Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government on what basis they are not extending the £55 fee discount for a UK work visa to five EU member states.

The UK has long standing arrangements in its legislation for the nationals of countries which have signed and ratified the 1961 Council of Europe’s Social Charter (CESC) to qualify for a fee reduction for visa applications to come to work in the UK.

It is only with the end of free movement this legal obligation is now relevant to those EU countries which have ratified the 1961 Council of Europe Charter. The reduction is therefore only available to nationals of countries which have ratified the 1961 Charter, whether or not those countries are EU countries.

The UK’s legal obligations in relation to this matter relate to the implementation of the Council of Europe treaty, and do not arise from the UK’s former relationship with the EU or the TCA.