Visa fees for English and qualification checks have been charged “illegally” for years, ministers have admitted meaning tens of millions of pounds may have to be repaid.
They are now rushing to rectify the blunder with new legislation within months.
The Government is considering a “restitution scheme” for people unlawfully charged the fees, or passing a new law to make them retrospectively legal.
The fiasco is in relation to fees charged to people applying for a visa for the UK through skilled workers, family, students, and settlement routes where they are required to show proficiency in English at a specified level or that they have a qualification equivalent to one in the UK.
Applicants seeking to demonstrate they have a qualification equivalent to one in the UK, or their proficiency in English by using an academic qualification obtained outside the UK, must provide them through Ecctis Ltd, an arrangement set up more than a decade ago.
Current fees for the online service are £140 plus VAT for the English check and £210 plus VAT for the qualification equivalency assessment, which take around 10 and 30 working days respectively.
However, Parliament was told that these fees have been levied “illegally” due to a mistake dating back to at least 2008.
Home Office minister Lord Hanson gave details of the error as he pushed the Immigration and Nationality (Fees) (Amendment) Order 2024 through the Lords.
“This is simply an order to rectify what was seen to be an illegality,” he told the Lords Grand Committee.
Regulations were being laid “at the earliest opportunity,” he added, to “set those fees on a proper legal footing”.
The order introduces a power for a maximum fee at £400 with detailed charges to be set in an amendment to the Immigration and Nationality (Fees) Regulations in December.
The Home Office did not give any assessment of how many people may have been unlawfully charged fees.
But details in various Home Office documents suggest the total could run into tens of millions of pounds.
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokeswoman Baroness Brinton stressed the fees were charged “illegally because they were not approved by Parliament,” and there is no suggestion of wrongdoing by Ecctis.
She pressed the minister whether the Home Office had launched an internal review into the blunder, arguing an independent one should take place.
She also accused the Home Office of “obfuscating” on the error and branded an explanatory memorandum on the order a “disgrace”.
She added: “This mistake was first discovered in 2008....we have had six Governments of all political persuasions overseeing immigration from 2008, but nothing happened.”
She probed whether there was any legal implication on the validity of the visa checks for doctors, nurses and other people who had come to the UK.
Lord Hanson stressed the blunder had been spotted before the July general election and that the new Labour government had picked up the “baton” on fixing it.
A Home Office spokesperson said “We are currently considering all available options and engaging with other government departments to resolve the issue for those who have paid fees to date. We will update Parliament on an agreed approach in due course.”
