UK increases visa fees and introduces medical surcharge
From now on, those wishing to see London's Big Ben will have to pay more for a tourist visa to the UK. While a visa for up to six months will rise by only £2 to £85, the cost of a two-year tourist visa will increase by £24 to £324.
The UK is also introducing changes to the procedure for obtaining study and academic visas from Monday. The academic visa will double in price. For six months, the visa will cost £162. And short-term study visas will no longer be free. They will now be equal in cost to tourist visas (£85).
Visa costs will also increase for foreign business representatives and journalists. For them, the visa cost will rise from £514 to £535.
In addition, the UK introduces a medical surcharge for holders of long-term study, work and family visas for more than six months. Students will now have to pay £150 per year, and everyone else £200. These amounts will provide access to medical services provided by the UK National Health Service on the same terms as permanent residents, according to a statement on the website of the British Embassy in Russia.
“The purpose of introducing an additional charge for healthcare is to ensure that persons coming to the UK to work, study or join their family make an appropriate financial contribution to the cost of health services they may use during their stay in the UK,” the embassy statement, as quoted by Gazeta.Ru, said.
The medical surcharge does not apply to tourist visa applicants, embassy staff note. However, they remind that tourists coming to the UK from non-eurozone countries bear full responsibility for the costs of medical services within the country's National Health Service.