UK Visa Fee Waiver: When and How to Apply

Which Applications Are Covered

The Home Office publishes the caseworker guidance Fee waiver: Human Rights-based and other specified applications. It is written for applications made inside the UK, and it lists the application types it applies to:

• Permission under the 5-year partner route, for applicants who do not have to meet the minimum income threshold because the sponsor receives a specified benefit relating to disability or caring
• Permission under the 5-year parent route
• Permission under the 5-year private life route
• Permission under the 10-year partner, parent or private life routes
• Applications on the basis of other rights under the European Convention on Human Rights
• Applications for further permission by people granted discretionary leave after a refused claim for asylum or humanitarian protection, where refusing further permission would breach their Convention rights
• Applications by a child under Appendix Child staying with or joining a Non-Parent Relative

The guidance also says a fee waiver is only granted where the human rights claim relied on forms a substantive basis of the application. Its own example: someone applying principally on the basis of UK ancestry who mentions Convention Articles in passing will not qualify, and the ancestry fee must be paid for the application to be valid.

So this is not a general hardship scheme. There is no fee waiver under this guidance for a Skilled Worker, Student or Visitor application, and a partner application is only covered on the routes named above. Separate guidance covers family and private life applications made from outside the UK, applications under the domestic abuse provisions, and applications by victims of trafficking or slavery.

Where No Fee Is Payable at All

Two situations are often described as fee waivers but are not: the fees regulations simply do not require a fee. The guidance says it does not apply where the individual is:

• applying for permission on the basis of Article 3 of the Convention, whether as part of a claim for protection or on the basis of a medical condition
• a child in local authority care

In those cases there is nothing to waive, because there is nothing to pay.

The Test Is Affordability, Not Destitution

The instruction to caseworkers is short: “You must grant a fee waiver where the applicant has credibly demonstrated that they cannot afford the fee.” The guidance adds that this includes cases where the applicant’s income is not enough to meet their child’s needs, or where paying the fee would leave them unable to meet those needs.

Destitution is one way to satisfy the test, not the test itself. The guidance says the applicant does not have to show they are destitute in order to qualify, but that where clear documentary evidence of destitution is provided, the request may be granted on that basis. It defines someone as destitute where they either do not have adequate accommodation or any means of obtaining it, or have accommodation but cannot meet their other essential living needs.

Essential living needs, in the guidance, are housing or accommodation and utilities, food, clothing, toiletries, non-prescription medication and household cleaning items, plus the cost of travel and communication needed to keep up relationships and a reasonable level of social, cultural and religious life.

Where a child is affected, the guidance points caseworkers to the duty in section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 and says that where the impact on the child’s wellbeing would be significant, the fee waiver must be granted.

Evidence the Home Office Asks For

The guidance says the applicant must provide details and supporting evidence of their financial circumstances, including those of people they rely on for support in the household. It sets out what caseworkers should normally expect:

• Bank statements for all accounts held, with every major payment (over £250) and every regular payment in and out explained
• Evidence covering the 6 months before the fee waiver request. Older documents can help show how the finances changed, but current ones carry more weight
• Evidence of income — pay slips, benefits, or an account of why there is none
• Evidence about accommodation: what it is, whether it is adequate, and the rent or mortgage, or the contribution made towards it — a tenancy agreement, for instance
• Evidence of outgoings such as food and utility bills

If a document cannot be produced, the guidance tells the caseworker to assess the applicant’s account of why it is unavailable and their credibility, and to refer the case to a senior caseworker where a waiver may still be justified.

Where someone else supports the applicant financially, the guidance requires the applicant to show that the third party is not reasonably able to fund the fee either.

The Immigration Health Surcharge

The guidance tells caseworkers to consider the whole of the amount to be paid: the application fee and the immigration health surcharge together. The rules that follow are precise:

• If the applicant can pay the whole application fee but none, or only part, of the surcharge, the application fee is still required and the waiver is applied to the surcharge
• If the applicant cannot pay the fee and the surcharge, both must be waived
• An applicant may apply for a waiver of just the surcharge
• A waiver can be granted for some dependants and refused for others, but the immigration fee for any single person cannot be part-waived and part-paid

Asking Early, and Saving for the Fee

The guidance has a specific rule for early requests. Where someone asks for a fee waiver more than 3 months before their permission expires, the caseworker must consider whether they could save enough to pay the fee before it does. The guidance says applicants should not be expected to take clear financial risks to save, but that saving may be reasonable where there is clearly enough surplus household income — income left after accommodation and essential living needs are met.

If the Request Is Granted

On the family and private life routes, a grant of the application fee comes with a Unique Reference Number and two deadlines:

• The application for permission to stay must be submitted within 10 working days of the date of the fee waiver decision
• A Service and Support Centre appointment must then be made within 17 working days

The guidance says missing these can mean the reference number stops being valid and a new fee waiver request is needed.

Someone granted a fee waiver may also be eligible for travel assistance to reach their nearest Service and Support Centre — where they are destitute or would be made destitute by paying for travel, where they have experienced domestic abuse and cannot afford it, or where the centre is more than 3 miles away and they cannot afford the fare.

If the Request Is Refused

The guidance lists the reasons a caseworker may refuse: the applicant can afford the fee; the financial evidence is not reliable enough for a proper assessment; there is not enough evidence; funds have been intentionally disposed of; there has been spending beyond essential living needs; or reasonable steps to save for the fee were not taken. That list is not exhaustive.

A refusal is not an immigration decision, and the guidance says a fee waiver decision is not subject to a reconsideration request. What is open to the applicant is to make a fresh fee waiver request, or to pay the fee and proceed. The guidance also notes that the outcome of a fee waiver request says nothing about the outcome of the immigration application itself.

Because a refusal is not an appealable decision, a challenge in the Administrative Court is the route people take — see our judicial review guide and appeal process guide.

Fee Waivers and Section 3C Leave

The guidance sets out when a fee waiver request keeps a person’s permission running under section 3C. Whether the request is granted or refused, 3C leave applies if all three of these are true:

• the person had valid permission when the fee waiver request was submitted, and it has expired by the time the request is decided
• they make a valid application for permission within 10 working days of the date of the fee waiver decision
• the application submitted is the one the fee waiver request was made for

The guidance adds that submitting a further fee waiver request inside that 10-working-day window does not extend 3C leave.

Citizenship Is Different

The fee waiver scheme above is about permission to stay. For British citizenship, the Home Office guidance on citizenship fee waivers for people under 18 says plainly: “There is no fee waiver available for citizenship applications made by adults.”

Anyone under 18 who is eligible to register as a British citizen under the British Nationality Act 1981 may request a waiver of the registration fee, and the same affordability test applies: the fee is unaffordable where the applicant and their parents do not have enough left to pay it after meeting essential living needs and any other child’s essential needs. See our citizenship fee waiver guide.

If your circumstances involve domestic abuse, separate fee waiver guidance covers applications under those provisions.

Next Steps

Read the published guidance before you gather anything, so you are collecting what the caseworker is told to look for: statements for every account, six months of them, with the large and regular movements explained. Note that the guidance treats an unexplained gap, or a payment that looks like funds being moved out of reach, as a reason to refuse.

Related guides:

• UK Visa Fees Complete Guide
• Citizenship Fee Waiver
• Hidden Costs of Immigration
• Budgeting for Immigration

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