Fee waiver requests and the ICIBI report
On 20th of March 2025, the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) published a report ‘An inspection of the Home Office’s management of fee waiver applications (August 2024-November 2024)’. It follows a call for evidence from the independent monitoring body toward the back end of 2024, for which the RMC was one of 24 stakeholders that contributed. This blog post will examine the importance of fee waivers for many of our service users, the issues that led to the call for evidence, and our hopes for the future following the outcome of the report.
What is a fee waiver?
Immigration applications in the UK are extremely expensive, with the government announcing that a further increase in fees will come on the 10/04/25. Case law in the UK, however, has determined that it is unlawful for the Home Office to force payment of a fee in a human rights based immigration application where an applicant cannot afford the fee. Applicants can request from the Home Office for the fee to be waived before applying by demonstrating their financial situation. To be considered, they must provide detailed information on their income, expenses, bank balances for the 6 months prior to the application and any debts. If the fee waiver is approved, the applicant receives a token to enter at the end of their visa application, which removes the application fee.
Fee waivers are available to human rights applications such as applications for partners, parents and children of British or settled people applying from inside or outside the UK. Since 2022, children under the age of 18 applying for citizenship can also apply for a fee waiver if the requirements are met. Fee Waivers make up a significant proportion of the immigration work carried out at the RMC, over the last year we have assisted 584 beneficiaries to apply for fee waivers prior to them making an immigration application with a 92% success rate.
The importance of fee waivers for our service users cannot be underestimated. The potential payment of high application fees can impact on the ability of a family to meet essential living needs, force applicants into debt, and encourage reliance on social care.
Issues with Fee Waivers in 2024
In 2024, caseworkers at the RMC observed significant delays in processing fee waivers, particularly for in-country waivers, which were taking over 6-8 months. These delays, combined with long waiting times for visa applications, greatly impacted service users. Applicants faced difficulties proving their immigration status to employers, as physical ID documents often expired during the process. It is also the case that an applicant is unable to travel internationally whilst the fee waiver and leave to remain application is being processed and we observed service users having to miss the significant life events of family members abroad.
This changed in the summer of 2024 when we started receiving a flurry of decisions and further information requests in relation to fee waivers. Whilst this was positive for our beneficiaries that had been experiencing delays, we experienced various issues with the decisions and correspondence. Caseworkers reported delays in resolving token issues for successful fee waivers. There was also inconsistency in the correspondence received, with further information requests focusing on insignificant bank transactions compared to the high cost of immigration fees. Additionally, some fee waiver applications were refused for applicants who clearly couldn’t afford the fees, and in some cases, the refusal letters were sent to the wrong individuals. Most concerning in these instances was there is no clear way to request a reconsideration of a fee waiver refusal, even where there have been clear casework errors.   Â
The ICIBI Report and Recommendations
Following the above issues, the RMC felt well placed to respond the ICIBI’s call for evidence and we provided a detailed report of the issues our service users and immigration caseworkers faced last year. The issues we have raised have been reflected throughout the ICIBI’s report which concluded that processing times are often too long, quality assurance is inconsistent, and communication with applicants and stakeholders is inadequate.
The ICIBI has made eight recommendations to the Home Office which have all been at least partially accepted. The Home Office has now committed to combat the issues raised by ensuring the fee waiver teams are adequately resourced and review quality assurance methods. They have agreed to work toward a Service Level Agreement for fee waiver processing time which should be in place by the end of the year. They will also introduce an external stakeholder engagement policy which will improve communication with organisations like the RMC.
We have already noticed the change in the management of fee waivers in the past few months and the positive impact that this has had. These are all welcome moves, which will improve the experience for our service users and caseworkers when navigating the fee waiver application process. We are delighted that our contribution to the call for evidence has been considered and contributed to what is undoubtedly positive progress.
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