The Home Office has signed off a broad uprating of immigration, nationality and passport charges. The Statutory Instrument was made on 17 March 2026, laid on 18 March, and most changes take effect at 9:00am on 8 April 2026. Regulations covering the Crown Dependencies’ ETA charges start the following day. For employers, universities and NHS trusts, this is a pricing event rather than a rules rewrite, but the cash impact is real.

Health and Care Visa discounts are adjusted across both entry clearance and in‑country applications. The reduction figures used in the rules increase to £495 (from £465) and £990 (from £929) for applications made outside the UK, and to £619 (from £581) and £1,237 (from £1,161) for leave‑to‑remain. Linked dependent figures move to £304 (from £286) and £607 (from £570). Expect this to translate into modest per‑person uplifts versus last year’s published Health and Care rates, which were £304 (≤3 years) and £590 (>3 years). (gov.uk)

Settlement costs step up. The fee for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) increases from £3,029 to £3,226. For a household filing two ILR applications in late spring, that’s an extra £394. If eligibility is already met, filing and paying by Tuesday 7 April 2026 avoids the higher charge.

Sponsor‑side pricing is also refreshed in the legislation. As a reference point for planning, the current published table (updated 18 March 2026) still shows last year’s levels: Certificate of Sponsorship for Skilled Worker at £525, student Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies at £55, and sponsor licence application fees at £1,579 for large sponsors and £574 for small/charitable, student or temporary worker licences. Any 2026 uplifts will apply from 8 April once the revised table is published. (gov.uk)

Crucially, sponsors cannot pass CoS or Immigration Skills Charge (ISC) costs to the applicant. University of Oxford guidance is explicit that recouping these from a worker risks licence revocation - a point the Home Office has been enforcing more firmly since last year. Finance leads should assume these remain employer costs. (staffimmigration.admin.ox.ac.uk)

The ISC itself rose on 16 December 2025 and is now £1,320 per year for medium/large sponsors and £480 for small/charitable sponsors, with the additional six‑month periods priced at £660 and £240 respectively. On a three‑year Skilled Worker route, that sets the ISC at roughly £3,960 per recruit for a large sponsor. NHS workforce teams hiring at scale will feel this in project budgets. (nhsemployers.org)

A practical read‑across for trusts: hiring 100 nurses on three‑year Health and Care routes now implies c.£396,000 in ISC alone at large‑sponsor rates, before visa fees and the £525 CoS per person, which adds a further £52,500. That is before any priority processing or relocation support. Boards should ensure divisional budgets reflect the 2026 schedule and the higher ISC profile. (gov.uk)

Universities should plan for direct sponsor‑admin costs to nudge higher too. Even if the CAS charge only moves slightly from the currently published £55, high‑volume intakes multiply that effect quickly, and student sponsor licence fees for new or merging entities remain material at £574 per licence. International offices should lock in assumptions and flag the per‑head sensitivity to faculties. (gov.uk)

Passport‑related charges are uprated as well. Examples in the instrument include premium counter fees moving from £83.50 to £90 and from £127.50 to £137.50, secure delivery moving to £14.32, and updated wording so the arranged return of supporting documents in the UK is priced per application rather than “up to four applications”. For context, the last general increase to passport application fees was in April 2025. (gov.uk)

The regulations also align fees infrastructure for Electronic Travel Authorisations in the Crown Dependencies, following legal steps taken in 2025 to extend ETA powers to the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey. In practice, this means the islands can charge for ETAs alongside the UK scheme, which remains priced at £16. Travellers and carriers should expect a more uniform pre‑travel check across the Common Travel Area. (legislation.gov.uk)

There is a tidy‑up on Innovator Founder exemptions too, clarifying that certain fee exceptions only apply where endorsements were issued on or before 12 April 2023. Founders and endorsing bodies should double‑check legacy cases against that date stamp before assuming a waiver applies.

What to do now: sponsors can’t “backdate” fees, but they can avoid surprises. Confirm who is likely to hit ILR eligibility before 8 April and consider bringing payments forward where appropriate; sense‑check CoS assignment volumes and expiry dates; and refresh 2026–27 budgets to reflect modest Health and Care uplifts, unchanged CoS recovery rules, and the higher ISC. Keep an eye on the Home Office fee table for the post‑8 April sponsor entries once they go live. (gov.uk)