Reviewed 15 October 2026. Current YMS and India YPS application fees are£340. The usual two-year IHS is£1,552 at£776 per year. The£2,530 savings requirement is evidence of funds, not another government fee. Travel, housing and living costs are additional.
A social post can make the move look inexpensive by quoting only the application fee. Another can exaggerate by treating savings evidence as a fee paid away. Build the budget from three categories: costs you pay, money you must evidence and the reserve you need to live. This makes the decision clearer without promising that a particular city or job search will cost a fixed amount.
Write down what is actually paid
Use the official application and IHS pages and record the date beside each figure. A two-year YMS/India YPS application generally has£1,892 in those two charges combined at the current rates. That is not an all-in cost. Check the actual official payment calculation and current rates before paying, including local-currency conversion and any genuine service charges. Optional services should be labelled optional.
Keep the evidence amount separate
The£2,530 must be available and evidenced under the funds rules. It is not paid to the Home Office as a separate maintenance fee. But it is also not a magical guarantee that you can support yourself indefinitely after moving. Your bank balance needs to cover the actual plan after commitments, not just satisfy an application snapshot.
List flights, temporary accommodation, deposit, initial rent, local travel, phone costs, food, professional-registration tasks and a contingency. Use actual quotes for your intended location. If comparing London with another city, compare a similar housing and commute plan. Do not invent national rent averages or job-placement statistics to make one option look easy.
Stress-test the first salary date
Plan a slower scenario in which finding work takes longer than hoped or the first payroll arrives after several weeks. Calculate the accessible reserve after fees and deposits are paid. If a partner is also moving, each person needs their own route and costs; one YMS application does not cover a household. If the budget depends on immediate freelance income, verify that the activity fits the permission’s conditions.
| Category | Example | How to record |
|---|---|---|
| Paid | Application + IHS | Current official calculation |
| Proved | Required savings history | Separate evidence calendar |
| Committed | Flight, deposit, initial rent | Actual quote / payment date |
| Reserve | Living costs before income | Weeks covered after commitments |
| Optional | Premium service | Deliberate choice, not mandatory label |
Compare housing options using the same assumptions
A city comparison is useful only when it compares similar plans. Record room type, deposit, included bills, commute and temporary accommodation period. A cheap headline rent that excludes transport and utilities may not be the cheaper first-month option. Use dated actual listings or quotes for private planning, and do not turn one example into a published national average.
Write the first-salary assumption explicitly. A job starting in one month may pay later depending on payroll. Keep the work-start date, payroll date and required living-cost reserve separate. If the work is not confirmed, label the income as a scenario rather than money available. Run a slower case in which accommodation or recruitment takes longer and identify the decision you would make before the reserve is exhausted.
For payment control, keep a table of committed, refundable and optional costs. Refresh official charges close to payment and preserve receipts. The budget should support decisions such as delaying a non-refundable booking or choosing temporary housing, without suggesting that paying for faster service guarantees approval. If a couple moves together, add each person’s independent application and funds requirements before calculating shared rent. A shared household does not merge two immigration applications into one or make one person’s required evidence unnecessary.
Record the source and date of every housing quote. A saved listing may disappear or change price. Treat it as a planning assumption until a genuine agreement is verified, and reassess the reserve before paying a deposit.
A practical example
An applicant has enough for the visa charges and the required savings but initially allocates the same£2,530 to a rental deposit and three months of living costs. The revised budget deducts the deposit first, estimates the actual weekly outgoings and identifies a shorter runway. The applicant delays a commitment or increases the reserve instead of assuming the immigration savings figure is a complete relocation budget.
Put the plan into practice
Use the accompanying resource to turn the explanation into a file you can actually review. Work through these actions in order; where a point is uncertain, record the uncertainty rather than changing the facts to fit a preferred answer.
- Record the live application fee and IHS calculation with a check date.
- Keep the savings-evidence amount in a separate planning column.
- Gather real housing and travel quotes and mark committed costs.
- Calculate a delayed-income scenario and identify the remaining reserve.
Questions to resolve before you act
Are you counting the same money more than once? Does the plan depend on an unconfirmed job? Are optional services included as if compulsory? Have you budgeted for every person’s independent route?
Open the Move Budget and First-Salary Runway Planner. Use it to record your own dates and evidence before spending money or submitting an application.
Official sources
- Youth Mobility Scheme: overview and fees
- India Young Professionals Scheme: overview
- Immigration health surcharge: how much to pay
- Youth Mobility Scheme: eligible nationalities, ages and funds
Independent information and practical organisation, not individual legal advice. Where immigration history, exceptions or conflicting documents affect your case, check the current rules and consider a regulated adviser.
A useful next step
Use the Move Budget and First-Salary Runway Planner to turn this guide into a working plan. Continue with YMS documents and appointments: organise the country-specific tasks when you are ready to organise the next part of the file.