House of Lords
Debate on Immigration and Nationality Fees Regulations 2018 and Children’s citizenship fees on 12 June 2018:
Baroness Lister of Burtersett to move that this House regrets that the Immigration and Nationality (Fees) Regulations 2018 include a £39 increase in the fee for registering children entitled to British citizenship, given that only £372 of the proposed £1,012 fee is attributable to administrative costs; and calls on Her Majesty’s Government to withdraw the fee increase until they have (1) published a children’s best interests impact assessment of the fee level, and (2) established an independent review of fees for registering children as British citizens, in the light of the report of the Select Committee on Citizenship and Civic Engagement (HL Paper 118) (SI 2018/330).
Please see Briefing for Peers_JUNE 2018 FINAL
House of Commons
Early Day motion:
That this House believes that tens of thousands of children born and living in the UK and entitled to register as British citizens under the British Nationality Act 1981 are nevertheless undocumented and therefore unable to access public services, social security, private rented accommodation, the labour market and many other benefits of citizenship; further believes that some will simply be unaware of the requirement to register and many others will not have the means to afford the fee of over £1,000 charged by the Home Office; notes that the estimated cost of processing such applications is only £372; believes that no child should be prevented from taking up their entitlement to British citizenship simply because of cost; calls for the fee for applications to be reduced to no higher than the cost of processing, for exemptions for children in local authority care, and for fee waivers for children who cannot afford to pay any fee at all; and further calls for steps to be taken to raise awareness of the need to register the right of these children to British nationality.
Please ask your MP to sign EDM 1262:
https://www.parliament.uk/edm/2017-19/1262
Please see Briefing on fees_Parliamentarians_26 April_2018
Please see our joint comprehensive Briefing on Fees: