The Home Office price list runs from free to five figures: £3,226 for indefinite leave, £1,839 for citizenship with the ceremony, £1,035 a year of health surcharge on most extensions — and a growing list of things that now cost nothing, including NTL applications and the eVisa that replaced BRP renewal. This guide collects the current fees by application type, the surcharge arithmetic, the priority services, and the budget lines applicants forget.
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What UK Immigration Actually Costs
Fees move by regulations — the authoritative list is the Home Office's fees table, updated with each fees order — and the pattern of recent years is steady upward drift on applications with the health surcharge doing the heaviest lifting on totals. Budgeting a route properly means three lines, not one: the application fee, the surcharge across the leave granted, and the services around the edges.
ILR costs £3,226 per person. Citizenship costs £1,839 including the ceremony. Most extensions cost £943–£1,407 plus £1,035 a year of health surcharge. And the eVisa, NTL and EU Settlement Scheme cost nothing — no BRP renewal fee exists any more.
BRP and eVisa
The Fee That No Longer Exists
What Replaced BRP Renewal
Searches for "BRP renewal fee" now have a happy answer: none. BRPs expired at the end of 2024 and are not renewed or replaced — status lives in a free eVisa through a free UKVI account, ILR holders with legacy documents use the free NTL route, and only the £154 transfer of conditions (moving old vignette permissions) still carries a charge in this territory.
Fees Table
Headline Fees by Application Type
| Application | Fee |
|---|---|
| Indefinite leave to remain (all settlement routes) | £3,226 |
| Naturalisation as British (incl. ceremony) | £1,839 |
| Family route extension (in-country) | £1,407 |
| Skilled Worker extension (in-country, up to 3 years) | £943 |
| Standard Visitor visa (6 months) | £135 |
| Transfer of conditions (TOC) | £154 |
| Certificate of entitlement (right of abode) | £589 |
| No Time Limit (NTL) · eVisa · EUSS | Free |
| Life in the UK test | £50 |
| Electronic Travel Authorisation | £20 |
Additional Services
Service-Level Charges
Around the application fees sit the service charges: £500 priority and £1,000 super priority processing, UKVCAS appointment tiers from free to premium lounges, and document services at the application centres. None changes the decision — only its speed and comfort.
ILR Fees
The Complete ILR Cost
What ILR Really Costs
The settlement fee is £3,226 per applicant — dependants included, so a family of four pays £12,904 before tests and services. Add £50 per adult for the Life in the UK test, English certification where needed, and super priority where the timeline justifies it. The consolation: settlement carries no health surcharge, ending the £1,035-a-year meter permanently.
Eligibility Reminders
The fee buys a decision, not the outcome — eligibility runs on qualifying years, absences, and the knowledge requirements, with refusal forfeiting the fee. The route-by-route requirements sit in our settlement service pages; pay £3,226 only after the eligibility audit says so.
Extension Fees
Work Route Extensions
Skilled Worker in-country extensions run £943 for grants up to three years, with higher tiers for five-year grants and shortage-adjacent discounts where route rules provide them — sponsored workers should reconcile who pays what against the employer's clawback terms with our business immigration team.
Family and Study Extensions
Family route extensions cost £1,407 per applicant per 30-month grant — a ten-year-route family pays it four times — and student extensions carry their own scheduled fee plus surcharge. Fee waivers exist for family and human rights applications where the fee is genuinely unaffordable, one of the system's few pressure valves.
Citizenship Fees
Adult Naturalisation
Naturalisation costs £1,839 all-in — £1,709 for the application and £130 for the ceremony every new citizen attends — with decisions inside the six-month standard. There is no refund for refusal, which makes the good character and residence checks worth running privately first.
Child Registration
Children's registration as British citizens carries its own scheduled fee — current figures on the gov.uk registration pages — with fee exceptions for looked-after children and waivers where unaffordability is evidenced. For UK-born children of settled parents, registration is usually better value than any ILR application at twice the price.
Health Surcharge
IHS Rates
The surcharge runs £1,035 per adult per year and £776 for children, students and youth mobility applicants, paid upfront for the whole grant at application — the IHS calculator gives exact totals including part-year rounding.
Scenario Totals
The arithmetic dominates budgets: a 30-month family extension is £1,407 + £2,587.50 surcharge — £3,994.50 per adult, £15,978 across a ten-year route's four grants before settlement's £3,226. Surcharge, not fees, is where multi-year planning saves real money — longer grants bought once beat short grants bought repeatedly.
IHS Exemptions
Health and Care Worker visa holders and their dependants are exempt, as are settlement applications and a short list of protected categories — and refunds apply where surcharge was overpaid against leave not granted. Check exemption before paying; recovering the surcharge afterwards is slower than never owing it.
Family Costs
Extension Costs Across a Route
Totals Including Surcharge
A partner on the five-year route pays two extensions' worth of fees and surcharge then settlement — roughly £12,400 across the route at current rates — while ten-year-route families roughly double the pre-settlement spend. Entry clearance fees for family routes are collected in our entry clearance fees guide, and waiver strategy belongs with our family visa team before, not after, a fee is missed.
Priority Services
Paid Processing
Priority at £500 targets five working days; super priority at £1,000 the next working day — availability varying by route, with settlement super priority the strongest value in the tier. Complex files keep their checks whatever is paid.
Supporting Services
Budget the periphery honestly: certified translations, TB certificates where required, English tests, and legal fees — which we scope in advance against the court-published guideline rates. Where a refusal forces a challenge, remedy costs join the ledger too; our appeals team prices those routes before they are chosen.
Frequently askedQuestions about Home Office fees
How much is the ILR fee in 2026?
£3,226 per applicant on every settlement route, dependants included, plus £50 for the Life in the UK test. Settlement applications pay no health surcharge, and priority services are optional extras.
How much does a BRP renewal cost?
Nothing — because BRPs no longer exist. Status is a free eVisa in a free UKVI account; legacy ILR documents convert through the free NTL route. Only the £154 transfer of conditions still charges in this space.
What does British citizenship cost?
£1,839 for adult naturalisation including the £130 ceremony. Child registration runs on its own scheduled fee with exceptions for looked-after children and waivers for unaffordability.
How much is the immigration health surcharge?
£1,035 per adult per year, £776 for children and students, paid upfront for the whole grant — £2,587.50 on a standard 30-month adult extension. Health and Care Worker applicants are exempt.
Are any immigration applications free?
Yes — the EU Settlement Scheme, NTL applications, UKVI accounts and eVisas, and Windrush scheme applications all cost nothing. Fee waivers cover family and human rights fees where genuinely unaffordable.
Do fees change often?
Typically at least annually, by fees regulations, with the surcharge moving separately. Check the published fees table the week you apply — an application filed at yesterday's fee is invalid, and refunds of overpayment are slower than getting it right.
Tell us the route and the family size. We'll price every stage — fees, surcharge, tests, services — and flag the waivers and exemptions you actually qualify for.
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