NJOMANE LAW

The child British citizenship application fees The current fee for a child to apply for registration as a British citizen is £1,012 . The fee is payable per child applicant so Home Office fees can mount up if parents have a number of children who are eligible to apply to register as British citizens. The waiver of fees for British citizenship child applicants is contained in the Immigration and Nationality (Fees) (Amendment) Regulations 2022.  The key points that British citizenship solicitors stress: The fee waiver doesn’t come into force until the 16 June 2022 . The registration fees will only be waived if the Home Office think a parent or guardian of a child can't afford the fees. Applications made by a local authority to register a looked after child as a British citizen are now all fee exempt . If a parent or guardian is deemed able to afford the registration fee then the fee remains at £1,012 per registration application . There is no sliding scale of fees based on affordability. It is either £1,012 or nil if the Home Office accept the fees should be waived at their discretion. If you are about to submit a British citizenship registration application on behalf of your child you may want to wait until after the 16 June 2022. If the fees of £1,012 per child have deterred you from making an application on behalf of your child, then now may be the best time to get legal advice on making an application to register your child as a British citizen. British citizenship solicitors can talk you through the advantages of your child securing British citizenship before they reach the age of eighteen. Are the new child British citizenship application fees fair? British citizenship solicitors and other interested parties argued that all applications made by or on behalf of children for registration as British citizens should be free of charge. Alternatively, they argued that the Home Office application fee should be reduced to a level that simply covered the Home Office administrative expenses rather than include a ‘profit element’ to subsidise other aspects of Home Office work. The Home Office disagreed. The decision means that the wealthy and the poorest parents at both ends of the scale will now be able to register their child as a British citizen. However, middle income parents may struggle to get a fee waiver from the Home Office or alternatively the requirement to apply for a waiver may continue to discourage parents from making the British citizenship registration application for their child because of the £1,012 fee. The fee waiver application The new rules state that the £1,012 registration fee can be waived if Home Office officials determine that the fee is “not affordable” . What ‘’not affordable’ ’ means is open to interpretation as does it mean that the fees should be payable at the expense of a trip overseas to see extended family or at the expense of putting food on the table or heating the family home? The answer lies in the detail. A Home Office official will assess the financial circumstances of the child and of any other person who might otherwise reasonably be expected to bear the cost of paying all or part of the registration fee. That normally will mean assessing a parent or guardian’s income and outgoings and looking at their savings. The guidance suggests that a fee waiver form will need to be submitted together with supporting paperwork to secure the fee waiver. Income, outgoing and savings will be considered as the Home Office will determine if a family has sufficient to pay their essential living expenses. If they do not then the fees will be waived. However, immigration solicitors remain concerned that there will be children in middle income families, where parents are faced with the cost of living crisis, who will be deterred from applying to register their child as a British citizen simply because they can't afford to spend what is a significant amount of money in registering their child’s right to be British. The next steps: If you aren’t sure if your child is eligible to apply to register as a British citizen or if you will be eligible for the Home Office fee waiver then our British citizenship solicitors can advise you and discuss the benefits of British citizenship for your child so you can weigh up the advantages of applying to register, and whether or not you are likely to have to pay the £1,012 fee. For easy to understand advice in regards to your options and guidance about what is involved in the immigration and settlement application process give our dedicated experts a call. For advice on immigration law call our dedicated immigration lawyers at Njomane Law on (+44) 7591 725862 / (+44) 7816 597100 or contact us online .

New UK Immigration Rules for Children and Families The government has recently announced the planned introduction of new immigration rules affecting children and families in a Statement of Changes in immigration rules, referred to as HC1118 . In this blog Njomane Law takes a look at the planned immigration changes for children and families. If you need immigration advice on how the changes may impact your family please get in touch through our online enquiry form or call us. Family and individual immigration rule changes The UK government has said it plans to introduce new appendixes to the immigration rules on individual immigration applications. The three appendixes are: Settlement Family Life Private Life Relationship with a Partner The government reasons behind the changes in the immigration rules is to simplify the existing complicated rules. Settlement Family Life Appendix Settlement Family Life attempts to simplify settlement rules for people in the UK with permission as a partner or as a parent under Appendix FM (such as the spouse visa or family visa) and who meet the eligibility criteria to apply for indefinite leave to remain after a qualifying period of ten years. Importantly, Settlement Family Life permits different periods of leave as a partner, parent, on a private life route, or using leave outside the immigration rules to be combined. To be put simply means leave on other routes can be counted towards the ten year route to indefinite leave to remain provided the settlement applicant: Did not enter the UK illegally and Had permission as a partner or parent under Appendix FM for at least one year. People with leave as parents of a child under Appendix FM can also apply to settle once their child has reached eighteen. In order to be successful, under the revised immigration rules, there is a requirement that the settlement applicant must meet the continuous residence requirement for a successful indefinite leave to remain application. Appendix Private Life Appendix Private Life, the government introduces new immigration rules for child applicants. The appendix allows children and young adults to apply for indefinite leave to remain after five years. Once introduced, Appendix Private Life will replace paragraph 276 ADE(1) of the immigration rules. The key points are:  An applicant who entered the UK as a child and who was then granted permission to stay based on private life, as either a child resident for seven years, or a young adult meeting the half-life test (between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five) may be able to qualify for settlement after five years of continuous residence in the UK using the private life route. A child born in the UK and who has lived in the UK continuously for seven years can qualify for immediate settlement. The child may be eligible for British citizenship when they reach the age of ten. A child born in the UK who has been continuously resident in the UK for less than seven years can be added as a dependant to a person in the UK on the private life route in some situations. Applicants will also need to meet the continuous residence requirements to qualify for settlement. Where a dependent child under the age of eighteen is applying, suitable care and accommodation arrangements must be in place and they must comply with UK laws. The Appendix Private Life replaces the requirement for a child or young adult to have permission under the private life rules for ten years before being eligible for settlement. Children and young adults will be able to secure permission for an initial period of either thirty or sixty months. Currently the immigration rules only give thirty months permission. Appendix Relationship with a Partner This appendix to the immigration rules at this current moment only apply to applicants who are proving a relationship with a partner when making an application under Appendix Settlement Family Life. A partner is defined as someone who is the applicant’s spouse or civil partner or a person with whom they are in a durable relationship that is similar in nature to a marriage or a civil partnership and is of least two years duration. The relationship requirements include: The partners have met and; The partners are both aged over eighteen and; The partners are not related within the prohibited degrees that would prevent them from getting married or from entering into a civil partnership and; Any previous relationships have broken down and; The relationship must be genuine and subsisting. When you are considering making family or child immigration applications it is best to understand your options and to get the application right, first time, to avoid stress and hassle. Njomane Law understand that government have made attempts to simplify the immigration rules, however doesn’t always assist families and parents when the rules are so complicated in the first place. For easy to understand advice in regards to your options and guidance about what is involved in the immigration and settlement application process give our dedicated experts a call. For advice on immigration law call our dedicated immigration lawyers at Njomane Law on (+44) 7591 725862 / (+44) 7816 597100 or contact us online .