British Nationality

(asked on 15th October 2019) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that British citizenship is granted to a stateless person born in the UK who fulfils the conditions of paragraph 3 of Schedule 2 to the British Nationality Act 1981 but who cannot afford the registration fee.


Answered by
Baroness Williams of Trafford Portrait
Baroness Williams of Trafford
Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
This question was answered on 5th November 2019

The Home Office has no current plans to specifically review the fees policy applicable to stateless persons applying to register as a British citizen, however the Home Office keeps its fees for immigration and nationality under review.

The Home Office has no current plans to produce a specific impact assessment in respect of the fee for a child or young person born stateless to register as a British citizen. An assessment of the impact of all border, immigration and citizenship (BIC) fees was published as an associated document to the Immigration and Nationality Fees (Regulation) 2018. In response to a recommendation from the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration the Department will consider publication of fee-related Policy Equality Statements on a case by case basis going forward.

Statistics on the UK’s resident population and on births by nationality of parent are a matter for the Office for National Statistics.

The Home Office stateless leave policy is designed to assist those who are unable to return to their country of former habitual residence because they are stateless and no longer have a right of residence there. This also reflects our obligations under the UN Stateless Conventions by providing a means for stateless persons in the UK to access their basic human rights and is part of our efforts to address wider global issues facing stateless persons. Leave to remain applications to stay in the UK as a stateless person are free of charge.

There are citizenship routes for children who are born in the UK: if their parent becomes British or settled, or if they live in the UK for the first ten years of their life. In addition there are provisions for stateless children which allow us to meet our obligations under the 1961 Convention.

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