Wesley Gryk Solicitors LLP

Specialists in UK immigration and nationality law

Call 020 7401 6887
contact@gryklaw.com

  • Home
  • Our work
    • Adoption, Surrogacy, and Children
    • Asylum
    • British Citizenship
    • Challenging Home Office Decisions
    • Couples & Families
    • Europeans
    • Global Talent
    • Private Life
    • Settlement (Indefinite Leave)
    • Sponsored Work
    • Students
    • Visitors
    • Other Categories
  • Our team
  • Our fees
  • News and updates
  • Contact us
    • Map and directions
    • Make an enquiry
    • Complaints
    • Vacancies

The Price of Citizenship

Anjana Daniel

27th November 2017 By Anjana Daniel

On 23 November, the High Court considered a challenge to the high cost of fees for a child’s citizenship application.

A child is a British citizen automatically if born in the United Kingdom at a time when one of their parents is British or settled (i.e. has permanent residence or indefinite leave to remain). When Parliament made this law, they also intended for children who could show a clear connection to the United Kingdom to be able to claim citizenship, regardless of their parents’ status – children therefore have a right to register as British if they were born in the UK and have lived here for the first ten years of their life.

This case was brought on behalf of a child, known in this case as ‘VF’, who was born and brought up in the UK. As VF was not born to British or settled parents, she is not automatically British. In order for her to register as British, she needs to pay a Home Office fee of £973. VF, and many other children like her, cannot afford the fee.

The actual cost to the Home Office of processing a citizenship application is £386. The remainder, £587, generates a profit for the Home Office, as part of plans to make the Home Office “self-funding”. There isn’t an exemption or fee waiver, even if a child is in local authority care or their parents are on a low income. This stops children acquiring a citizenship to which they are entitled purely because of their financial status.

The High Court was asked to declare the profit making element of the fee ‘unlawful’. In this case, VF was able to crowd fund to raise money for the application, and was subsequently registered. The High Court acknowledged that thousands of children were affected but declined to rule because the matter had become academic as VF had been registered as British.

Amnesty International and the Project for the Registration of Children as British Citizens (PRCBC) are campaigning in this area and you can read more about this here: https://www.amnesty.org.uk/blogs/childrens-human-rights-network-blog/uk-price-citizenship

If you think you or your children are eligible to register as a British citizen, or would like to know more about this application, please do not hesitate to contact us for an initial consultation.

Filed Under: News and Updates


The Legal 500 - The Clients Guide to Law Firms
Top Ranked Chambers UK 2021
Listed as one of The Times’ 200 Leading UK Law Firms 2020
Tweets by @WesleyGrykLLP
Wesley Gryk Solicitors LLP
140 Lower Marsh, London SE1 7AE
Tel 020 7401 6887
Email contact@gryklaw.com

Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy

Wesley Gryk Solicitors LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales with number OC317684. Our registered office is at 140 Lower Marsh, London, SE1 7AE. We are authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority with SRA ID 446311.

Copyright © 2021 · Wesley Gryk Solicitors LLP · Website by Culpepper & Co

.