Reunite Families UK, a nonprofit organisation supporting families affected by visa rules, estimates that visa and citizenship applications could end up costing Bethany and her husband more than £13,000.

The couple are not alone. Hundreds of thousands of people are forced to pay these rising fees every year – and many have amassed eye-watering debts to cover the costs. The majority are people who have already been in the UK for years and are looking to renew their visas or settle.

And, contrary to the common claim that migrants are a financial burden on the country, the British state makes billions of pounds in profit from these fees – some of which are more than 10 times the actual administrative cost.

According to our analysis, the government raked in almost £5bn last year in profit from various visa, citizenship and immigration charges. That’s more than it gets in corporation tax from all of the energy, gas, water, sewage and hospitality industries combined.