If you’re an international student who has applied for a student visa since October 2023, you have the ability to try to claim your refund.
It has been found by the House of Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee (SLSC) that international students have potentially been charged more than legally permitted by UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI).
Between October 2023 and March 2025, the potential overcharge is £127.
If you’ve paid since March 2025, the potential overcharge is £161.
If you’re an international student who has applied for a student visa since October 2023, you have the ability to try and claim your refund. Refund requests must be made within 5 years of payment.
We’ve attached a draft letter from WonkHE that you can edit and submit to the address given to you on your visa correspondence with UKVI. If you don’t have one, you can also contact them on their website.
We can’t guarantee you will be successful. Some students have received letters where the Home Office admits its error, but states that the fees were still legally valid, so refuses to give automatic refunds. However, it’s still worth submitting these requests to create a record and hopefully highlight the issue to UKVI.
If your request is rejected, the next step is to lodge a complaint of maladministration.
To do so, you can complain via your MP to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, who can potentially recommend repayment and a consolatory payment for the trouble. The current waiting list for this is around 7 months.
You can find your MP with the parliament members list. The MP for Lewisham North (our local region) is Vicky Foxcroft.
Draft Letter
Source: WonkHE
Fill in the fields in square brackets and submit the request through the route indicated on your visa correspondence, or via the Home Office. Contact UKVI channels if no specific address is found. Remember to keep a copy of the submission and any correspondence on this topic!
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 / 161] 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 / 524]. 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]