Applicants with rejected UK immigration appeals to pay fee
by Patricia R - October 26, 2010
United Kingdom, 26th October: All immigrants including asylum seekers applying for appeals against decision of the UK immigration department will be required to pay a fee, revealed the MoJ (Ministry of Justice).
This will cover applicants whose applications for leave to enter, leave to remain, or for any change in their UK visa. The fee will be between £60 and £250 initially.
However, those qualifying for any legal aid, those getting asylum support and those who in process of asylum ‘detained fast track’.
Moreover, there will not be any fee for revocation of leave, deportation and deprivation of UK citizenship or appeals for right of abode.
Similarly, any other circumstances deemed to be exceptional in nature shall be provided exemption from such fee.
The charges will be required to be paid irrespective of the result of the UK immigration appeal.
The motive of introduction of a fee is to cut the costs involved in running of the system of UK immigration appeal by nearly 25 percent.
In the year 2009, the taxpayers shelled out £115 million towards the costs of immigration appeal system in the UK.
Stating the introduction of the new fee as wholly justified and fare move, under secretary of state at the MoJ, Jonathan Djanogly, said that it’s quite reasonable to levy costs on non-UK citizens making appeals against a few categories of asylum and immigration decisions for contributing towards the administration costs.
Djanogly maintained that the introduction of such fee is especially fare considering the fact that almost two-thirds of the appeals are not accepted every year.
Meanwhile, there has been severe criticism from the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants with regard to increasing burden on immigrants appealing against rejected UK immigration decisions. The council said that penalizing the applicants for appealing against the issues that might be a matter of life and death for them is not justified.
The council stated that immigrants are already contributing to the immigration and asylum appeals system through application fees.
Hence, there is no need for any additional burden on immigrants.
Till now, there has not been any fee for filing an application against a rejected UK immigration appeal.
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