izharshah.com/tools/uk-visa-cost-calculator · The Parallel Operator · UK visa cost calculator · Fees from the Home Office schedule of 8 April 2026, checked against GOV.UK 21 September 2026
What a UK visa actually costs
The fee on the GOV.UK page is rarely what you pay. The immigration health surcharge is charged per person, per year, up front, and it is rounded up to the next six months rather than worked out pro rata. Add a partner and two children and the surcharge alone can be four times the visa fee. Pick your route below and see the whole bill before you start the form.
You are already counted as the applicant. Leave both at zero if you are applying on your own, and add only the partner or children applying with you.
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Unlock the full breakdown: every fee line with who pays it, what each length of visa would cost so you can see the three-year cliff, the total cost of getting from this application all the way to a British passport, and the employer side of the bill. Save or print it as a PDF to keep.
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Your full breakdown
Thank you, you are on the list. Here is your full breakdown.
| What you are paying for | Who pays it | Amount |
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What each length of visa would cost you, all in
| Length applied for | Fees | Surcharge | Total up front |
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From here to a British passport
| Stage | Cost for your household |
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How this calculator works
Two numbers make up almost the whole bill, and only one of them is on the page you were reading. The application fee is the advertised price. The immigration health surcharge is the other one, and it is charged for every person on the application, for every year of the visa, paid in full at the moment you apply rather than spread over the years you are here. On most routes it is the larger of the two by a wide margin. A single person on a five-year skilled worker visa pays more than three times as much surcharge as visa fee.
The surcharge is rounded up to the next six months, which is not the same as pro rata. Home Office caseworker guidance puts it plainly: the charge is calculated in six-month periods and a part period is rounded up to the next one. So a visa of two years and one month is charged as two and a half years, and two years and seven months is charged as three. There is one exception sitting on top of that rule, and it runs the other way: a visa of six months or less costs nothing at all if you apply from outside the UK, but half a year if you apply from inside it. This calculator applies the rule, then the exception, in that order.
Three years is a cliff, not a slope. Skilled Worker visa fees come in two steps rather than a scale: the fee for three years or less is one number and the fee for anything longer is roughly double it, with nothing in between. One extra month on the certificate of sponsorship can cost hundreds of pounds in visa fee on top of the extra surcharge. The full breakdown prices every length side by side so you can see where the step falls before your employer picks a date. Nothing on GOV.UK warns you about this.
Dependants are charged in full, and that is where the shock is. A partner and two children do not get a family rate. Each of them pays the same application fee as the main applicant and each pays their own surcharge, at the adult rate if they are 18 or over and the reduced rate if they are under 18. There are two exceptions worth knowing: nobody on a Health and Care Worker visa pays the surcharge, dependants included, and nobody applying for indefinite leave to remain pays it either, because settled status is on the exemption list.
What this page does not cover. It prices the Home Office fees, which are the ones that are fixed and published. It does not price a tuberculosis test, document translation, an approved English language test, travel to an appointment, or an immigration adviser, and it does not know whether you qualify for a fee waiver. It prices the standard case on each route: unusual categories, refugee family reunion, armed forces applications and the ten-year private life route are all priced differently on the Home Office fee schedule. And it is arithmetic, not advice. Immigration advice is regulated in the UK, and choosing a route is a decision for you and, if you need one, a registered adviser.
If it is the Global Talent route you are pricing, there is more here than a number. That route works differently from the rest: no sponsor, no job offer, no minimum salary, and a fee split across an endorsement stage and a visa stage. We have a full guide to every field the Global Talent visa covers, and a separate one for designers applying through the arts and culture lane. If you only want the health surcharge worked out, in more depth than this page goes into, use the immigration health surcharge calculator instead.
Questions people ask about UK visa costs
How much is the IHS fee in the UK?
The immigration health surcharge is £1,035 a year for most applicants aged 18 or over, and £776 a year for children under 18, for students and their dependants, and for people on the Youth Mobility Scheme. You pay it for every person on the application and for the whole length of the visa at once, when you apply. A three-year visa for one adult is £3,105 before the visa fee is added.
How is the health surcharge worked out for part of a year?
It is rounded up to the next six months, not calculated pro rata. Two years and one month is charged as two and a half years; two years and seven months is charged as three. The only exception is a visa of six months or less, which costs nothing if you apply from outside the UK and half a year if you apply from inside it. This is the step most online calculators get wrong, and it can be several hundred pounds per person.
How much does a Skilled Worker visa cost?
From outside the UK the application fee is £819 for three years or less and £1,618 for longer. From inside the UK, to extend or switch, it is £943 and £1,865. If the job is on the immigration salary list the fee drops to £628 or £1,235, and that discounted rate is the same wherever you apply from. On top of any of those you pay £1,035 a year in health surcharge. The Health and Care visa is cheaper again at £324 or £628, and pays no surcharge at all.
How much does it cost to apply for British citizenship?
Naturalising as an adult costs £1,839, which is a £1,709 application fee plus a £130 citizenship ceremony fee. Registering a child as a British citizen costs £1,000, with the £130 ceremony fee added if they turn 18 while the application is being decided. There is no health surcharge on a citizenship application. You will usually need the Life in the UK test, which is £50 each time you sit it.
How much does indefinite leave to remain cost?
£3,226 per person, and everyone on the application pays it, including children. There is no health surcharge on a settlement application, because applying for indefinite leave to enter or remain is on the exemption list. Budget for the Life in the UK test at £50 a person as well, and for an approved English language test if you have not already met that requirement.
Do dependants pay the full visa fee?
Yes. A partner or child joining you pays the same application fee as you do, for the same length of visa, even if they apply later. They also pay their own health surcharge, at £1,035 a year if they are 18 or over and £776 a year if they are under 18. There is no family discount. The two routes where dependants escape the surcharge are the Health and Care visa and any settlement application.
Can you get the immigration health surcharge refunded?
Sometimes. It is refunded automatically if your application is refused or withdrawn, or if you paid for more time than you were granted. You can also claim a refund for the period you were working in public sector healthcare, which is how Health and Care visa exemptions are handled for people who take an NHS job after paying. It is not refunded because you did not use the NHS.
What is the minimum income for a spouse or partner visa?
The test is called the minimum income requirement. For applications made on or after 11 April 2024 it is a combined income of £29,000 a year, with no extra required for children. If you first applied as a partner before that date and are extending with the same partner, the older threshold of £18,600 applies, plus £3,800 for the first child and £2,400 for each child after that, capped so you never have to show more than £29,000. Savings can be used instead of income, and different rules apply if your partner receives certain disability or carer benefits.
Related tools
General information and arithmetic, not immigration advice. Immigration advice is a regulated activity in the UK and nothing here is a recommendation about which route to apply under. Fees change, usually in the spring, and your own circumstances can add costs this page does not know about, such as a tuberculosis test, document translation, an English language test or travel to an appointment. Always confirm the figure GOV.UK quotes you inside the application itself before you pay.
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