UK Government likely to raise work permit fees

Work permit application fees, currently £95 for the 'main scheme' and £74 for the Sector Based Scheme (for unskilled workers in the hotel, catering, and food processing inductries) are set to rise in June 2004 to £155-£180 per application. Association Football clubs face far steeper cost increases to £1000 in appeal cases.

These costs are claimed to represent the 'fully allocated costs' of administering the scheme, and are not linked to the proposals currently before parliament which would allow the government to charge an over-cost fee representing what the Home Secretary has called part of the 'windfall gain from accessing the UK labour market'.