Phil Woolas wants your views on UK visa and immigration services

Those open-minded folk at the UK Border Agency have launched a public consultation on the fees it charges for its UK visa and immigration services.

They want to get people’s views on the fees they should charge for earned citizenship, which will be introduced in 2011. They also want to find out the public response on other new chargeable services that could be introduced in future to respond to customer demand and improve customer choice – for example, optional premium visa or immigration services at a higher fee.

As always, British Border and Immigration Minister Phil Woolas had something to say on the subject:

‘I believe that it is fair that those who benefit from using our immigration system should help fund it, and we will continue to use charges to recover part of our costs.

‘This consultation is part of an ongoing process to ensure we can run a modern and efficient system that welcomes legitimate migrants and balances the interests of both the users of the system and the UK taxpayer.

‘Already migrants contribute over £650 million towards our costs. This goes to fund the 25,000 staff who work in local communities, at the border and in 135 countries around the world.’

The Border Agency consultation is open for 12 weeks, until 1 December 2009. To take part, visit here.