Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Designing UK employer policies on visa cost support: legal limits, clawbacks, dependants and consistent application

Published on: 02 December 2022

Published by a LexisNexis Immigration expert

Legal News

Table of contents

Common fees
The level of cost assistance provided
Important considerations for employers

Article summary

Common fees

For most UK work visa applications, statutory charges account for most of the overall outlay, typically far surpassing the professional fees paid to immigration specialists for guiding applicants through the process.

Government fees may include:

the visa application fee
the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS)
the Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) fee
the Immigration Skills Charge (ISC)
optional services to streamline and expedite the visa process

By law, the ISC is the only government charge that employers cannot pass on to the visa applicant.

Other disbursements can include translation costs, tuberculosis screening, English language testing, or obtaining criminal record certificates.

Many of these relate to mandatory stages of the visa process and can mount up quickly, so employers should take a holistic view before deciding who will be responsible for these extra costs.

The level of cost assistance provided

Some employers may already have well-established policies to guide them. These could range from the employer covering all...

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