Petition to PM on Visa costs for foreign nationals

[eliasuk4u]

Read the Government's response

The Government understands your concern about the impact of changes to the fees for immigration and nationality. Clearly, it is not in the interests of the country to make changes that will undo the many positive benefits that migration brings to the UK. But we are building confidence in our immigration system, and a key part of delivering this - as set out in the recently published enforcement strategy - is new resources to fund improvements in both the controls and the services we offer.

We have set the new fee levels using a flexible charging model. This means that we are using a number of factors to determine the fees, whilst we continue to work within strict financial limits agreed with HM Treasury we take into account the value of a successful application in terms of entitlements and benefits to the migrant or, in the case of work permits, the employer. We then look at other factors, such as the need to maintain the United Kingdom as an attractive destination for work, study and to visit; and support of wider policy objectives, such as the Prime Minister's Initiative to increase student exports. This policy is supported by the public consultation last year in which 87% of the responses agreed we should set fees flexibly to take into account wider policy objectives, and 79% of responses agreed fees should reflect a range of factors, not only those of value to the migrant.

The Government believes the fees are set at a fair price, and reflect the true operational costs of the immigration system. Those costs include compliance and related controls, which we do not believe should be borne by the general taxpayer. The new fees will enable the Border and Immigration Agency to continue improving service as well as paying for robust immigration control.

We have already committed to keep the fees we charge under regular review and continue to appraise performance in all areas of the business in detail. We will be carrying out a full impact assessment of the new fees and if significant adverse impacts become apparent, we will take appropriate action.

[SYH]

HUH? What is the purpose of the post?