On 11th of February 2022 Lauryn McCrorie of our Glasgow Immigration Team reported on a decision from the Supreme Court relating to whether the Home Office could legally charge a fee of £1012 for a child to register as a British Citizen. The article can be found here.
The Supreme Court found that the Home Office could set the fee above the actual costs incurred by the Home Office in processing a registration application. However, the decision did not affect an earlier finding of the Court of Appeal in England that the Home Office was in breach of its duty to consider a child’s best interest when setting the fee for registration.
The Home Office has now published guidance on how it will consider claims for a fee waiver or exemption in an application to register a child as a British Citizen. The guidance can be found here (publishing.service.gov.uk: Affordability fee waiver Citizenship registration for individuals under the age of 18).
Applications for a fee waiver/exemption can be made any time from 16th of June 2022 although the application form has not yet been published. The new regulations provide for :
- a fee waiver for children applying to register as British citizens if they and their parents or guardians can show that they cannot afford to pay the fee.
- An exemption when paying the fee for children who are looked after by a local authority and/or outside the UK and in a similar situation to being looked after by a local authority.
- There is also an exemption from the Citizenship Ceremony fee of £80 for anyone whose registration fee has been exempted or waived.
If you would like any advice or assistance regarding applying to register a child as a British citizen and also applying for the fee waiver then please do not hesitate to contact our Immigration Team.
Take the next step
- Call us on 0131 226 5151