What was claimed
People leaving the UK for any purpose will be charged a £500 ‘exit fee’ from November.
Our verdict
False. There is no evidence of the government introducing this policy.
No, the government isn’t introducing a £500 ‘exit fee’ to leave the UK
In recent days, we have seen several social media videos—one with more than three million views—claim that a £500 ‘exit fee’ will be introduced from November for people travelling abroad.
This is false. No such policy has been announced.
The videos, shared on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, have slightly different wording, but all claim that from 1 November a new policy will take effect, meaning people will be charged a £500 fee for leaving the country, including for those heading abroad for holidays, work or study. Some add that “officials say this is for border management and security”.
These videos, which feature audio which sounds like the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, variously claim this will apply to all British citizens or anyone leaving the country.
A Google News search for announcements about any exit fee being charged to travellers leaving the UK from November 2025 do not show any credible news sources reporting such a change.
Similarly, a search on Hansard, the record of what is said in Parliament, and gov.uk, don’t show any credible evidence of such an announcement since July 2024, when Mr Starmer came into office, which you would expect with such a major policy.
While it may be obvious to some that this claim is false, the high number of views and shares indicate many have taken it at face value. We’ve written more about why we sometimes check claims that seem clearly false on our blog.
Join 72,953 people who trust us to check the facts
Sign up to get weekly updates on politics, immigration, health and more.
Subscribe to weekly email newsletters from Full Fact for updates on politics, immigration, health and more. Our fact checks are free to read but not to produce, so you will also get occasional emails about fundraising and other ways you can help. You can unsubscribe at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy.
Who is speaking in the video?
There are clear clues that the audio used in these videos is also not genuine. A reverse image search for a clip of Mr Starmer used in several of these videos reveals it is actually from an appearance before the House of Commons Liaison Committee in December 2024, which did not discuss levying an exit fee on travellers leaving the country.
Another clue that the audio is not real is the implausibility of Mr Starmer criticising his own policy as being “not about personal freedom, but an additional cost that could affect many”.
We strongly suspect the audio to be an AI-generated fake, due to its stiff and unnatural intonation and extremely even cadence, but we have not been able to rule out the audio being recorded by an impersonator.
You can read more about how to spot AI audio, and the challenges of doing this, in our guide.
This is just one of many videos about fake government policies we have fact checked in recent weeks—other examples include clips claiming a curfew is being introduced, that there’s going to be a reduction in the state pension from April next year, and that the government is introducing a £27 WiFi charge for all households.
Before sharing videos such as this that you see online, first consider whether they come from a trustworthy and verifiable source. You can find guides and tips in our Full Fact toolkit to help you navigate information online.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because there is no credible evidence the government is introducing exit fees for travellers leaving the UK from November.