Stop Home Office profiteering from Child Citizenship fees
Ask your MP to call on the new Home Secretary to stop denying children their right to British citizenship.
1,000s of children born or raised here in the UK are being prevented from getting a student loan, applying for jobs or opening a bank account.
They meet all of the Home Office's stringent criteria but cannot afford to pay over £1,000 in fees to prove their 'British-ness'.
Every month, the Home Office makes a shocking **£2m profit** from the fees it charges children and their families. Even though it only costs £372 to process each child citizenship application, the Home Office charge £1,012 and make a £623 profit per child! And as the recent investigation by The Times shows, this is part of rising immigration fees across the board.
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Message for Your MP
When you sign the petition this message will be sent to Your MP.
Subject: Stand by children raised here and help reduce child citizenship fees
I am writing as a constituent concerned that thousands of children born or raised in the UK are currently being denied their right to become British citizens due to the sky-high fees set by the Home Office.
These are children who already meet the Home Office's stringent criteria but whose families cannot afford to spend over £1,000 per child but have been contributing to society for many years.
This concerns me - as it should all of us - because it's holding young people back from fulfilling their potential and contributing to society. Without the official documents they need, many of these young people are prevented from obtaining a student loan and attending university, as well as applying for jobs or opening a bank account.
Research by community organising charity Citizens UK has revealed that the Home Office makes a profit of over £600 per child citizenship application, amounting to a shocking £2 million in profit each month. Moreover, the Independent Inspector for Borders criticised the Home Office for a lack of attention to basic fairness.
Finally, on Monday 12th August 2019 The Times spotlighted this issue as part of a major investigation on the hostile environment’s immigration fee regime as a whole.
As my MP, I urge you to write to the new Home Secretary, Priti Patel MP, to raise this matter with her and call for child citizenship fees to be reduced to their cost price of £372.
While Parliament continues to debate Brexit, I hope that you will take this opportunity to help make a tangible difference to children born or raised here and help avoid another Windrush-style scandal. I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your e-mail address]
[Your postal address]
[Your postcode]