Apply for Fee Waiver for Your UK Visa and Immigration Application

: Written by: Arshad Mahmood; Last Updated: 25 January 2026

You can apply for a fee waiver online if you are submitting a specified human rights application and cannot pay the Home Office UKVI fees. Home Office UKVI decision-makers must consider the full amount payable by an applicant when assessing a fee waiver request. The total amount refers to the combined immigration application fee and Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS). Where an applicant can pay the whole of the immigration fee but none, or only part of the IHS, the immigration fee will be required, and the waiver will be applied to the IHS. If the applicant is unable to pay the fee or the IHS, the Home Office UKVI will waive both.

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How To Apply?

From 4 January 2019, fee waiver requests are to be made using the digital (online) request form. The relevant application for leave to remain form can also be accessed online and completed at the same time. This online form can then be exited and stored until the outcome of the fee waiver request is known. When the outcome of the fee waiver request has been received, this online leave-to-remain form can then be retrieved and the application submitted.

Eligibility For Fee Waiver

Applicants who are eligible are those making certain specified human rights applications where a fee is required before deciding the application would be incompatible with a person’s rights under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

In addition, the fee waiver policy also applies to applications from victims of trafficking who seek to extend their leave to remain in certain circumstances. The courts have considered fee waivers in an immigration context in two important judgments:

A fee waiver may be granted if the applicant is assessed and it is found that any of the following apply:

They are not able to pay the fee
They are destitute
They are at risk of imminent destitution
Their income is not sufficient to meet a child’s particular and additional needs
They are faced with exceptional financial circumstances

Applications To Which Fee Waiver Applies

The fee waiver applies to the following types of applications:

applications for leave to remain under the 5-year partner route from applicants who are not required to meet the minimum income threshold because their sponsor is in receipt of one or more specified benefits, and who instead must demonstrate that their sponsor can provide adequate maintenance
applications for leave to remain under the 5-year parent route
applications for leave to remain under the 10-year partner, parent or private life route, where the applicant claims that refusal of that application for leave to remain would breach their rights (or the rights of other specified persons) under ECHR Article 8 (the right to respect for private and family life)
applications for leave to remain on the basis of other ECHR rights
applications for further leave to remain from applicants granted discretionary leave (DL) following refusal of asylum or humanitarian protection, where the applicant claims that refusal to grant further leave to remain would breach their ECHR rights
Applications for further DL from victims of trafficking or slavery who have had a positive, conclusive grounds decision from a competent authority of the national referral mechanism (NRM), have already accrued 30 months’ DL and are seeking to extend it for reasons related to trafficking or slavery

In all the above, parents do not have to request a fee waiver for their children to be eligible to apply for one.

Effect Of Fee Waiver Application On Leave To Remain

The fee waiver request is not an application for leave to remain; therefore, it is important to know how this request affects any current leave to remain and the leave to remain application.

Requests for a fee waiver made by those who have a current Leave to Remain and whose leave expires whilst their fee waiver request is being considered will be allowed 10 days from the actual date of their fee waiver decision to submit an application for Leave to Remain or Further Leave to Remain. After this, their leave will be treated as expired. Requests for a fee waiver made by those without current Leave to Remain mean that the applicant will not be able to benefit from the 10-day period allowed above. Online applicants granted a fee waiver will also receive an electronic pass to use when resuming their application, allowing them to proceed without paying a fee. Online applicants without a fee waiver will have to pay the relevant fee to resume a Leave or Further Leave application.

What is a Partial Fee Waiver?

The expression “partial fee waiver” is explained to clarify that it refers to the ability to apply a fee waiver to individual family members applying at the same time. It does not mean that, in respect of any individual applicant, part of the fee can be waived and the remaining part paid.

If family members are applying together, one or more dependents may be granted a fee waiver. This can be done by an applicant completing a request form for the individual dependent family members for whom a fee waiver is requested, or by the main applicant stating that they can pay the fee for their application (and possibly for some dependents) but are unable to pay the fee for all of their dependents. In these circumstances, the main applicant will be asked to specify which dependants are applying for a fee waiver and which are not. However, it is not possible, in respect of any one individual applicant, for part of the fee to be waived and part paid.

Circumstances To Be Considered

The Home Office UKVI caseworker will take into consideration the following circumstances in deciding a fee waiver application:

Best Interest Of The Children: In assessing the fee waiver application, the Home Office UKVI caseworker must have regard to the duty under section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 to safeguard and promote the welfare of any affected child, and therefore to the best interests of any such child as a primary consideration.

Financial Circumstances: When applying for a fee waiver, the applicant will be asked to provide details of their financial circumstances. This will mainly be in the form of statements covering the 6-month period prior to the date of application for all bank or building society accounts they hold, and a full breakdown of their monthly income and expenditure at the time of application. Applicants who fail to disclose their financial circumstances in full or who provide false information in their fee waiver request may have current or future applications for leave to enter or remain refused because of their conduct.

Fee Waiver Based On Destitution

An applicant claiming to be destitute must provide evidence of their destitution. In all cases, the onus is on the applicant to provide evidence that they are destitute by providing the information requested in the application form and any documentary evidence of their financial circumstances. In considering whether an applicant qualifies for a fee waiver on the basis of destitution, the Home Office UKVI caseworker will normally consider that:

Those who already have limited leave to remain will normally be entitled to work in the UK. There should normally be evidence of working or seeking employment, or reasons why this is not possible.
where the applicant is applying for leave under the 10-year partner route, their partner will be a British citizen or settled in the UK and will have access to work and to any public funds for which they qualify. It is, therefore, unlikely that the applicant will be destitute. In these circumstances, the applicant should provide an explanation of why their partner’s income is insufficient to be able to support them.
Where the applicant is applying for the private life route, they will generally have lived in the UK for a significant period. To show that they are currently destitute, the applicant will have to explain how they previously supported themselves in the UK and why those means of support are no longer available to them.
if a person has been without any formal or obvious means of support (such as income from employment or local authority support) for a prolonged period, it may be reasonable for the Home Office caseworker to assume that the person has had, and may continue to have, access to an alternative form of support (for example, income from overseas or from a relative or friend), unless the applicant provides evidence that this is not the case or that their circumstances have changed and that they are now without any means of support.
The applicant will need to provide relevant evidence of their income and expenditure to calculate their disposable income. The Home Office caseworkers will need to use their judgment in assessing the applicant’s evidence of income and expenditure to determine whether this goes beyond essential living needs and can only be regarded as extravagant in relation to their circumstances and obligations, including fee payments.
An applicant would normally be expected to make their application for leave to remain close to the expiry date of their current basis of lawful stay and could reasonably be expected to save towards that from their disposable income. An assessment may sometimes have to be made of whether an applicant could have done so but has not. In such a case, a fee waiver may still be granted so that the applicant can proceed with a leave to remain application, provided the applicant has not behaved with blatant disregard for the public purse by leaving him- or herself without the means to meet foreseeable expenditure. If they have, then a fee waiver may be refused, and the applicant advised accordingly.
The Home Office caseworkers can also consider whether the applicant has intentionally disposed of funds.
Although a fee waiver will not normally be granted where evidence of destitution is not provided or where an applicant cannot show that they would be rendered destitute by paying the fee, there may be exceptional circumstances affecting the applicant’s expenditure, which means that a fee waiver should be granted. Exceptional circumstances at this point relate only to the applicant’s financial circumstances and their ability to pay the application fee. For instance, if the applicant is not destitute and would not be rendered destitute by paying the fee but cannot afford to pay it because, in relation to their income, they incur significant additional expenditure to provide for a child’s well-being needs. This does not mean discretionary items, but it does mean substantial items such as travel to special needs facilities or expenses related to responding to illness, long-term health conditions, or disability. A decision on whether there are exceptional circumstances should be made on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the applicant’s individual circumstances and those of any dependent family member and all the information and evidence the applicant provides in support of their fee waiver request. It is for the applicant to provide evidence that there is something exceptional about their financial circumstances and ability to pay that warrants granting the fee waiver request, even though they are not destitute or are unlikely to become destitute by payment.
The fee waiver request form asks for details of household income and assets. This, therefore, includes income and assets belonging to the applicant’s spouse or partner (as well as any other adult with whom the applicant lives and from whom they receive financial support) and to their children and any other dependants

Evidential Flexibility

Evidential flexibility means that the decision-maker can grant the fee waiver without seeking further additional evidence or documentation if they are satisfied that reasonable evidence has been provided in the round as to the applicant’s circumstances and that, without a fee waiver, the applicant will not be able to apply for leave to remain. Situations in which the decision-maker may be flexible in requiring further evidence are as follows:

The applicant is a single parent and restricted in seeking and taking employment due to the need to look after children
cases where eviction notices have been issued, or eviction has actually taken place
cases where family, friends, or an identifiable organisation is providing essential living needs, e.g. a charity or food bank, and the applicant has no other means of being provided with essential living needs
The applicant is the parent or main guardian of a child who is not attending school
There is evidence of vulnerability related to pregnancy, a long-term health condition, disability, or mental illness-this includes dependants as well as the applicant

There is no automatic presumption that an application will be successful, but if the case meets any of the conditions set out above, the effect is that the decision maker must consider whether further information and evidence are necessary. Although the above list is not exhaustive, it is not expected that there will be many other types of cases where evidential flexibility will be appropriate. Each case should still be considered on its own individual merits. Whether to apply evidential flexibility can still be outweighed by other relevant matters, including the intentional disposal of funds and other countervailing evidence.

Granting The Fee Waiver Request

Decision-makers must consider the full amount to be paid by an applicant when evaluating a fee waiver request. The whole amount refers to the immigration application fee and the Immigration Health Surcharge combined. Where an applicant can pay the whole of the immigration fee but none, or only part, of the Immigration Health Surcharge, the immigration fee will be required, and the exemption will apply to the Immigration Health Surcharge. If the applicant is unable to pay the fee or the IHS, both are to be waived.

If an applicant is granted a fee waiver, they will be issued a Unique Reference Number to be used when applying for LTR online. This application must be submitted within 10 working days of the decision date. Failure to do this could result in the URN becoming invalid, and a new fee waiver application may be required.

Refusing The Fee Waiver Request

If the caseworker is not satisfied that the applicant qualifies for a fee waiver, then:

If the applicant made their request for a fee waiver in time (for example, they had valid leave on the date their application was submitted), they would normally be advised that they do not qualify for a fee waiver and that they should submit the additional evidence requested that demonstrates they qualify for a fee waiver. They must, within 10 working days, submit additional evidence that demonstrates they qualify for a fee waiver
If additional evidence is provided within that period that demonstrates the applicant qualifies for a fee waiver, the applicant is issued a fee waiver token that enables them to apply for a free immigration application. The applicant has 10 working days to make an LTR application to retain 3C leave
if the applicant provides further evidence within 10 working days, but if this does not demonstrate that they qualify for a fee waiver, the application will be refused. If no further evidence is provided within 10 working days, the application will be refused. The applicant has 10 working days to make a paid LTR application to retain 3C leave. If a paid application is not made within 10 working days, the applicant's 3C leave will expire

What is the Processing Time for a Fee Waiver Application?

An application for a fee waiver is usually processed and decided by UKVI within 2 to 4 months. If your application is complex and the UKVI requires further information or evidence, it may take longer to process and decide your application.

You can get expert immigration advice from our team of specialist immigration solicitors concerning your application for a fee waiver.

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