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Waving Citizenship Fees for Children #ChildrenNotProfit Sign the petition here Waving Citizenship Fees for Children #ChildrenNotProfit Sign the petition here
Waiving citizenship fees for children #ChildrenNotProfit
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#ChildrenNotProfit

#ChildrenNotProfit

#ChildrenNotProfit calls on the government to waive citizenship fees for children and aims to increase public awareness of the extortionate Home Office citizenship fees and the severe implications of these on children’s lives. For many children who grow up in the UK, the pathway to citizenship can take several years and fees have spiralled out of control. Tens of thousands of families are facing unaffordable costs, which is why IOHR is asking the government to end the practice of profiteering from citizenship applications and waive the cost of citizenship for all children.

What are we calling for?

The International Observatory of Human Rights is calling on the UK government to waive the fee charged to children applying for UK citizenship. We want to ensure no child is priced out of a status our laws recognise they have the right to possess.

Get involved!

If you think that this is unfair and that children are being priced out of their rights, there are a number of ways you can help:

Sign our petition

Share on social media

Who is affected?

Any and all children that have the right to become a UK citizen. This includes stateless and vulnerable children who have lived in the country for over five years and have the most to lose from not gaining citizenship.

How are they affected

Parents:

  • Are forced into debt
  • Are overworked
  • Are skipping Meals

Children:

  • Are made to feel like outsiders
  • Face a protection gap between them and the state

Who is entitled to register as British citizens under the British Nationality Act 1981?

Children who do
not need to be registered

British citizenship otherwise than by descent1

British citizenship by descent1

Some children born in the UK to EEA and Swiss nationals will be British citizens automatically and does not need to be registered. However, changes in the law mean that different rules apply depending on when a child was born.

Children
born in the UK

Born in the UK and either parent becomes a British citizen or settled2 and has spent the first 10 years3 of their life in the UK.

Born and remains stateless and has completed 5 years of continuous residence.

Children
not born in the UK

Registration at the Home Secretary’s discretion4

  • 1 There are two ways a child can automatically be a British citizen without needing to register. British citizenship otherwise than by descent: a child born in the UK to a parent who is a British citizen, or settled in the UK at the time the child is born, or a member of the UK armed forces is automatically a British citizen otherwise than by descent and does not need to be registered. British citizenship by descent: A child born abroad to a parent who is British otherwise than by descent will automatically be British by descent.
  • 2 Settled status means the parent is either a resident in the UK or a British Overseas Territory and has the right of abode (or similar status) or holds Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) or is a citizen of an EU/EEA Member State and has permanent residence or is otherwise unrestricted by immigration laws to remain in the UK or that Overseas Territory. Irish citizens in the UK are deemed settled for this purpose.
  • 3 Must have spent no more than 90 days outside the UK in each of the first 10 years of your life.
  • 4 Will consider for instance: children born abroad to parents who are applying for British citizenship the child’s connections with the UK where the child’s future is likely to lie the length of time the child has lived in the UK.

#ChildrenNotProfit Latest News

Waving Citizenship Fees for Children

Join the International Observatory of Human Rights in parliament during Refugee Week for an interesting panel discussion and the launch of IOHR’s campaign calling on the government to waive citizenship fees for children. For many children who grow up in the UK, the pathway to citizenship can take several years and fees have spiralled out of control. The cost of a citizenship application – at £1,012 – is 20 times the amount it costs for a child to be registered as a citizen in Germany and 21 times what it costs in France, while the estimated cost of processing such applications is only £372 … Read more →

The UK Home Office is holding children’s rights to ransom

The “hostile environment”; a policy that has seamlessly lurched from one controversy to the other. The brainchild of Theresa May’s time in the Home Office likely needs little introduction, but the “hostile environment” is – essentially – the idea that we can drive immigration numbers down by making the United Kingdom a horrible place for immigrants to live. The consequences have been far-reaching, from increasing strains on … Read more →

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