Home Office applications are expensive. From 8 April 2026, fees will be  going up again for immigration and nationality applications made both inside and outside the UK. This includes the in-country “Leave to remain – Other” fee rising from £1,321 to £1,407, and indefinite leave to remain rising from £3,029 to £3,226. One important exception is child citizenship registration, which is going down to £1,000. You can read the full list of fee changes here. 

Some people applying from inside the UK may be able to ask for a fee waiver. This means asking the Home Office not to charge the fee because they cannot afford it. Sometimes it can also cover the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS).

Some people who may be able to ask for a fee waiver include:

• people applying on a family route
• people applying on a private life route
• some people with discretionary leave
• some people with leave outside the Rules on human rights grounds
• some people who have permission to stay as a victim of modern slavery or trafficking

There is also a different fee waiver for some children under 18 applying to register as British citizens. You cannot usually get a fee waiver for an application for Indefinite Leave to Remain (settlement). There are some exceptions, including some applications on the Victim of Domestic Abuse and Bereaved Partner routes.

A fee waiver can cover the cost of the visa application and the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS). Sometimes you may still have to pay for the visa application, but you might be able to ask for the IHS to be cancelled. 

You can ask to get a fee waiver if:

• You do not have enough money for housing or essential living needs.
  This means you do not have enough money for rent, bills, food, clothes, toiletries or other basic living costs
• You are destitute. This means you do not have a place to live, or you have a place to live but cannot afford basic living needs
• You have a very low income and paying the fee would affect your child’s wellbeing, for example money for childcare, school uniform, school trips, books or toys

You must apply for a fee waiver before you make your main application. This means you need to think about timing, for example  when your current visa ends, how long a fee waiver decision may take, and the deadline for sending the main application after the fee waiver decision. GOV.UK says that you must get the fee waiver decision first, and if the fee waiver is granted, then you must use the code and apply within 10 working days. 

You do not need to be a regulated immigration advisor to share general information about fee waivers. Many people do not know that fee waivers exist. In a 2023 survey by IPPR, GMIAU and Praxis, about 2 in 3 people on the 10-year route who had not applied for a fee waiver said they did not know they could.

Section 3C leave 

If you’ve applied to extend your visa before it expired and you’re still waiting for a decision, Section 3C of the Immigration Act 1971 can protect you from “falling out of status” while the Home Office takes its time. 

Section 3C is an important legal protection, but it can also be confusing. Employers, landlords, banks and public services often ask people to prove their status straight away. Section 3C does not always come with a new document you can show, so people get blocked even when their status continues in law.

Fee waiver decisions can take a long time. An official inspection found that some in-country fee waiver decisions were taking months. If your visa expires while you are waiting for a fee waiver decision, section 3C leave may still protect your status, but only if you had valid leave when you made the fee waiver request and then send the same main application within 10 working days of the fee waiver decision. A fee waiver request on its own does not automatically give you section 3C leave.