Immigration Service Price Increases 

What you need to know and what you need to do 

The Home Office has recently announced a series of immigration service price increases as well as changes affecting sponsor licence holders and employers recruiting under the Skilled Worker and Senior or Specialist Worker routes. 

We’ve summarised the key updates below and included our practical recommendations. 

Increase to the Immigration Skills Charge (Effective 16 December 2025) 

The Immigration Skills Charge (ISC) applies to Skilled Worker and Senior or Specialist Worker visa applications (previously the ICT category). 

From Tuesday 16 December 2025, the ISC fee will increase. 

What Sponsors should do? 

• To avoid the higher rate, Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) must be assigned before 16 December 2025. 

• Once assigned, a CoS must be used within three months, and visa applications can be made up to three months before the start date. 

Practical points 

For in-country applications: 

• You’ll need a CoS available in your Sponsor Management System (SMS). 

• If not, a request must be made. Standard requests can take up to 18 weeks, so we recommend using the priority service (£350) for a turnaround of around five working days. 

For out-of-country applications: 

• A defined CoS request will be required. 

• These are normally approved within 1–2 working days, but may take longer if further documents are requested. 

• Submit requests as early as possible to avoid delays. 

The Home Office often closes the SMS from around 6 pm the day before such changes and sometimes earlier, so you will need to complete allocations well in advance. 

Changes to Sponsor Priority Services (Effective 21 October 2025) 

From 21 October 2025, the Home Office has increased fees for both pre-licence and post-licence priority services and discontinued the Premium Customer Service for sponsors. 

Pre-Licence Priority Service 

• Processing time for straightforward applications: reduced from eight weeks to ten working days. 

• Fee increased by 50%, from £500 to £750. 

Post-Licence Priority Service 

• For change of circumstances requests, including additional CoS allocations. 

• Processing time: five working days (instead of up to 18 weeks). 

• Fee increased by 75%, from £200 to £350. 

• Service runs weekdays 7:00–17:00, capped at 100 slots per day. 

Premium Customer Service discontinued 

• The Home Office has withdrawn the Premium Customer Service which offered dedicated account management. 

• Annual cost was £25,000 (medium/large sponsors) or £8,000 (small/charitable sponsors). 

Our recommendations 

We strongly advise sponsors to: 

• Plan recruitment and extension activity early to take advantage of current fees. 

• Check your SMS access and allocations now to ensure there’s capacity before 16 December. 

• Use priority routes where time-sensitive, particularly over the festive period. 

If you require guidance or support with CoS allocations, licence management, or planning your visa strategy into 2026, please contact the RSW Law team. 

The legal content provided by RSW Law Limited is for information purposes only and should not be relied on in any specific case without legal or other professional advice. 

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