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<p>The unit costs of immigration and nationality fees are the calculated estimate
of the full financial cost for providing each route/service, including direct costs
and relevant local and central overheads (e.g. accommodation, HR, Finance and IT),
plus depreciation, cost of capital employed, and other wider system costs that are
incurred in connection with immigration and nationality activity.</p><p>The approach
the Home Office uses to calculate the published unit costs for all UK visa, immigration
and citizenship services takes into account the entire forecast cost of the relevant
chargeable functions, including all related indirect costs. Weightings are then used,
based on operational business planning data, to apportion the total cost across the
range of services and products.</p><p>Unit costs may be influenced by changes in the
way that applications in certain routes are processed from year to year, for example
where additional checks are introduced or required, or by changes elsewhere within
the overall system which impact on the weighting calculations and therefore the amount
apportioned to any individual service.</p><p>With regard to percentage increases,
the Home Office publishes a complete list of fees and unit costs for all application
types. This can be viewed via the following link:</p><p>www.gov.uk/government/publications/visa-fees-transparency-data</p><p>Additionally,
the link below sets out all the fees that have been in operation since 2015.</p><p>www.gov.uk/government/publications/visa-regulations-revised-table<br>
<br>When setting fees, the Home Office takes into account the cost of processing the
application, the wider cost of running Border, Immigration and Citizenship (BIC) system
and the benefits the Home Office believes are likely to accrue from a successful application.</p><p>Application
fees have increased in recent years as the Home Office aims to reduce the overall
level of funding that comes from general taxation.</p>
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