If someone applies for a five-year visa, they currently must pay £1,035 per year upfront, totalling £5,175. We think applicants should have the option to pay the Immigration Health Surcharge in instalments instead of the full amount upfront for the entire visa duration.

We think requiring applicants to pay upfront often results in a surge of fee waiver applications, creating backlogs, delaying visa processing, and increasing taxpayer costs. We believe some applicants exploit this system to extend their stay while transitioning to another visa. We think the high upfront cost, especially for families, leads to frequent fee waiver approvals, causing financial losses for the government. We think instalment payments could curb fee waiver abuse, ease the Home Office’s workload, and boost revenue.