£15k ‘premium+’ visa targets super-rich
By politics.co.uk staff
A new premium visa service aimed at rich foreign footballers, businessmen and pop stars costing £15,000 will help fund ID cards, the Home Office announced yesterday.
Immigration minister Phil Woolas unveiled the massive hike in the most expensive visas in a written ministerial statement to the Commons yesterday.
The mobile biometric enrolment and caseworking (Premium+) visa’s cost is going up from £1,982 to £15,000 in 2010/11.
It is the most dramatic increase in a number of rises. Those applying for a settlement visa for an elderly parent face having to pay £1,680 where previously the cost was £585.
Mr Woolas said in his statement: “The fees for these applications allow us to generate revenue which is used to fund the UK immigration system and to set certain fees below cost recovery to support wider government objectives.
“The revenue generated will contribute towards the development and delivery of the new points based system, the rollout of ID cards for foreign nationals and investment in IT capability both overseas and in the UK.”
