The Home Office recently made changes to its guidance for Home Office caseworkers considering applications to register a child as a British citizen.
It should be borne in mind that this guidance is not law, but it does indicate how the Home Office interprets the law and how it should be expected to implement the law in practice.
The main changes to the guidance relate to section 3(1) of the British Nationality Act 1981. An application under section 3(1) is discretionary in nature. Briefly, a child, i.e. someone under the age of 18 years, should be registered under section 3(1) if the Secretary of State thinks it fit to register the child (and the child, if over the age of 10, is of Good Character).
What's Changed?
The guidance makes changes to how Home Office caseworkers should consider applications under section 3(1) in two ways: it introduces a general statement about British citizenship and children’s best interests and how this should be dealt with in practice, and it introduces a section to address applications where a child has lived in the UK for more than 10 years.
For the purposes of this blog, we will address the introduction of the section on 10 years’ residence in the guidance.
For context, there is provision under section 1(4) of the British Nationality Act 1981 to register a child as a British citizen where the child was born in the UK and lived in the UK for the first 10 years of his/her life. The child must also meet an absence requirement and the Good Character requirement. The introduction of a section in the guidance about applying under section 3(1) where a child has lived in the UK for 10 years, although the child was not born in the UK, is recognition of the significance of 10 years’ residence in establishing a ‘strong connection’ with the UK.
The Home Office’s updated guidance confirms that Home Office caseworkers “must normally” register a child as a British citizen if the child has lived in the UK for 10 years and the child is in the UK lawfully, the parents have regularised their own status, where necessary the parents consent to the registration (or any objections are ill-founded) and the Good Character requirement is met.
The updated guidance goes on to consider the circumstances in which an application should be granted, even where the above requirements cannot be met. In essence, where the child is not in the UK lawfully or the parent(s) have not regularised their status, the caseworker should consider whether the child has strong connections with the UK and the child’s future intentions.
The changes introduced in the updated guidance widen the scope of children able to apply to register as a British citizen under section 3(1).
If you would like any advice or assistance regarding applying to register a child as a British citizen then please do not hesitate to contact one of the experienced solicitors in our immigration team.