The UK Government’s plan to fund a public sector pay rise by hiking the visa costs and an already high Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) will amount to a new tax on international students.
Along with reforms to limit enrollment to so-called "rip-off" university degrees that fail to deliver good outcome, the UK Government also announced a significant increase in the fees of Visa applications and the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) on July 13, 2023.
What is changing?
The official dates for when the changes come in effect will be laid out in regulations on the UK Government Website in due course. The significant changes are as follows:
The fees for work and visit visas will increase by 15%.
The fees for student visas, certificates of sponsorship (CoS), settlement, citizenship, wider entry clearance and leave to remain, as well as priority visas will increase by at least 20%.
Student visas and priority service applications will be equalized, so that applicants pay the same whether they apply from inside or from outside the UK.
The primary Immigration Health Surcharge will rise from £624 to £1,035 per year for adults, and from £470 to £776 per year for students and applicants under the age of 18.
Experts suspect that this policy, which comes on the heels of previous restrictions on international students' ability to bring dependents into the country beginning in January 2024, will result in a downturn in international student numbers.
Impact on students
Students wanting to study in the UK will be required to pay a discounted NHS surcharge or Immigration Health Surcharge of £776 per year, rather than the previously discounted £470. Although IHS rates have been frozen for the last three years, the significant increase in IHS costs will have the greatest impact on the overall cost of visa applications.
“The international students and talent from across the world who choose to live, work, and study in the UK will be extremely disappointed by this news because they are an essential resource for the universities and communities,” Dhaval Mehta, the founder and CEO of TNI Career Counseling told The Free Press Journal.
Although no date has been set for these changes, “In light of their scale and scope, students may have to review their upcoming education plans and may wish to bring forward application timelines before next September intake so as to avoid paying the higher fees if possible,” Mehta added.
"International students should be excluded from the net migration count as temporary migrants, as is done in Australia and the United States. This sensible change has been called for many times before, but the past week reveals that it is more vital now than ever as that in fact jeopardises the UK’s position as a world-class international study destination,” says Jamie D’cruz an Study Abroad Expert at Grad-Dreams in Pune.
‘Unattractive destination for Indian students’
Indian students have expressed their dismay at the news, claiming that the UK already has high immigration costs in comparison to other nations, and that the news is quite depressing.
“In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, this fee rise will cause a real challenge for us,” says Prakhar Agarwal, a student pursuing his graduation at Lancaster University.
“By making it even more expensive, the government is making the UK an unattractive destination to Indian students. Since we foreign students tend to apply for programs in more than one country, perhaps this will be reflected in an increase of more Indian students to other countries,” adds Agarwal.
"Pursuing a degree abroad is not cheap, so if we're going to part with a significant amount of money, we'd want to go somewhere where we'll get a good education and where living won't be this difficult. From studying to surviving in the UK, it is becoming increasingly difficult for a middle class Indian student," says Priya Sharma, a research student at University of Greenwich.
