% were in small boats.