Visa Fees Should Have Itemized Breakdown

I just paid £820 for my permanent spouse visa - so outrageous.  I have seen in other posts the frustration/anger at these extortionate costs, and even more so at the lack of justification of these prices.

I think we should start a campaign telling our local MPs that the Home Office MUST have an itemized breakdown of the fees.  The BBC does this with the TV License fee - it breaks down the whole fee and shows how much goes to TV, radio, online, etc.  It is only fair that we know what these fees are paying for - how much is for the material (paper, ink, processing images on to the visa sticker), how much goes to admin costs (paying people to shuffle the paper), how much goes to criminal background checks and other investigative methods.

We have no choice other than to pay the fee - and the Home Office knows this, so they can charge whatever they want.  We deserve to know what our money is going to.
Who is with me?

/signed.

Shouldn't this be in Advocacy or grievances instead?

I may be wrong, but I think UKBA has already admitted that visa fees do not reflect the cost of processing your application. They acknowledge that the fees offset other costs.

Shouldn't this be in Advocacy or grievances instead?

Agreed...however the OP doesn't have access to Advocacy yet 

I just paid £820 for my permanent spouse visa - so outrageous.  I have seen in other posts the frustration/anger at these extortionate costs, and even more so at the lack of justification of these prices.

I think we should start a campaign telling our local MPs that the Home Office MUST have an itemized breakdown of the fees. 

I think I remember (way back in the dark chasm of my memory from researching my visa 2 years ago) that I saw a general breakdown of the cost. I will do my best to try and find it again.

Just be happy you've done yours now. There is talk in the wind of the fees DOUBLING in the next few years.

Finally found what I remember reading:

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/newsarticles/proposedfeesin200910

http://services.parliament.uk/hansard/Lords/ByDate/20090212/writtenministerialstatements/part026.html

Quoted from the second article:

"Other fees continue to be set at levels above the normal administrative costs of the service. This allows us to generate revenue which is used either to set certain fees below cost recovery or to deliver the Government’s wider objectives such as the doubling of resource for enforcement announced in March 2007 and the fund to manage the transitional impacts of migration announced in July 2008...For transparency, I have included the estimated unit cost for each route, so that it is clear which fees are set at or below cost recovery and the degree to which certain other routes are not."

The unit cost for ILR is 318 pounds. So I guess you might be able to get a breakdown of the 318, but probably not for the extra 502.

to deliver the Government’s wider objectives such as the doubling of resource for enforcement

So essentially, if others would go through the process legally like everyone else, our fees would be lower.

Sorry, but this falls under the category of NMP (not my problem!).  Don't see why we should have to pick up the costs.

Yep. And when you couple this with the fact that many people think immigrants 'come in for free' and get benefits straight away...well, frankly it helps my sanity not to think too much about it.

Kate - thanks for those articles; pretty cool.  Think I will send my MP and the BIA a letter asking why they can justify that extra £500...

Navie - totally agree!  I'm all for helping out the needy, but sooooo many people take the piss of the UK system and it makes it worse for people like us who are trying to follow the rules, urgh!  Don't get me started...

They can't justify it and by law they don't have to.

They are allowed to charge whatever they want. 

Navie - totally agree!  I'm all for helping out the needy, but sooooo many people take the piss of the UK system and it makes it worse for people like us who are trying to follow the rules, urgh!  Don't get me started...

Yes, please, don't start. Because it's likely the instances of immigrants taking advantage of the system are wildly overhyped. We're not paying the price for people taking advantage of the system. We're paying the price for political expediency and pandering.