UK Visa Fees from Nigeria: Full Cost Breakdown for 2026

The total cost of a UK Skilled Worker visa from Nigeria is not on any single government page. The Home Office shows you the application fee. VFS Global shows you their service charges. The NHS shows you the Immigration Health Surcharge. Add the TB test, the Ecctis assessment, the bank attestation stamp, and the POSSAP police certificate — and by the time you're ready to submit, you've spent more than most Nigerians earn in six months, before a single pound reaches the UK.

Here is every cost, in order, so you can budget accurately from day one.

The Application Fee (Paid to the Home Office)

The UK Skilled Worker visa application fee depends on whether your role is on the shortage occupation list and how long you plan to stay.

For the standard Skilled Worker route in 2026:

• Up to 3 years: £719 per person
• More than 3 years: £1,420 per person

If your role falls under the Health and Care Worker visa — which covers nurses, doctors, allied health professionals, and certain social care roles — the fee is lower: £298 for up to 3 years and £598 for more than 3 years. Health and Care visa holders are also exempt from the Immigration Health Surcharge, which is the bigger saving.

These fees are paid online when you submit your application on the GOV.UK system. Payment is by credit or debit card, and the charge is in GBP. At current exchange rates hovering around ₦1,850–₦2,000 per pound, a standard 3-year visa application fee alone sits at roughly ₦1.3 million.

The Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS)

The IHS is a separate charge, paid at the same time as the application fee, that gives you access to the NHS during your stay. It is not optional for Skilled Worker visa holders outside the Health and Care category.

The 2026 IHS rate is £1,035 per person per year.

For a 3-year Skilled Worker visa, that is £3,105 per applicant. If you bring a spouse and one child, multiply accordingly — every dependant pays the full IHS. A family of three on a 3-year visa is looking at over £9,000 in IHS alone before a single document is prepared.

This is the number that shocks most Nigerian applicants who budget only for the application fee. The IHS payment is made through the IHS portal before you finalize your GOV.UK application — you cannot proceed without the IHS reference number.

In naira terms at current rates, the IHS for a single 3-year applicant is approximately ₦5.7 million. Combined with the application fee, the government-only cost before touching any Nigerian process is around ₦7 million for one person.

For your detailed cost planning, the step-by-step Nigeria → UK Skilled Worker Guide breaks down each payment stage and the order in which fees must be paid.

VFS Global Service Charges

VFS Global manages biometric appointments and document handling in Nigeria on behalf of UKVI. Their fees are additional to the Home Office fees.

Standard charges in Nigeria:

• VAC service fee: Included in your GOV.UK application payment in most categories
• Premium Lounge access: ₦50,000–₦80,000 (Lagos Victoria Island or Ikeja). This buys you a quieter environment plus the ability to submit corrected or missing documents until 16:00 on the same day — which functions as a practical insurance policy against document errors
• Priority Visa upgrade: £500, applied during the GOV.UK application process. Reduces decision time from 15 working days to 5
• Super Priority: £1,000 for a 24-hour decision, where available
• Keep My Passport service: ₦35,000–₦50,000. Useful for professionals who need to travel to Ghana, Rwanda, or the UAE while UKVI is processing their file
• Port Harcourt centre access: £150 surcharge just to use the Port Harcourt application centre, regardless of visa category

The Premium Lounge is often worth the ₦50,000–₦80,000 for the safety net it provides. A caseworker rejecting a set of scans is not hypothetical — UKVI has refused applications based on illegible copies of Nigerian bank statements.

Nigeria-Side Costs

These are the costs you incur in Nigeria before the VFS appointment.

TB test (mandatory for stays over 6 months) The test must be done at a Home Office-approved clinic. IOM Nigeria charges:

• Adults (11 years and above): approximately $94–$95 USD
• Children under 11: approximately $49 USD

IOM clinics are located in Ikeja (Lagos), Asokoro (Abuja), and Benin City. Private options such as Q-Life Family Clinic on Victoria Island charge around ₦120,000. The IOM fee is paid in USD at point of service.

Nigeria Police Force Character Certificate (POSSAP) The official fee on the POSSAP portal (possap.gov.ng) is approximately ₦30,000. Expedited processing that compresses the timeline from 21 days to roughly 7 business days costs up to ₦100,000.

Ecctis qualification assessment (if using degree for English language proof) The Ecctis Qualification and Language Service costs £210 plus VAT — approximately ₦450,000 at current rates. Processing takes 20 working days and is non-refundable if your university registry does not respond within that window. This is one reason many Nigerian applicants take the IELTS or Pearson SELT instead, which costs approximately ₦104,000–₦116,000 and removes the dependency on a university registrar responding to a foreign email.

Bank statement attestation Nigerian bank statements submitted to UKVI must be printed on official bank stationery, stamped, and signed by a bank officer. Banks typically charge ₦2,000–₦5,000 per statement. PDF exports from mobile apps are routinely rejected.

University transcript (if required) Fees vary by institution. UNILAG, ABU, and other federal universities charge between ₦5,000 and ₦25,000 for official transcript requests sent directly to a foreign body.

Total Estimated Cost

For a single applicant on a standard 3-year Skilled Worker visa, a realistic total looks like this:

This is for one person, without dependants, on a standard (non-health) visa. Add a spouse and the total climbs by roughly £3,900+ for the second IHS + application fee alone.

What Can Reduce the Cost

Two legitimate cost-reduction strategies exist for Nigerian applicants.

First, if your role qualifies for the Health and Care Worker visa, the application fee drops by more than half and the IHS is waived entirely — a saving of over £3,000 per person on a 3-year visa.

Second, if your UK employer certifies maintenance on your Certificate of Sponsorship, you do not need to show personal savings of £1,270 in your bank account. This removes the 28-day savings requirement and, indirectly, reduces the document burden and the risk of a bank statement-related refusal.

Neither of these eliminates the upfront cost, but for a single professional, the difference between a Health and Care visa and a standard Skilled Worker visa is roughly ₦5.5 million — worth confirming your SOC code eligibility before you begin.

The Nigeria → UK Skilled Worker Guide includes a full payment timeline and Nigerian-specific budgeting worksheet so you know exactly when each fee is due and in which currency it needs to be paid.

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