Many immigration applications require the payment of a fee. However, no fee is payable for the certain kinds of application, including the applications below (see here for a full list):
- asylum claims (including fresh claims made by failed asylum seekers)
- applications based on Article 3 of the ECHR (protection from torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment)
- statelessness applications
- applications under the ‘Destitution Domestic Violence Concession’
- applications for discretionary leave by recognised victims of trafficking
Children who are looked after by a local authority are exempt from paying many (but not all) immigration application fees.
Most applications made on the basis of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights are eligible for a fee waiver. This includes applications as a parent under the ‘10 year route to settlement’, applications as a partner under the ‘10 year route to settlement’ and applications on the basis of private life under the ‘10 year route to settlement’.
Applications as a partner or a parent under the ‘5 year route to settlement’ are never eligible for a fee waiver. The Home Office policy explains that this is because these applications require the applicant to meet financial requirements which would mean they would not meet the fee waiver criteria.
The Home Office will waive the fee in respect of certain types of immigration application where failure to do so would render the applicant incapable of exercising their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights. Applicants will qualify for a fee waiver only where they can demonstrate that:
- They are destitute; or
- They would be rendered destitute by payment of the fee; or
- There are exceptional circumstances relating to their financial circumstances and ability to pay the fees such that the fee should be waived in their case.
The Home Office defines destitution as:
- where a person does not have adequate accommodation or any means of obtaining it (whether or not their other essential living needs are met), or
- they have adequate accommodation or the means of obtaining it, but cannot meet their other essential living needs.
Fee waiver applications require a lot of documentary evidence, especially detailed documentary proof of their financial situation. This should include, where possible:
- Information and evidence relating to their accommodation, the type and adequacy of this, the amount of their contribution to rent or mortgage, their income and expenditure on food and other costs (this can be demonstrated through evidence such as tenancy agreements, pay slips, utility bills, bank statements etc.);
- If supported by family, friends, a local authority or a charity: evidence should be supplied detailing the nature and amount of support provided. If support is of a limited duration or about to cease, the applicant must provide a full explanation as to why this is, along with any relevant documentary evidence;
- If the applicant is street homeless: past bank statements or an eviction notions, or written testimonies from persons previously or currently providing them with support should be provided;
- Evidence showing how the individual has supported themselves to date and why their previous means of support is insufficient or no longer available to them.
For those supported by the local authority, the application should include (where possible) a detailed letter from the applicant’s social worker addressing the criteria set out above (i.e. that the applicant is not able to pay the fee now and they cannot realistically save up within the next 12 months, that they cannot borrow the money from family or friends and there is no prospect of their financial situation changing within the next 12 months).
