MIGRANTS will face an eye-watering visa fee rise from today, with campaigners warning they are being treated like cash cows.

The government presented the fees as funding for vital services and to allow more money to be prioritised for public-sector pay rises that are also coming into effect today.

The cost of most work and visit visas is rising by 15 per cent and fees for priority visas, study visas and certificates of sponsorship are increasing by 20 per cent.

And the cost of the immigration health surcharge, the levy many migrants are required to pay before submitting a visa application, will rise by 66 per cent from £624 to £1,035 per year.

A family of four on a 10-year route to settlement could be facing a bill of more than £14,000 every 30 months — a rise of almost 50 per cent on the current cost.

Migrant rights charity Praxis warned that the above-inflation rise risks pushing many more migrant households into debt, homelessness and exploitative working conditions.

Praxis campaigner Anna Berry, a name she uses as a safeguard, said: “This government is treating us like cash cows, but the truth is that we’re already living from hand to mouth.

“This visa fee hike is the last straw which will push so many of us into utter destitution.

“We are facing impossible decisions: whether to feed our children and pay our rent or save for the next round of visa fees.

“What this measure will do is ensure that we can’t raise our head above the water for years.”

She considers it a racist move as it will affect black and ethnic minority communities already struggling to stay afloat the most.

“Making us pay more than the administrative cost to renew our leave to remain is unfair,” she said. “To kick us when we’re down during a cost-of-living crisis is outright inhumane.”

Campaign groups are also warning that extortionate visa costs are forcing some families into destitution.

Migrant Voice director Nazek Ramadan said: “At a time of a cost-of-living crisis affecting everyone, this government should not be placing the burden of paying for everything onto migrants. They are not this government’s personal magic money tree.”

Migrant Rights Network chief executive Fizza Qureshi said: “We feel this is a blatant attempt by the government to sow division between British taxpayers and migrant communities. We urge the government to withdraw its proposals to increase visa fees for migrants and to instead commit to progressive corporate taxation.”

Migrant Voice is organising a national day of action on October 31 to call on the government to lower the costs.