ILR Fees 2017-2018

ILR grants are down more than 50% since 2012. So they need to double the fees, just to make the same amount.

Ali272 wrote:ILR grants are down more than 50% since 2012. So they need to double the fees, just to make the same amount.

This would explain a lot. In a normal situation, one would keep the price of a product/service fixed or reasonable and increase the number of sales in order to boost income. In an exploitative model such as this one, they want to reduce the number of sales (number of ILRs granted), but still want to make as much profit as possible hence the exponential growth of the ILR fee..

Ali272 wrote:ILR grants are down more than 50% since 2012. So they need to double the fees, just to make the same amount.

And the source of your statement above???

paradoxical wrote:This would explain a lot. In a normal situation, one would keep the price of a product/service fixed or reasonable and increase the number of sales in order to boost income. In an exploitative model such as this one, they want to reduce the number of sales (number of ILRs granted), but still want to make as much profit as possible hence the exponential growth of the ILR fee..

HO know there is 'demand' for their service/visas and as long as there is demand and people will pay (regardless of how everyone moans), they will increase the fees because they know people will pay to come here or stay.

CR001 wrote:HO know there is 'demand' for their service/visas and as long as there is demand and people will pay (regardless of how everyone moans), they will increase the fees because they know people will pay to come here or stay.

I agree with you and this scenario can very perfectly be explained by an exploitative model that I mentioned earlier. And that model can also perfectly explain a lot of other evil things that happen around the globe.

Ali272 wrote:ILR grants are down more than 50% since 2012. So they need to double the fees, just to make the same amount.

Does this take into account refusals? They keep the fees following refusals too. Moreover, if people who are refused reapply, then this effectively doubles the fees.

CR001 wrote:And the source of your statement above???

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... settlement

Only 59,009 were granted ILR IN 2016. I don't blame HO, They have the right to charge us whatever they want, taxpayers should not be funding UKVI. It is a once in a lifetime fee anyway.

CR001 wrote:They have the right to charge us whatever they want, taxpayers should not be funding UKVI. It is a once in a lifetime fee anyway.

UKVI should definitely not be making tax payers subsidise anybody's ILR..which won't be subsidised even if the ILR fee were a quarter of what it is at the moment.
Many people on this forum must have paid for their ILRs in the past and their fee was definitely not subsidised by the tax payers money.. and the only difference between those who paid much less than those who are going to pay magnitudes more is that of unfortunate timing where UKVI don't mind being exploitative

paradoxical wrote:This would explain a lot. In a normal situation, one would keep the price of a product/service fixed or reasonable and increase the number of sales in order to boost income. In an exploitative model such as this one, they want to reduce the number of sales (number of ILRs granted), but still want to make as much profit as possible hence the exponential growth of the ILR fee..

Am thinking of moving to Germany and had a look at their requirements and fees
Application for the EU Blue Card - €150
Application for Naturalisation- €250

Germany wants to attract foreign talent. The UK wants to take the piss.

So they have gone up ....

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... ised-table

Pudding1 wrote: Am thinking of moving to Germany and had a look at their requirements and fees
Application for the EU Blue Card - €150
Application for Naturalisation- €250

Germany wants to attract foreign talent. The UK wants to take the piss.

The issue fully stems that a not insignificant lot are not what you would categorise as 'talent'

seasky wrote:The issue fully stems that a not insignificant lot are not what you would categorise as 'talent'

This sentence makes no sense!

paradoxical wrote:

seasky wrote:The issue fully stems that a not insignificant lot are not what you would categorise as 'talent'

This sentence makes no sense!

May not be good "English" but it does make sense, well I can get what they are driving at!

Anyway to the reason I am here trying to get to the bottom of the fees for the coming year, hopefully no longer matters to me thanks to advice on this forum corroborated elsewhere we reapplied earlier than planned, but others googling will get this thread close to the top when googling fees.

These are the current fees advertised by UKBA
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... pr2017.pdf

This says no change.

Yet the person who runs the checking service in Dudley tells me that they have had notice that the fees are to rise to 2297 yesterday (06/04/17).

Having rechecked the form also now says £2297 so this is what it is I suppose. I guess the first link they will change it beginning of May, which is confusing but then who ever accused UKBA of being clear, honest, helpful and upfront.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... -04-17.pdf

timco wrote:

paradoxical wrote:

seasky wrote:The issue fully stems that a not insignificant lot are not what you would categorise as 'talent'

This sentence makes no sense!

May not be good "English" but it does make sense, well I can get what they are driving at!

I agree that the statement by seasky is not as non-sensical as may be thought.

Immigration is not an altruistic act, it is a business transaction. The UK (and most Western countries) needs people with the skills and talent to man specific industries, which in bring in wealth and income to the entire country. The Points Based System part of the Immigration Rules (particularly in contradistinction to the EEA Regulations/EU law, which allows anybody without regards to productivity to move around the EU) attempts to shape immigration into the UK to that result.

Yet, as seasky has mentioned, a significant percentage of people who are granted ILR are broadly from outside the PBS system, which is primarily talent-oriented.

Let's have a look at the Settlement statistics for January to March 2016.

Sheet SE02 suggests that over the past ten years, less than half of people granted ILR gain it on the basis of work visas. Almost as many people gain it on the basis of family formation, with asylum & "other" cases (most likely Long Residence cases) being the balance 15-20% of ILR grants. As an aside, it is interesting to see the number of parents/grandparents being granted ILR (the ADR route)-Row 28 of the Sheet SE02-falling drastically after the changes to that route in 2012.

I will also pick up on Vinny's comment on refusals earlier in the conversation. It is not improbable that part of the increase in fees may be to deter people from making frivolous applications on a repetitive basis to get to the 10 year Long Residence mark. A family of four (one main applicant and three dependents - a nuclear family) would fork out just under £10,000 for one application. At that price, you had better be very sure of the grounds of application. It is an amount of money you are unlikely to gamble on.

Pudding1 wrote:Am thinking of moving to Germany and had a look at their requirements and fees
Application for the EU Blue Card - €150
Application for Naturalisation- €250

Germany wants to attract foreign talent. The UK wants to take the piss.

Germany obviously has an abundant capacity to take in people. They have already taken in a million refugees in just one year. And now with the UK heading out of the EU, there is a good chance that Germany will become the destination to head to within the EU, especially given that on my many visits there, everybody has been fluent and at ease with English (unlike in France).

paradoxical wrote:

CR001 wrote:HO know there is 'demand' for their service/visas and as long as there is demand and people will pay (regardless of how everyone moans), they will increase the fees because they know people will pay to come here or stay.

I agree with you and this scenario can very perfectly be explained by an exploitative model that I mentioned earlier. And that model can also perfectly explain a lot of other evil things that happen around the globe.

Greed has been a human constant since the beginning of time and is unlikely to disappear simply because one does not wish it to exist. As regards the "exploitative" model, the economic way to explain it is that the UKV&I is in the market with an inelastic demand and limited supply (how many other countries would economic migrants head to (probably less than 10, counting the EU as one)?) The only way to bring the prices down would be if the people did shop around, by going to different countries to get permanent residencies if they failed in the UK.

But that would have its own disadvantages. You would be seen as having no loyalty to any country, but only to yourself. You would never be truly settled anywhere. You would have to start from scratch in each country you move to. You are likely to lose state benefits because you have never built any substantial benefits in one country. And while the super-rich can get away with it, not mere mortals like us.

secret.simon wrote:
Yet, as seasky has mentioned, a significant percentage of people who are granted ILR are broadly from outside the PBS system, which is primarily talent-oriented.

Hang out a bit at T1 Entrepreneur forum and you will see an outsized impression of the absolute low quality of applicants in that route. One would think a business that hires 2 people at min wage for exactly a year is not what the UK had in mind when forming the route

(clearly with the closure of PSW and T1G, everyone wants to be an entrepreneur)

Seasky you also choose this route to be British citizen or settle,

Another money making con, to justify the governments claim to reducing immigration, if we cant reduce it, we will price them out of the market. With the introduction of minimum earnings, £18,500 and the new Life in the UK test, which even the government cant pass, the introduction of NHS fees and the increase in visa fees. Once more the government are targeting the lower and middle classes. Being a white, british male, married to a non EU citizen the government is slowly killing off our abilities to marry and love the people we want to. Our new ILR cost as risen 25%. Anyone who goes for a fast track visa, can get one in under 2 hours. That equates to £1.150 per hour. x 2 to cover her son. Who on earth can justify charging £1,150 for paperwork. Think I may be in the wrong job. What really annoys me, if I was a EU citizen from another EU country it wouldnt cost me anything, if I lived in the UK.

jess1959 wrote:Another money making con, to justify the governments claim to reducing immigration, if we cant reduce it, we will price them out of the market. With the introduction of minimum earnings, £18,500 and the new Life in the UK test, which even the government cant pass, the introduction of NHS fees and the increase in visa fees. Once more the government are targeting the lower and middle classes. Being a white, british male, married to a non EU citizen the government is slowly killing off our abilities to marry and love the people we want to. Our new ILR cost as risen 25%. Anyone who goes for a fast track visa, can get one in under 2 hours. That equates to £1.150 per hour. x 2 to cover her son. Who on earth can justify charging £1,150 for paperwork. Think I may be in the wrong job. What really annoys me, if I was a EU citizen from another EU country it wouldnt cost me anything, if I lived in the UK.

Yes that is exactly the point to reduce immigration, not to cover bureaucratic costs.

Saying that for spouses of British citizens it should be easy to get ILR/Naturalization.

(I think life in UK test is a good thing, helps understand your new country and is not difficult at all)

jess1959 wrote:What really annoys me, if I was a EU citizen from another EU country it wouldnt cost me anything, if I lived in the UK.

That sentiment has been expressed earlier.

jess1959 wrote:the new Life in the UK test, which even the government cant pass,

The current LITUK test is frightfully easy to pass, if one knows British history and politics. I found the previous one more difficult, but even that required maybe two days worth of study. I agree with seasky that the LITUK test ensures that new citizens are aware of the basics of the country to which they swear allegiance to.

seasky wrote:Saying that for spouses of British citizens it should be easy to get ILR/Naturalization.

It used to be much easier just 4 years ago. Spouses of British citizens used to get ILR in two years, followed by citizenship in the third year. However, it was to combat sham marriages that in 2012, spousal ILR was moved to five years, with an intermediary FLR(M).