The Home Office faces a legal challenge over the fees it charges for registering a child as a British citizen.
Thousands of children living in the UK, who were born in the country or came at a young age, are obliged by law to pay £1,012 to register as British citizens. The Project for Registration of Children as British citizens and Amnesty International UK are seeking a judicial review heard by the high court to get these fees lowered or waived for those who cannot afford them.
An estimated 120,000 children in the UK who have grown up British are being charged unaffordable fees to register their citizenship rights.The group views the charges as profiteering from children who have an entitlement or right in law to register as British citizens and claim they create hardships particularly for children living in poverty, the disabled and those in local authority care.
Campaigners say the extortionate charges are forcing families into destitution, with one mother forced to choose between food and saving money for her child. They say profits made from children’s applications are used to offset unrelated immigration costs even though many children affected were born in the UK and have never left.
The judicial review calls for the Home Office to set the registration fee at a level that covers administrative costs only: £372, and to introduce a means-tested waiver for those children who cannot afford the fee and for children in council care.
The Home Office has stated that it keeps all Home Office fees, including immigration and nationality fees, under regular review. The fees are approved by parliament and take into account the wider costs involved in running the UK border, immigration and citizenship system, thereby reducing the burden on UK taxpayers.
