Key Facts

• Amendment 29 is proposed by Bambos Charalambous.
• Amendment 84 is proposed by Roger Gale.
• Amendments are grouped by subject matter, not the sequence in which they were tabled.
• Members may speak to amendments 29 and 84, even though 84 has not been moved.
• Any member can speak to any of the second grouping of amendments: 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and new clause 16.
• Neil Coyle inquired about the necessity of declaring interests during each contribution or once per sitting.
• The amendments seek to correct discrimination against women and their children regarding the passing on of citizenship.
• The Bill raises profoundly important issues but has fundamental disagreements with many aspects.
• Campaign groups such as Project for the Registration of Children as British Citizens, Amnesty International, and BTOC have been instrumental in bringing these changes.
• The amendment aims to fix discrimination against women in British overseas territories citizenship laws.
• Section 4C of the British Nationality Act 1981 allows for correcting injustices related to mothers not being able to pass on citizenship in the same terms as fathers.
• The current Bill uses the term 'had P’s parents been treated equally', which is seen as unclear and potentially problematic.
• Amendment 8 would prevent fees for British overseas territories citizenship applications due to historical inability of mothers to transmit it.
• Amendment 9 addresses unmarried fathers' ability to transmit British overseas territories citizenship without a fee.
• Amendment 10 prevents fees for certain British overseas territories citizens applying for British citizenship.
• Amendments 11 and 12 prevent fees on applications for British or overseas territories citizenship by people previously denied due to historical unfairness, public authority acts/omissions, or exceptional circumstances.
• No person may be charged a fee higher than the cost to the Secretary of State.
• Children in local authority care are exempt from fees.
• Unaffordable fees for children should not be imposed.
• Amendments provide for no fee for registration applications under clause 1.
• Clauses 2, 3, and 7 seek to remedy other injustices related to British overseas territories citizenship.
• The Home Office currently charges £1,112 for child registration and £1,206 for adult registration.
• Registration fees have been ramped up since 2007 from around £30 to over £1,000.
• Fees for citizenship and passport services should reflect only the cost of delivering these services.
• There are concerns that current fees could be seen as profit-making by the Home Office.
• The MP maintains that high fees can be justified if they cover man hours spent and time needed to check applications.
• Home Office made profits of £500 million in 2018 by charging more than it cost to process fees.
• The MP mentions two cases involving vulnerable individuals affected by high immigration fees.
• Fraser's village in Sudan was destroyed, forcing him to become an asylum seeker.
• It took Fraser six years beyond initial eligibility to obtain British citizenship due to unaffordable fees.
• Matthew had leave to remain but could not afford the £2,000 renewal fee and faced eviction from his housing association.
• Spire View Housing Association provided Matthew with a fuel card, food vouchers, and assistance to help him get back on his feet.
• The process takes at least six months to recruit someone from Japan under current rules.
• A financial sector firm moved to Frankfurt where the process took two weeks instead of six months.
• At the end of March 2021, 66,000 people were waiting for initial decisions from the Home Office.
• Of those, 56,000 had been waiting more than six months.
• The number of people waiting over a year for a decision has risen tenfold since 2010, with 33,000 people in that position in 2020, including 7,000 children.
• 2,500 people are waiting more than three years and at least two examples exist of people waiting over a decade for Home Office decisions on their status.
• Ade Ronke's case took seven years to resolve her son's citizenship status due to bureaucratic delays.
• The cost to process citizenship in the UK is 10 times higher compared to France, Spain, and Canada.
• A 10-year route to settlement now costs an adult £12,761.
• Children face a cost of £1,012 for an application or £11,221 for the 10-year route to settlement.
• The High Court ruled that the child citizen fee was unlawful after a legal challenge by the Project for the Registration of Children as British Citizens in December 2020.
• The Court of Appeal upheld this ruling in February.
• London councils are spending £53 million a year on emergency social services for children subject to no recourse to public funds conditions.
• Fees for immigration and nationality applications have been charged under powers set out in the Immigration Act 2014.
• The Home Office's profit margin from some processes is reported as high as 86% by Neil Coyle.
• Amendments aim to limit the Secretary of State’s power to charge a fee for applying for British overseas territories citizenship.
• The Government is currently facing legal challenges in the Supreme Court regarding child citizenship fees.
• Any child in local authority care can apply for leave to remain without paying application fees, regardless of nationality.
• Information about becoming a British citizen is available on gov.uk and efforts are made to ensure accessibility.
• Roger Gale speaks about the Nationality and Borders Bill.
• There is no need for a stand part debate on Clause 2.
• No amendments are proposed for Clause 2.
• Before 1 July 2006, children born out of wedlock to British unmarried fathers could not automatically acquire British nationality.
• Registration provisions were introduced under sections 4E and 4I of the British Nationality Act 1981 for mainland UK children but not for those from British overseas territories.
• Clause 2 will insert new sections 17B and 17G to rectify this issue for adult children born before 1 July 2006 who did not acquire rights as British overseas territory citizens due to their parents' unmarried status.