Did you know that international students were overcharged for their visa fees?

The House of Lords confirms UKVI overcharged visa fees for international students. Refunds of £127 or £161 are possible.

This applies to all current and former students, those who have already graduated and left the UK. 

You have up to 5 years to claim.

We are encouraging students affected to write to the Home Office asking for a refund, and to log it with us. By logging it with us, we can then collate how many students requested their refund, were successful (if you consent to us asking this information in the future) and see how this looks across the UK with other Student Unions, where possible. 

Claim your potential refund and complete our form!

• Use the letter template below to write to request a refund (to the address given to you on your visa correspondence with UKVI - or if you don’t have one, to the tool on the website here).
  
  
• Complete our online form here to tell us you’ve done it. You can do it anonymously, or leave your email if you want us to update you on any potential future campaigns with this, and if you consent for us to keep your email for this purpose.
  
  
• To read more about the situation and what happened, click here. 

Template letter (drafted by Wonkhe) - fill your details in the bold sections

To: UK Visas and Immigration

[Address or email as per original visa correspondence]

Date: [date of letter]

Subject: Request for refund of overpaid Student / Child Student entry clearance fee – application reference [GWF or UAN number]

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing to request a refund of £[127 (if you came after March 2023 before Autumn 2025)/ 161 (if you came in Autumn 2025 or afterwards] relating to the Student / Child Student entry clearance fee I paid on [date of payment] in respect of my application with reference number [GWF / UAN].

The fee I was charged was £[490 (if you came after March 2023 but before Autumn 2025)/ 524 (if you came in Autumn 2025 or after)]. The fee specified in law, at line 1.3.11A of Schedule 1 of the Immigration and Nationality (Fees) Regulations 2018 (SI 2018/330), is £363. The two statutory instruments that the Home Office intended to use to uplift this fee – SI 2023/1004 and SI 2025/363 – purported to amend line 1.3.11, which had already been deleted from Schedule 1 in December 2020, rather than the operative line 1.3.11A. The statute book was therefore never updated, and the current version of the Regulations on legislation.gov.uk continues to show the fee as £363.

This drafting error was identified by the House of Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, which drew the matter to the special attention of the House in its 57th Report of Session 2024–26.

The Immigration and Nationality Refunds Policy (version 13.0, published for Home Office caseworkers on 8 April 2026) sets out, under “General principle of refunds”, that the Home Office will refund an application fee where “an incorrect fee has been charged and paid to the Home Office” and where “there is no legal basis to keep the fee.” Both conditions are met in my case: the fee I was charged exceeded the fee specified in Schedule 1 of the 2018 Regulations, and there is no statutory basis on which the Home Office can retain the difference between £363 and the amount I paid.

My request is within the five-year window specified in the refunds policy, as payment was made on [date of payment].

I therefore request a refund of £[127 / 161], being the amount paid in excess of the statutory fee. I would be grateful if you could confirm receipt of this request, indicate when I can expect a response, and provide details of the refund method. In line with the published policy, I would expect the refund to be returned to the original method of payment.

Yours faithfully,

[Full name]

[Contact email]

[Correspondence address]

[Application reference / GWF / UAN]

[Date of visa grant, if applicable]