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Emiliano Mellino @mellino.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

The UK government is making upwards of £4.9bn in profit from visa fees, citizenship fees & the immigration health surcharge. Meanwhile, people are getting into thousands of pounds of debt or going without food just to afford to these immigration fees. www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026...

thebureauinvestigates.com

Government makes £5bn a year from immigration fees while applicants…

Home Office’s fees are up to 10 times the processing cost – and rising every year

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Nate O @nateo.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

🚨 Breaking news: we fucking WON!!!!!!!!!! 🚨 www.unitetheunion.org/news-events/...

Legal 500 workers win full pay claim after strike action

Wednesday 30 September 2026
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Dozens of publishing staff at Legalease, the publishers of legal industry-bible The Legal 500, have won a dramatic victory in their industrial dispute over pay.

Staff who had been on strike for two and a half weeks accepted an offer that fully met their original pay claim of a £2000 pay increase for every worker. This was despite the company originally claiming it would not pay such an increase.

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Beth Stratford @bethstratford.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Well, I for one am an economist who supports rent controls! Here’s why 🧵: Markets only work well if: -buyers & sellers have roughly equal power -producers respond to price signals & expand supply in response to scarcity -buyers can walk away if prices get too high

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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

In fact, as my/ @migobs.bsky.social research shows, those migrants who came in the peak (2021-23 period) seem to have relatively high earnings progression and employment rates.. migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/co...

migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk

Upward mobility? Earnings trajectories for recent immigrants - Migration Observatory

This analysis uses new data from HMRC to show how the size and earnings of the migrant employee workforce has changed over time in recent years.

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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

"In order to deliver the PM's promise to save social care we need a permanent class of indentured migrant workers without labour rights".

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Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Condemnation is pure hot air if in the next breath you’re telling everyone you’re doing your best to give the fascists what they want, just without the masks

In fact, these are scenes we have not seen on British streets. Immigration needs to be deal with, I will be the first to say that and we are dealing with it. The boat crossings have been halved since six years ago, net migration is down massively.

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WATERSHED Investigations @watershed-i.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

We organised blood tests for people living near a chemical factory in Thornton-Cleveleys where we uncovered high emissions of PFAS forever chemicals, including internationally-banned, cancer-causing PFOA. Last night, BBC News spoke to people as they received their test results:

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David Wearing @davidwearing.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Thanks to the "legitimate concerns" paradigm, we have a national consensus that migrants (you know which specific ones) are a problem. More migrants = bad, fewer migrants = good. In that context, "anti-migrant protestor" isn't even neutral language to describe this fascist thug. It is *positive*.

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Sarah Collins 🇨🇦🇬🇧 @secollins.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Immigrants are cash cows, with the added bonus of being demonised by the press and the overwhelming majority of people in politics.

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Nate O @nateo.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Okay, it’s time to come clean: we are currently on strike. Every day is another day on the picket. If you want to know what I’ve been up to this past week, here’s all the info. Support our strike fund! Please tell everyone you know! Solidarity, forever! www.unitedigitaltech.org/2026/09/lega...

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Dr Alex Fitzpatrick @animalarchaeology.com · 22/09/2026

I’m in my early 30’s and I’ve never had savings that lasted longer than a year because they have always been dumped to pay for whatever immigration fees I had due. combined with career precarity, I don’t think I’ve had a sense of financial stability in my adult life yet

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Emiliano Mellino @mellino.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Meanwhile, in the UK Deliveroo has sponsored events at Labour Party conference for years.

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Simon Frankel Pratt @simonpratt.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I remember how outrageous these were in 2019. They have only gotten worse.

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Edward Dickinson @edwarddickinson.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Pretty awful that we have a situation where the UK government is making vast profits from holding peoples marriages (including mine), relationships, careers and futures, hostage. Want to stay with your family? Then you'll have to pay way over the odds for no justifiable reason #immigration #visa

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Paul Hayes @paulhayes01.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Migration Economics Stat Of The Day.

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Gfrancie (Benevolent Siren) @gfrancie.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

When people ask me if I am British, I tend to say I am via paperwork and the most shameless financial shakedown by the Home Office. And I know the prices have gone up since I became a citizen about a decade ago.

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Dr Alex Fitzpatrick @animalarchaeology.com · 22/09/2026

on top of some unplanned expenses this year, my finances have been pretty much fucked with the one-two punch of paying about £2k this year for my citizenship application and paying about £4k last year for my indefinite leave to remain and I’m one of the lucky and privileged ones!

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who’s asking? @lorehunting.eurosky.social · 22/09/2026

of course readers of the daily mail aren't seeing this but the UK behaves like mobsters when it comes to immigrants and then its political parties have the gall to pretend immigrants are 'treated better than British citizens'

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Alan Beattie @alanbeattie.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Will keep boringly saying this (no disrespect to OP): it's not a health surcharge. It's not hypothecated to the NHS; you can't choose not to pay it and thereby eschew healthcare. You could equally call it an education or roads surcharge. It's using the NHS's sanctified status to rip off immigrants.

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Will Tattersdill @tattersdill.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

This is still something I wish "normal" British people knew more about. Migrating here is unbelievably and unjustly expensive

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The Ghost of a Dead Deer @dtfooty.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Such a fucking scandal this

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András Forgács W @andraswf.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

next time someone starts bleating about "contributing" I'm just going to send them this link bsky.app/profile/mell...

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Chris Boyd @paperghost.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

there is no sensible reason why a 5 year spouse visa cost us a little over fourteen grand. none whatsoever. and that's before you break it down to the addition of renewals every 30 months, the health surcharge, the endless price hikes, the final kick in the teeth for ILR (three grand! to settle!)

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Irim Sarwar @irimtated.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I'm about to pay out over £4K for FLR renewal. I cannot TELL you how much I resent it when I know it costs them 1/10th of that. And I'm already paying into the NHS, now I've got to pay again?

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Waitman Wade Beorn, PhD, FRHistS @waitmanwbeorn.com · 21/09/2026

Most people don't know an immigrant. Because if they did, they would be shocked by this nonsense. Oh, and I'd also like to point that we have to pay for NHS IN ADVANCE and then pay for it again when it is taken out of our pay in taxes.

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RDCK98 @comradekenobi.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

The spouse visa process is one of the most tedious, hostile and infuriating processes you will ever go through in your life. I place a curse on whoever dreamt it up.

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Billy Shakes @exeuntpursuedby.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Just renewed our visas for another two years and it was nearly £10,000 (Thank God my workplace offers a 0% loan) This is after the nearly £10,000 we spent 3 years ago for our visas

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Sev @sevitz.com · 21/09/2026

Absolutely appalling. Costs have gone up 10-20x when I got mine. The government shouldn’t be a profit Center. These people (as / was I) pay taxes. But you know, immigrants. So acceptable to squeeze. For reasons.

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Patrick Osgood @patrickosgood.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Wife and I are about to cough up her second round of visa and NHS surcharges. £4,000. She works full time, paying into the system twice over. The application process is, once again, extraordinarily demanding and overtly hostile. This must be an extremely stressful burden on lower income households

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Blair Melville @blairmelville.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Incredible fact! Worth reminding the ‘‘they’ come over here and don’t contribute’ brigade

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The Bureau of Investigative Journalism @tbij.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

According to our latest investigation, the Home Office is making almost £5 billion in associated visa, citizenship and immigration fees. www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026...

thebureauinvestigates.com

Government makes £5bn a year from immigration fees while applicants…

Home Office’s fees are up to 10 times the processing cost – and rising every year

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Everyone should read this article. I'd rather not think about how much money we've already spent for my wife's spouse visa, her visa renewal, my citizenship application and how much more we'll spend for her ILR and citizenship.

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Lisa Stampnitzky 🤷🏻‍♀️ @lisastampnitzky.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

As an immigrant myself, and as someone who has paid in thousands of visa fees, I’m surely among those most aware of the injustices of this system, and I’m still shocked by the massive costs related by friends w families who are looking these huge fees times 2/3/4/5. Absolute absurdity.

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Refugee and Migrant Justice @rmjusticeuk.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

🔊🔊🔊 We're plesaed to have contributed to this @tbij.bsky.social piece on shameless government profiting off migrants through extortionate visa fees & hidden second taxes. Our client, Fatima, shared her story. Never forget the people hurt by the policies. www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026...

thebureauinvestigates.com

Government makes £5bn a year from immigration fees while applicants…

Home Office’s fees are up to 10 times the processing cost – and rising every year

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Reunite Families UK @rfuk.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

🚨 £5bn. The Home Office made almost £5bn in profit last year from visa, citizenship and immigration fees — more than it gets in corporation tax from energy, gas, water, sewage and hospitality combined. 🧵

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Éamann Mac Donnchada @almagroschool.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

As I always mention when this comes up, the total cost for my wife to become a Spanish citizen was about 250 EUR and the process was mainly online till near the end when she had to produce her original docs. Had she had to do a Spanish test it would have been 50 or 60 EUR more

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Phil Jones' body double @philsbodydouble.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

"Now, when they (Labour) have a chance to make things better, they have not only gone quiet but are set to massively increase charges for migrants”. I can't remember any British political party turning so quickly & completely on all the moral values they held before they came into power.

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Lewis Miller @lewgmiller.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

This is something my wife and I will have to fork out on this year. I call it the “foreign partner tax”. It is a massive cost to us.

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Emiliano Mellino @mellino.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

The people of Piddington should probably read this before they end up in a situation where they have to apply for a visa every time they want to go to Tesco.

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Elena Adaal @elenaadaal.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Another example of an UK gov. that does not like foreigners. The UK gets nearly 5 billion in income from visa fees, which - see the rest of the thread) - vastly outstrip the costs. The message is clear: We don't want you in UK, and if you do come, we will milk you for as much as possible.

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Elena Adaal @elenaadaal.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Apart from the misery and harm that the UK gov causes by these way too high visa and immigration fees on foreigners, the main message is this: Do not go to UK. Foreigners are not wanted. UK is closed for business.

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Ariadne Vromen @ariadnevromen.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

This is a very well-researched article. With very disillusioning findings on the costs of immigration to individuals

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elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

10 years ago, my visa was denied. They said I didn't demonstrate enough English language skills -- despite recently getting a Master's from SOAS University of London (with distinction too). I had to apply again and pay the fees again because this is a business designed to rip people off.

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Paolo Sandro @paolosandro.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

All gleefully endorsed by the Supreme Court, remember

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Marta Zboralska @marta-zboralska.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

“It is right that those who benefit from the migration and borders system contribute towards its costs, reducing the burden on taxpayers.” Migrants ARE the taxpayers! It is the UK that is benefitting from their taxes!

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Austin Kelmore @austinkelmore.com · 15/09/2026

Visa costs are a massive additional cost to immigrants and they don't need to exist at all! The people in power could raise taxes on the wealthiest to cover the costs, but they choose to extort the immigrants instead.

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Pavlos Vasilopoulos @pavlosvas1.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Plus applicants need to take the Life in the UK test, which is not a prerequisite in other countries. Yet according to the Home Secretary ILR "comes almost automatically"

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Jem Mills-Sheehy @jemm-s.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Always feels a bit off complaining as my partner and I are extremely grateful for our life in London and both have good jobs. But in our 6 years here, we’ve paid a combined approx. £20k in visa fees while both working full time for charities trying to make the UK a better, fairer place.

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Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Incredibly important piece about the misery and harm caused by extortionate immigration fees, please do take a few minutes to read >

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Jem Mills-Sheehy @jemm-s.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Proper extortionate. And doesn’t even make sense with their own logic. Eg on a skilled worker visa, Gov now mandates a moderately high wage - thereby ensuring people on those visas pay a decent amount of income tax- yet still charges for NHS surcharge.

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