When applying for any UK partner visa, a mistake a lot of people make is assuming that the Visa application fee is all they will have to pay.
In reality, this is far from the truth.
Here, we will highlight the other costs and fees associated with applying for a UK spouse/partner visa.
It’s important to understand all of these so you can plan ahead and know how much you can expect to spend on the whole process.
Visa Application Fees
Firstly, applying for a spouse visa from inside the UK, otherwise known as FLR M, would cost £1048.
It costs £1538 if you’re applying for a spouse visa from out of the country.
We’re going to discuss the charges and fees you can expect to face as you move through the process.
These are mostly mandatory, so you need to have the financial capability to cover those costs if you’re going to complete the application process successfully.
Read on now to find out more.
Immigration Health Surcharge
The Immigration Health Surcharge was first introduced to prevent medical tourism.
It means that people coming to live in the UK have to pay a fee and after that fee has been paid, they will be entitled to use the healthcare services provided by the NHS without any further costs or charges being levied against them.
It’s an important cost because you never know when you might need access to health provisions.
So, how much can you expect to pay for the right to use NHS services in the future?
If you’re applying for a spouse visa outside the UK, the surcharge is £1872, while the cost for FLR M visas applied for inside the UK is £1560.
It’s a relatively large sum of money, so be sure to factor this into your overall costs.
Housing Report
As a visa applicant, it is necessary to prove that the UK accommodation you will be living in after your visa is granted is adequate.
If you are renting, there is no cost associated with proving this because your landlord or estate agent will provide you with a letter that will act as proof.
Things are a little different if you own the home and need to prove the accommodation is adequate as part of the visa application process.
One of the easiest and most convenient ways of proving the adequacy of the accommodation you own is to pay a chartered surveyor or your local council to produce a housing report.
This costs more than the alternatives but it also tends to be a lot easier for you.
It will generally cost around £100 depending on who you use.
Copy of the Title Deeds
There are other options if you need to prove you own an adequate UK home to live in.
One way to do it is to get a copy of the title deeds of the property.
This is relatively easy to do as the owner of the home.
You can access the deeds via the government website and a copy of the deeds will be sent to you relatively quickly.
It’s also a very affordable option as well.
So, if you can’t afford to pay the £100 associated with getting a housing report, you can instead get a copy of the title deeds, which will only cost £3 for an online copy.
An official copy costs a little more at £7, but both are very affordable solutions. It’s definitely something for you to consider.
Priority Visa Services
If you’re in a hurry and you really want your visa application to be processed rapidly, you can use the priority visa services offered by the Home Office.
If you’re applying from outside the UK, this will cost £573 and you’ll be pushed to the front of the queue.
It means you’ll probably hear back from the Home Office about a week after submitting your visa application.
If you don’t have much chance of a successful application, it’s probably not wise to pay for this service though.
If you’re applying inside the UK, you can make use of one of the 8 Premium Service Centres in the UK.
These allow you to get a decision regarding your application in 24 hours and it costs £800 to use them.
If you have a lot of money to spend on this, you can use the Super Premium Service, which costs £10,500.
This involves Home Office officials coming to your home and processing your application there.
Immigration Adviser Fees
Whether you want to hire an immigration adviser and use their services through the visa application process is something that’s entirely up to you.
You don’t need to, but your life might be a lot easier and less stressful if you do because they’ll be able to take care of a lot of the difficult things for you.
But if you do, you will obviously have to pay for it because their services aren’t free.
Full legal representation can cost around £1500 or you can save money by only using legal help with specific, smaller matters.
It all depends on how much you’re willing to spend and what level of help you think you’ll require when applying for your visa.
If you choose a full legal representation service, they’ll help you from the very start to the very end of the process.
At VisaHelpUK, we can assist you with full representation or if you feel confident completing the visa application yourself we offer a Do Your Own Partner Visa Pack service where we provide you with a list of documents and template letters based on YOUR specific circumstances.
Bank Statements
As part of your visa application, you will have to produce bank statements.
However, some banks can charge you for these bank statements so this is potentially another hidden cost that needs to be taken into account.
It might seem unfair, but these statements are needed.
Of course, many banks don’t carry such charges so you won’t necessarily have to pay any money at all for your bank statements.
It all depends on which bank or banks you use.
You should contact your bank and find out if there are any charges for getting these bank statements and if so, how much the cost will be.
English Language Test
Most people looking to secure a UK visa have to take English language tests as part of the application.
This is to prove that you’re able to speak the language before you move here.
However, not everyone has to take one.
For example, if you’re from an English-speaking majority country and English is your first language, there’s obviously no need for you to complete a language test.
Everyone else, however, does have to sit an English language test.
People applying for partner visas inside the UK have to complete an A2 language test and those applying from outside the UK have to complete an A1 language test.
It costs £150 for each attempt at the test.
The overall cost to you will really depend on how many times you need to take the test before passing, so improve your skills before taking the test if necessary.
Tuberculosis Test
In some instances, depending on which country you’re moving to the UK from, you’ll need to take a tuberculosis test and this is something that you’ll have to cover the cost of if you do need to take one.
Prices vary a little depending on which specific test centre is used to carry out the test.
But you can generally expect to pay a price between £65 and £110.
You can find a test centre near you and discover the specific price you can expect to pay.
You also have to take into account the cost of getting to the test centre though.
Remember, only Home Office approved test centres can be used, so you can’t just go into your nearest clinic and be done with it.
It might cost you a lot in travel expenses to get to a suitable test centre that the Home Office has already approved for this kind of testing.
Translation Costs
Finally, you need to take into account the costs of translation.
Immigration rules state that any documents provided that are not in either English or Welsh must be translated before the application is submitted, and this is something that you bear responsibility for.
Unfortunately, this will, of course, cost money.
It’s not something you should try to do yourself either because that can cause more problems; only let a qualified translator do it for you.
So, you’re probably wondering how much it will cost for you to get those documents professionally translated ahead of submission.
Well, it really all depends on how many documents and how many words in total you need to translate.
The more you have, the more it will cost.
A one-page document will cost around £60 and a two-page document will cost roughly £85.
But each translator sets their own fees so prices differ.
Marriage, birth, death, divorce and degree certificates will all need to be translated.
Visa Costs
Some of these costs are impossible to avoid while others are optional or depend on circumstances.
Nevertheless, it’s important that you understand roughly how much you can expect to pay ahead of completing the application process.
Don’t hesitate to get expert help if you’re still unsure about anything and need extra assistance.
