The UK Home Office is not raising its main visa fees on 8 October 2026. Its published fee table for that date shows no change in any category, so what applicants paid last month is what they will pay after the date. The part that does change soon is the length of the Graduate visa, and the cut-off is 31 December 2026.
The fees that stay put
The table on GOV.UK lists a current fee, the fee from 8 October 2026 and the change, and the change column reads zero throughout. A Student visa costs 558 pounds, whether applied for from outside the UK or from inside. The Graduate route costs 937 pounds. A short visit visa of up to six months is 135 pounds. Long visit visas are 506 pounds for two years, 903 pounds for five years and 1,128 pounds for ten years. The electronic travel authorisation is 20 pounds.
For work routes the table keeps a Skilled Worker visa for a certificate of sponsorship of three years or less at 819 pounds, and 1,618 pounds for longer than three years. A single row for temporary work routes, including the India Young Professionals Scheme visa, stays at 340 pounds.
Why 31 December matters more than the fee table
The Graduate visa lets a student stay in the UK after finishing an eligible course. On its GOV.UK page, the Home Office says the visa lasts two years if you apply on or before 31 December 2026, and 18 months if you apply on or after 1 January 2027. A PhD or other doctoral qualification gives three years.
That is a six-month difference decided by an application date. A student who applies on 30 December and one who applies on 2 January get different visa lengths, even if their courses ended on the same day. The page says you can apply once your university or college has told the Home Office you have completed the course, and you do not have to wait for graduation or a certificate.
What the visa asks of you
You must be in the UK when you apply, and your current visa must be a Student visa. You must have studied an eligible UK bachelor's, postgraduate or other course for a minimum period on that Student visa. Your education provider has to have told the Home Office that you completed the course, and if you are unsure whether it has, the page says to ask the provider. You must apply before the Student visa runs out. The Home Office says a decision usually arrives within eight weeks, and you may stay in the UK while you wait.
Besides the 937 pounds, there is the immigration health surcharge, which the page puts at usually 1,035 pounds for each year of the visa. The Graduate visa cannot be extended. The page says holders can instead switch to another visa, such as Skilled Worker, if they qualify.
Dependants can apply if they are eligible, and the fee table lists the same 937 pound fee for the main applicant and dependants. If you are close to the year-end, check the course-completion date your university reports, because that date is what the Home Office will rely on.
What a Graduate visa allows
The Home Office says holders can work in most jobs, look for work, be self-employed, do unpaid voluntary work for registered charities and similar bodies, and travel abroad and return. They cannot claim most benefits, known as public funds, or the State Pension, and they cannot work as a professional sportsperson. Study is allowed only on courses that are not eligible for a Student visa.
Reading the table with some care
The table is dated, official and complete, which makes it a fair reference to hold against any figure a consultancy or agent quotes you. This is general information, not immigration advice.
For another view of UK-India links, see our report on a Kashi NCC cadet selected for an India-UK youth exchange, and on foreign universities eyeing offshore campuses in Hyderabad.
