Fee transparency at Cosmos Immigration
How we charge, what is and is not included, and how refunds work. UAE residents have repeatedly told the regulator that hidden consultancy fees are the single biggest source of complaints against firms. This page exists so you can hold us to a published structure.
The two fees that make up the total cost of an application
Every regulated immigration application has two distinct costs. Mixing them up is how clients end up surprised at the end.
1. Government fees
Paid by you, directly to the visa-issuing authority and its supporting bodies.
- Visa-application fees (IRCC, Department of Home Affairs Australia, UKVI, USCIS, etc.)
- Biometrics fees
- VFS or service-centre fees
- Language tests (IELTS, PTE, CELPIP, OET)
- Educational Credential Assessment (WES, ICAS, CES, IQAS, UK NARIC)
- Medical exams from authorised panel physicians
- Police-clearance certificates
- Sponsorship fees, where applicable (employer or state nominee)
We never collect government fees on your behalf. Their published rates are linked from your engagement letter so you can verify each one.
2. Consultancy fees
Paid to Cosmos for the regulated work of advising and submitting your file.
- Initial profile review - structured assessment, written deliverable
- File-build - documentation review, evidence gathering plan, drafting
- Submission - final form-fill, supporting-letter drafting, lodgement
- Post-submission - response to additional document requests, procedural fairness letters where applicable
Our engagement letter sets a fixed fee against each stage. You see and sign the breakdown before any payment is taken.
Why we charge in stages
The advice is iterative. The pathway you start with is rarely the pathway you finish with - facts change, new options appear, evidence quality shifts what is realistic. Charging in stages lets you decide, after each stage, whether to continue. It also means you never pay for work that has not been delivered.
Stage 1 (profile review) gives you a written assessment of which pathways your evidence currently supports and which would need additional work. You can take that assessment and act on it yourself, or you can engage us for stage 2. There is no obligation to continue.
Stage 2 (file-build) is the heavy advisory work: document checklist, evidence-gathering plan, drafting of supporting letters and forms. The fee is fixed in the engagement letter and tied to specific deliverables.
Stage 3 (submission and post-submission) covers form lodgement and the response to any procedural correspondence from the visa-issuing authority.
Refunds and what they actually cover
We will say this plainly because the regulators routinely fine consultancies that don’t. Refusal of an application does not, by itself, trigger a refund. We charge for the work of preparing and submitting a properly evidenced file - that work is delivered whether the officer approves or refuses.
What we do refund are stage-fee tranches that have not yet been triggered when you withdraw. If you stop the engagement after stage 1 but before stage 2 begins, the stage-2 and stage-3 fees are not charged. The exact mechanics are in your engagement letter - signed before any payment is taken.
If a regulated practitioner under the Cosmos engagement makes a documented error that materially affects the outcome, the regulator’s complaint mechanism is the route to follow. CICC, MARA and the IAA each publish a complaint procedure linked from our verification page.
How this differs from "package" pricing
Some firms quote a fixed all-in price on the first phone call. The number includes everything: government fees, consultancy fees, supporting services, sometimes flights and settlement. The problem is that the firm cannot honestly know the right pathway, and therefore the right fee, until it has reviewed your profile. The first-call price is a sales hook, not an advisory fee.
The downstream effect is predictable. As the case develops and the real evidence gaps emerge, the firm either absorbs costs (and quietly weakens the file to break even) or adds change-orders (and the client feels misled). Both outcomes show up in regulator complaint registers.
We do not do package pricing. Our profile review is paid, written, and decoupled from any commitment to file. You read the assessment, then decide.
What our consultancy fee does not cover
- Government application fees of any kind
- Language-test booking fees
- Educational-credential assessment fees
- Medical-exam costs
- Translation fees for documents not in English (we will refer you to a sworn translator at standard market rates)
- Travel costs for biometrics, interviews or medicals
- Settlement services after arrival - housing, schooling, banking, employment introductions
- Tax advice on declaring UAE-source income to the destination country
- Litigation or judicial-review work, which requires solicitor or barrister representation in the destination country
Want the written assessment first
The profile review is a paid stage. You receive a written assessment of which pathways your evidence supports today, what additional evidence would unlock additional pathways, and a fee letter for stage 2. You decide what to do from there.
