Surcharge for non-EU visa applicants

People moving to the UK for work or study from outside the EU will have to pay an extra £50 on top of the visa fee. The two-year scheme, which will raise £70 million to fund more police support and translators, was announced by communities secretary Hazel Blears yesterday. She acknowledged that migrants already contributed to services through taxes, but said the visa fund would provide extra money to ‘ease the transition’ for areas that had seen a big influx of immigrants.