The Government has published a consultation on fees for bringing an appeal in the immigration tribunals system. On the basis that “it is fair that a greater proportion of the costs of our courts and tribunals is borne by those who directly benefit from using them,” huge increases are proposed in fees for bringing an appeal and having it heard by a judge.

If you have recently made an appeal you might think that you have not derived much “benefit” from using a system that can take over a year to drag a case to conclusion in the First Tier Tribunal alone.

Nevertheless, the Government is proposing to increase the fee for starting an appeal with an oral hearing from £140 to £800 (that’s a 570% increase). An appeal “on the papers” would go from £80 to £490 (that’s more than 600%).

An entirely new fee of £350 is proposed to apply for permission to appeal further to the Upper Tribunal, with an additional £510 to proceed to a hearing where permission is granted.

The consultation runs until 3 June 2016: complete the form or contact me if you want to contribute.