“Foreigners will have to pay a special levy on entering the country which will be used to provide extra funding for public services,” according to the report in The Daily Telegraph.

“This follows growing evidence that health, education and social services are coming under increasing strain from immigration, with councils complaining that they need hundreds of millions of pounds more every year to cope,” it said.

Quoting sources, the report said the additional levy could be set at 10 per cent of the visa fee, an additional 20 pounds for the usual 200 pounds visa granted to those wishing to stay in Britain longer than six months.
This could generate 15 million pounds a year, though Council chiefs say they need 250 million pounds more annually to avoid increased Council tax.

The most recent figures show that in 2006-07 the UK Visas agency raised 190 million pounds from visa fees from 2.7 million applications.

Citizenship bands

According to the report, for the first time there will be three “bands” of citizenship to control the unrestricted immigration of recent years. Those hoping to become British will be accorded temporary resident status for five years. They then become probationary citizens for a year, after which, if they pass a test, they have full British status.

The test will state that migrants must be able to speak the English language before they become British.
Immigration Minister Liam Byrne had recently said, “It is fair that those who benefit most from using our immigration system should help fund it. We welcome the contribution that legal migrants make (contribute) to the economy and cultural life in the UK and we have ensured that these fees, which will usher in the biggest reforms to the immigration system in a generation, are at levels that will not damage our international competitiveness.”
“We are confident that we are not out of line with other countries’ prices and that the people we want to come here, will not be deterred,” Byrne added.