Authors:Solange Valdez and Carol Bohmer
Created:2014-05-01
Last updated:2023-09-18
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Registering children as British citizens
Solange Valdez and Carol Bohmer, who in 2013 founded the Project for the Registration of Children as British Citizens (PRCBC), discuss the importance of active registration, as British citizens, of migrant children and children born to undocumented migrant parents in the UK. Solange Valdez is a finalist in the immigration/asylum category of the 2014 Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards (see page 8 of this issue).
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Description: may2014-p11-01
The British Nationality Act 1981 provides for registration of children as British citizens by entitlement or at the discretion of the Home Secretary. Applications are made on a form with supporting documents and a fee.1Form MN1 is one of the applications forms in respect of the registration of children, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/261586/form_mn1.pdf.
Registration provides all the advantages of citizenship; the child is free to live in the UK and acquires European free movement rights. Without registration, the child requires Home Office permission to be in the UK and could face removal.
PRCBC’s work
The authors founded PRCBC last year, in response to the case of three siblings. Two of the children had severe learning difficulties and all had suffered emotional trauma. Two of the children were born in the UK but were unlawfully removed despite a pending family court hearing and being on the child protection register. Their father had abused their mother for over five years in the UK. The Home Office initially refused registration. After judicial review proceedings were initiated, the Home Office agreed to register two of the children; further proceedings were needed to secure registration for the third child.
Organisations working with children and young adults recognise that registration as a British citizen provides a stronger sense of integration and identity. The Home Office’s registration form guide emphasises:2Guide MN1, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/277945/Guide_MN1_February_2014.pdf.
Becoming a British citizen is a significant life event. Apart from allowing a child to apply for a British citizen passport, British citizenship gives them the opportunity to participate more fully in the life of their local community as they grow up (page 5).
PRCBC, hosted by Ealing Law Centre® in west London, delivers workshop sessions; support to carers, social workers, groups working with children and lawyers; outreach; awareness-raising; and legal challenges to barriers to registration. We have run several well-attended training sessions for professionals working with children, in conjunction with the Coram Children’s Legal Centre. We also run monthly Saturday surgeries, where our specialist immigration solicitor provides legal advice for complex cases.
An initial referral form assessment is followed by a surgery appointment to determine whether the child is eligible for registration. If necessary, the solicitor can provide ongoing casework, including assisting children with applications to register, challenging refusals at review and pre-action stage and, when necessary, issuing judicial review proceedings. Demand is high from those working with migrant children and children born to migrant parents.
So far, the project has been run entirely on pro bono input, and we have only been able to take on complex cases or cases where there is a particularly vulnerable situation. By the time cases reach us, they have often become more complex through lack of early intervention and advice. Seeing children much earlier would allow us to assist with applications before cases become complex and children are facing imminent removal. We need to raise awareness among these children’s communities and are planning more outreach work in the near future.
Plans to continue and expand
We have been awarded funding by Unbound Philanthropy, starting last month, which will enable us to consolidate and develop our training, casework and outreach programmes.3See: www.unboundphilanthropy.org/. However, funding for individual cases still poses a serious problem.
Since April 2013, legal aid is no longer available to assist with registration applications; exceptional case funding is theoretically available, but making an application to the Legal Aid Agency is time-consuming and unremunerated. The Ministry of Justice’s current guidance asserts that funding applications in cases of this type are unlikely to succeed. In most cases, children are receiving social services’ assistance, or their carers are destitute or unable to pay for advice. A critical barrier is the prescribed fee, currently £673 (set to reduce to £669 by the Immigration and Nationality (Fees) Regulations 2014 SI No 922 in force from 6 April 2014): this is unattainable for many.
The Strategic Legal Fund for Vulnerable Young Migrants has awarded us a grant for pre-litigation research on three connected areas concerning registration of children as British citizens: the fee; the narrow interpretation of the law; and inadequate Home Office reasons for refusing applications.4See: www.strategiclegalfund.org.uk/grantsawarded/.
■ We would like to hear from practitioners on their experience on the registration of children as British citizens. Please e-mail: Solange.valdez@ealinglaw.org.uk.
 
1     Form MN1 is one of the applications forms in respect of the registration of children, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/261586/form_mn1.pdf. »