Youth Mobility Visa Cost: £340 Fee + £1,552 Health Surcharge

Fee Breakdown

The published costs for the Youth Mobility Scheme are:

• Application fee: £340
• Healthcare surcharge: £776 a year × 2 years = £1,552
• Total: £1,892

The £776 figure is the reduced healthcare surcharge rate. GOV.UK charges it to students and their dependants, to under-18s, and to this route. The standard rate on other routes is £1,035 a year, so a 2-year visa elsewhere would carry £2,070 of surcharge rather than £1,552.

Both amounts are paid online when you submit the application. There are no instalments.

Savings Requirement

You must have at least £2,530 in your bank account. GOV.UK says the money must have been available for at least 28 days in a row, and that day 28 must fall within 31 days of applying for the visa.

This is not a fee. Nobody takes the money — it is evidence that you can support yourself when you arrive, and you show it with a bank statement. See our requirements guide for the rest of the eligibility rules.

Cost of Extending

Only nationals of Australia, Canada and New Zealand can extend this visa, by one year, once. GOV.UK says the extension costs:

• Application fee: £340
• Healthcare surcharge: £776
• Total: £1,116

You apply from inside the UK, no more than 28 days before your current visa expires, and the decision usually comes within 8 weeks.

Total Budget

Applying from outside the UK for 24 months, you need:

• £1,892 in fees
• £2,530 in savings (shown, not spent)
• Travel to the UK
• Somewhere to live and money to live on until you are earning

There may also be costs GOV.UK does not set, such as a certified translation of any document not in English or Welsh, a tuberculosis test if you are from a country where one is required, or the criminal record certificate required of applicants from Andorra, Iceland, San Marino and Uruguay. Understanding your work rights matters for how soon you can start earning. For comparison with other routes, see our UK visa fees guide.

Refunds

GOV.UK sets out when the healthcare surcharge is refunded. You get a full refund if:

• you paid it twice for the same visa application
• your visa application is refused
• you withdraw the application before a decision is made

You get a partial refund if the application succeeds but you are given less time on the visa than you asked for. GOV.UK says you do not have to do anything to receive either — it is paid back to the card or account you paid with, usually within 6 weeks of the decision.

You will not get a refund if you leave the UK before your visa ends, if your application succeeds but you never come to the UK, or if you withdraw the application after the visa is granted.

The £340 application fee has its own rule if you cancel the application. GOV.UK says it is refunded if you were told to attend an appointment and have not yet given your fingerprints and photograph, or if you used the ‘UK Immigration: ID Check’ app and cancelled before uploading your evidence. It is not usually refunded once you have given your fingerprints and photograph. Fee refunds arrive within 4 weeks of cancelling, and healthcare surcharge refunds within 6.

Next Steps

Related guides:

• Youth Mobility Scheme: How It Works
• Youth Mobility Scheme Requirements
• Youth Mobility Scheme Work Rights
• Healthcare Surcharge
• UK Visa Fees Guide

For the official figures, see the GOV.UK Youth Mobility Scheme page, the healthcare surcharge rates and the Home Office fees table.

Questions and answers