Work Visa Fees, by Country
Germany's EUR 175 full pipeline (visa plus residence permit) is the cheapest route to a job-offer-backed work permit here; the United States is the most expensive at about $3,545 in mandatory USCIS fees. The UK's GBP 819 application fee looks mid-table alone, but its Immigration Health Surcharge (GBP 1,035 a year, paid upfront) brings the realistic total to GBP 3,924 — close to the US figure.
Last updated 2 November 2026.
A country's "work visa fee" is rarely one number: most countries run several visa categories, and the headline application fee often excludes mandatory surcharges that can dwarf it. This table prices one specific, comparable route per country — the standard employer-sponsored skilled-worker visa — and reports the full mandatory government cost, not just the application fee.
Figures are each country's own currency, at face value, not converted to a common currency — see the methodology section for why a face-value ranking isn't a precise cost ranking once exchange rates are applied.
| Source | ||
|---|---|---|
🇬🇧 United KingdomSkilled Worker visa, main applicant, application made outside the UK, Certificate of Sponsorship for 3 years or less: £819 Home Office application fee + £3,105 Immigration Health Surcharge (£1,035/year, paid upfront for the full visa length). Excludes employer-paid sponsor licence, Certificate of Sponsorship and Immigration Skills Charge, and optional priority services. | £3,924 | [2] |
🇺🇸 United StatesH-1B petition (Form I-129), large employer (25+ US employees), online filing, new/initial approval: $730 base fee + $215 registration fee + $1,500 ACWIA training fee + $500 Fraud Prevention and Detection fee + $600 Asylum Program Fee — all legally employer-paid, not passed to the worker. The $730/$215/$500/$1,500/$600 component breakdown is from USCIS's own Form G-1055 fee schedule but we could not fetch that document directly (blocked on every attempt this session); the figures are corroborated by multiple independent sources quoting the same schedule. Excludes a separate $100,000 fee on new H-1B petitions from a 2026 Presidential Proclamation: a federal court vacated DHS's guidance implementing it (California v. Mullin, D. Mass., confirmed directly against USCIS's own site), a stay was denied on appeal, and DHS is complying for now but says it may resume collecting it if the order is lifted — check current status before relying on this figure. Also excludes optional $2,805 premium processing and attorney fees. Small employers/nonprofits (25 or fewer) pay less. | $3,545 | [1] |
🇫🇷 FranceVLS-TS 'salarié' route: €99 long-stay visa fee + €300 mandatory online validation tax, payable within 3 months of arrival (raised from €200 to €300 on 1 May 2026 — confirmed directly against Service-Public.fr, the official government portal). The €99 visa fee is France-Visas' own published rate, cited consistently by multiple independent sources quoting that table, but france-visas.gouv.fr itself blocked every fetch attempt this session (Cloudflare), so it's not independently read by us — worth a direct check before treating it as fully confirmed. Excludes the employer-run work-authorization process and medical-visit costs. | €399 | [4] |
🇸🇬 SingaporeEmployment Pass: S$105 application fee + S$225 issuance fee, both conventionally paid by the employer. Excludes the optional S$30 Multiple Journey Visa fee. | S$330 | [10] |
🇨🇦 CanadaEmployer-specific work permit, applicant-paid government fees: CA$155 work-permit fee + CA$85 biometrics. Excludes employer-only costs: the CA$1,000 LMIA fee (where required) or the CA$230 employer compliance fee (LMIA-exempt positions) — both paid by the employer, never the worker. | CA$240 | [8] |
🇩🇪 GermanyFull pipeline for a national (D) visa for employment: €75 visa fee paid at the embassy/consulate before travel, plus €100 to convert it to the residence permit (Aufenthaltserlaubnis) after arrival, which is what actually authorises the stay and work. Both figures confirmed directly against official sources: the visa fee from the Federal Foreign Office, the residence-permit fee from the Aufenthaltsverordnung (AufenthV) § 45 itself. | €175 | [6] |
One category per country, not a blended average. Most countries run several work-visa categories with different fees depending on skill level, salary, and sponsorship route. Each row prices exactly one category: the standard employer-sponsored skilled-worker visa, the single most commonly searched "I have a job offer, what does this cost" scenario. The exact category is named in the row's note — a different category changes the fee substantially.
Full mandatory cost, not just the headline application fee. Several countries bundle large mandatory add-ons onto the base fee: the UK's Immigration Health Surcharge is often three to four times the visa fee itself; the US stacks a base petition fee with a registration fee, a training fee, a fraud-prevention fee and an asylum-program fee; Germany's visa only grants entry, with a second mandatory fee to convert it to the residence permit that actually authorises work. Where a meaningful add-on exists, this table reports the realistic total.
Who pays varies and isn't consistent. Some fees are paid by the applicant (UK application fee and health surcharge, France's visa fee and validation tax); others are legally required of the employer and cannot be passed to the worker (most of the US H-1B fee stack). This table reports the total mandatory cost of the visa regardless of who pays it, and each row's note flags who conventionally does.
What's excluded everywhere: immigration-lawyer or agent fees, optional premium/priority processing, dependants' fees, translation and document-legalisation costs.
Limits of this comparison. Figures are each country's own currency, not converted to a common unit, so a face-value ranking across the table isn't an exact cost ranking once exchange rates are applied — treat "cheapest/most expensive" as directional. Some countries (India, notably) have no single national fee at all — it's set bilaterally by the applicant's own country of origin — and are excluded rather than represented by one arbitrarily chosen rate.
Why aren't Australia, the UAE, Japan or India in this table?
For Australia, the UAE and Japan, we couldn't independently fetch and read the current fee directly from each country's own government site this session — their immigration portals blocked automated access on every attempt. Rather than publish a figure we couldn't verify ourselves, we've left them out for now. India doesn't have a single national work-visa fee at all: it's set bilaterally based on the applicant's own nationality, administered mission by mission, so a single "India" figure would misrepresent how the fee actually works.
Does this include an immigration lawyer?
No. Every figure is the mandatory government fee only — application fees, registration fees, and statutory surcharges like the UK's Immigration Health Surcharge or the US's ACWIA and fraud-prevention fees. Legal help varies hugely by firm and case complexity and isn't a government-set number, so it's excluded.
Why does the United States look more expensive than the United Kingdom, when coverage often says the opposite?
It depends what's being counted. The US total here ($3,545) is the full mandatory USCIS fee stack for a standard large-employer H-1B petition. It excludes the separate $100,000 fee proposed by a 2026 Presidential Proclamation, which a federal court has currently blocked — if that fee is reinstated, the US figure would be dramatically higher than every other country here.
Who actually pays these fees, the employer or the worker?
It varies by country and is noted on each row. In the UK, the worker typically pays the application fee and health surcharge, while the employer pays the sponsor licence. In the US, nearly the entire H-1B fee stack is legally required to be paid by the employer. In Singapore, the employer conventionally pays. Check your own employer's policy — this table prices the visa, not who within the transaction writes the cheque.
- 1USCIS Fee Schedule (Form G-1055), Appendix A: I-129
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (DHS)
H-1B/H-1B1 petition fees and the $100,000 Presidential Proclamation fee's current litigation status (guidance vacated by the District of Massachusetts in California v. Mullin, stay denied by the First Circuit, DHS complying pending further action). Status confirmed directly against this page 2 November 2026; the exact component dollar figures are from this same schedule but corroborated via secondary citation, not independently fetched (blocked).
- 2Home Office immigration and nationality fees, 8 October 2026
GOV.UK
Skilled Worker visa, application outside the UK: £819 (Certificate of Sponsorship 3 years or less), £1,618 (more than 3 years). Confirmed directly 2 November 2026.
- 3Pay for UK healthcare as part of your immigration application
GOV.UK
Immigration Health Surcharge: £1,035 a year for adults (£3,105 for 3 years). Confirmed directly 2 November 2026.
- 4Immigration : la taxe de validation du visa de long séjour augmente
Service-Public.fr (French Government)
Validation tax for a long-stay visa valant titre de séjour: €300 standard rate (raised from €200 on 1 May 2026, under the 2026 finance law), €100 reduced rate for specific categories not including salaried workers. Confirmed directly 2 November 2026.
- 5France-Visas fee table
France-Visas (French Ministry of the Interior / Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs)
Official fee table listing the long-stay visa at €99. Not independently fetched this session (blocked on every attempt); cited here from consistent secondary quotation of this document — verify directly before treating as fully confirmed.
- 6Visa und Aufenthalt
Auswärtiges Amt (German Federal Foreign Office)
National (D) visa fee: €75 standard adult rate, €37.50 for minors. Confirmed directly 2 November 2026.
- 7Aufenthaltsverordnung (AufenthV) § 45
Bundesministerium der Justiz (gesetze-im-internet.de)
€100 fee for issuing a residence permit (Aufenthaltserlaubnis), any validity length. Confirmed directly against the regulation text 2 November 2026.
- 8Fee list — Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
Government of Canada (IRCC)
Work permit (including extensions): CA$155 per person. Confirmed directly 2 November 2026.
- 9
- 10Employment Pass — Apply for a pass
Ministry of Manpower, Singapore
Application fee S$105, issuance fee S$225. Confirmed directly 2 November 2026.