£1,012 fee for children to be UK citizens ‘is unlawful’

CAMPAIGNERS HAVE hailed a “landmark ruling” after the High Court found that the Government acted unlawfully in setting a £1,012 fee for children to register as a British citizen.

The Project for the Registration of Children as British Citizens (PRCBC) argued the “exorbitant” registration fee – for an application which costs the Home Office just £372 to process effectively removes children’s entitlement to citizenship.

In a judgment yesterday, Mr Justice Jay said that the fee was unlawful because the Home Office had “failed to have regard to the best interests” of children affected by the level of the fee. The PRCBC says that many children who are entitled to citizenship, having been born in the UK and lived here for their first 10 years, are prevented from applying because of the “excessively high” fee.

The case, which was supported by Amnesty International UK, was brought on behalf of two children identified only as O who is 12 years old, and A, three, both of whom were born in the UK and have lived here their entire lives.

The judge ruled that the regulations which set the fee “are unlawful in that respect to the extent that they set the fee for registration applications brought by children at £1,012”.

He added that there was “no evidence” that the Home Office had “identified where the best interests of children seeking registration lie, has begun to characterise those interests properly (or) has identified that the level of fee creates practical difficulties for many”.

A Home Office spokesman said: “We note the court’s judgment and will consider its implications carefully.”