The Home Office has been charging a fee of £1,012 to children who wish to register their British citizenship. In a landmark judgment on 19 December 2019 the High Court in London found this to be unlawful.
The fee has left a substantial number of children who have a right to citizenship but simply cannot afford the fee feeling, in the words of the High Court, "alienated, excluded, isolated, "second-best", insecure and not fully assimilated into the culture and social fabric of the UK".
Depending on what happens next, this could be a life changing moment for these children. It was also a big win for the organisation that brought the challenge, The Project for the Registration of Children as British Citizens (PRCBC) and Amnesty, who supported it.
