On 16 January 2025 the Home Office published a news story and sent direct communications to registered sponsors, flagging an intention to significantly increase certain UK immigration and nationality-related fees.
Which fees are affected?
According to the news story, the following fees are due to rise:
| Category | Current fee (GBP) | Intended fee (GBP) | % increase |
| Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) | 10 | 16 | 60 |
| Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) – Worker (including Skilled Worker, Senior or Specialist Worker and International Sportsperson over 12 months) | 239 | 525 | 120 |
| Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) – Temporary Worker (including routes such as Creative Worker, Government Authorised Exchange, UK Expansion Worker, Scale-Up and International Sportsperson under 12 months) | 25 | 55 | 120 |
| Naturalisation as a British citizen | 1,500 | 1,650 | 10 |
| Naturalisation as a British Overseas Territories Citizen | 810 | 1,070 | 32 |
Rises are also planned for nationality-related services such as renouncing citizenship, amending a citizenship certificate and issuing a certificate of entitlement to the right of abode.
When will the new fees be in place?
The Government hopes that the new fees will be in place in Spring 2025.
The fee rises will happen using a two-stage legislative process. The first stage is for new maximum fees to be debated and approved by both Houses of Parliament. How quickly this will happen depends on when there is space in the parliamentary timetable, and whether any objections to the rises are raised in the debates. Even if there are objections, this is likely to slow down the process rather than resulting in the approved maximum fee amounts being lower than the figures proposed by the Government.
Once the maximum fees have been agreed, the second stage will be for the Government to lay regulations in Parliament detailing the actual proposed fee rises.
The news story suggests that for ETAs and CoS (at least for Worker routes), the intention is to set the fees at the maximum level. The intention also appears to be to set the fee for naturalisation as a British citizen at the maximum level. The news story indicates an intention for the fee for naturalisation as a British Overseas Territories Citizen to be set below the possible maximum.
The second stage of the process is likely to happen much more swiftly than the first, because this stage does not need to be debated and approved by Parliament.
It is possible that a range of immigration and nationality fees may be raised at the second stage, not just the ones identified as requiring a new maximum fee amount to be approved by Parliament.
What actions should businesses and individuals take?
Although there is no immediate impact, businesses should take into account the potential fee rises when planning their budgets for sponsorship. Skilled Worker sponsors should also be aware that due to a recent change to sponsor guidance, it is not permissible to pass the cost of a CoS on to the sponsored worker.
Individuals should also be aware that the costs for applying for an ETA or naturalisation application (but potentially also an immigration application) are likely to rise in the Spring, and to budget accordingly.
Need further help?
We will provide further updates as more information becomes available. If you have any queries at this stage, please contact a member of our Immigration team.