The Immigration and Nationality (Fees) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 update the Immigration and Nationality (Fees) Regulations 2018, the main charging instrument for immigration and nationality functions. The Home Office instrument was made on 9 September 2026, laid before Parliament on 10 September 2026 and, under regulation 1, most of its provisions come into force on 8 October 2026. The statutory instrument states that one part of the Isle of Man package comes into force later, on 2 November 2026. The Regulations apply across England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and selected provisions also extend to the Isle of Man for the same purpose as the 2018 provisions they amend. The legal powers used are sections 68, 69 and 74 of the Immigration Act 2014, with Treasury consent recorded in the instrument.
The most consequential change for applicants is a new fee exception for certain human rights based cases. According to the explanatory note, no fee will be payable for an application for limited leave to enter or limited leave to remain where the case is made solely or primarily on the basis of Convention rights, if the applicant is either a person in immigration detention or a person in the Family Returns Process. In practice, that is a targeted removal of an up-front charge for two groups who are often in a constrained procedural position. The Regulations add definitions for both 'person in immigration detention' and 'in the Family Returns Process' by cross-reference to the Immigration Rules, so the scope of the exemption is tied to existing immigration law terminology rather than a new stand-alone test.
The instrument also removes fee entries linked to routes that have closed and are no longer transitionally available under the UK Immigration Rules. The explanatory note says this affects both entry clearance and leave to remain tables in Schedules 1 and 2 to the 2018 Regulations. References linked to Appendix Start-up are pared back, and obsolete charging lines are taken out of the fee tables. That is largely a housekeeping exercise, but it matters operationally. A fees schedule that continues to carry dead routes can create avoidable error for applicants, sponsors and caseworkers. The Regulations also preserve separate charging provision where dependant applications on older routes can still be made on a transitional basis, so the removal of a main route fee does not automatically eliminate every connected dependant fee.
A further change sits in Schedule 3, which deals with travel documents, invalid applications and related functions. The drafting is widened so that the schedule more clearly covers travel documents and transfers of conditions, and it adds an exception to the fee for a transfer of conditions where the applicant has been granted leave under Appendix EU. For practitioners working with EU Settlement Scheme status holders, that is a practical adjustment rather than a policy reset. The effect is to remove a charge in a defined administrative process for people whose leave is held under Appendix EU, bringing the fee rules into closer alignment with the structure of status held under that appendix.
Administrative review provisions are also tightened. Regulation 3 updates the definition of administrative review so that the fees regulations now refer to Appendix Administrative Review, reflecting the current title used in the Immigration Rules after earlier renaming. The same set of amendments removes definitions and cross-references that no longer serve an active route or review process. Schedule 11 is then amended to narrow the exceptions to, and refunds of, the administrative review fee. The explanatory note links this to two developments: the removal of administrative review rights for certain decisions under named appendices to the Immigration Rules, and the closure of the Service Providers from Switzerland route. The practical effect is that the fee regime now follows the review rights that remain, rather than retaining provisions for routes or decisions that no longer generate the same review entitlement.
The Isle of Man provisions are more than a drafting tidy-up. Regulation 8 removes fee provisions for entry clearance categories that are no longer available under the Isle of Man Immigration Rules, and it also removes the fee for an approval letter connected to one of those older routes. At the same time, new fee lines are inserted for applications under the Graduate Trainee, Isle of Man Expansion Worker, Service Supplier and Secondment Worker routes in Appendix Global Business Mobility Routes. Those Isle of Man route changes take effect from 2 November 2026. The explanatory note says the new appendix will contain business mobility routes becoming available from that date, so the fees instrument is being updated in step with a wider route redesign. For employers and advisers handling Isle of Man assignments, the immediate point is that route names and fee references should be checked afresh before application submission once the November commencement date arrives.
The Regulations also revoke wording in regulation 11 of the 2018 Regulations that related to fees now being removed. In addition, they take out the fee exception connected to the former Appendix Service Providers from Switzerland, following the earlier removal of that appendix from the UK Immigration Rules. These changes do not create a new policy direction on their own, but they reduce the gap between the fees legislation and the routes that still exist in the wider rules system. That matters because fees legislation is often read alongside route rules, statements of changes and operational guidance. Where those texts fall out of step, the risk is not only confusion but incorrect payment, rejected applications or unnecessary administrative review requests. The Home Office approach in this instrument is to update the charging architecture so that it reflects the current route book more closely.
The explanatory note states that no full impact assessment has been produced because no, or no significant, effect on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen. Even so, the instrument has clear consequences at casework level. It removes charges for a defined group of human rights based applicants, confirms that some obsolete routes should no longer appear in active fee planning, and resets parts of the review and transfer of conditions position. For immigration solicitors, advisers and sponsors, the main task is date control. Most changes start on 8 October 2026, but part of the Isle of Man package starts on 2 November 2026. Applications prepared around those dates will need to be matched against the revised fee tables and the current Immigration Rules, especially where a route has closed, survives only for dependants, or no longer carries the same administrative review rights.