Don't you worry, don't you worry child. The court's got a judgement for you.

In a surprising and welcome bit of good news before the holidays, the High Court has found in favour of the Project for the Registration of Children as British Citizens (PRCBC) in what can only be considered a landmark case in British nationality law.

The case was brought due to the extortionate fee to register foreign children as British (many children born to parents who later settle or naturalise as British can become so themselves but need to make a paid application). It is absurdly high at £1,012 when the cost to the Home Office itself to process these cases is just £372. The rest is justified as profit costs so that our immigration system can be self-financing.

Registration of children is not the same as naturalisation of adults. Whilst the end result of both is British citizenship, adults must naturalise on the basis of meeting certain criteria and at the discretion of the Home Secretary. Children who seek registration have an entitlement to become British.

Whilst it has long been accepted that those seeking status in the UK should cover the administrative costs of their visa applications, such high profit margins are astonishing and are common in many types of application, although a minority of more basic services are run at a small loss. Overall, the Home Office made over £500m profit in the last year from these fees.

The PRCBC made the argument that registration of children is not a matter of immigration law. Nationality law is a separate area and the children who were seeking to register had an entitlement to do so. They were not asking for a right to be given to them – simply that the Home Office should process and accept an existing right and formally register them as British. As such, the excessive costs to keep the immigration system running could not be justified, as this was not a matter of immigration law.

For some applications, fee waivers can be sought if the cost is too high. This is, however, limited to the destitute, and not to low income families who may simply be more focused on keeping the lights on than paying over £1,000 for an application.

Fee waivers are notably not available for registration applications. The Home Office argued that they are available at earlier points in the system, such as assisting children to get limited leave to remain. Again, PRCBC noted this was a conflation of immigration law with nationality law and the Home Office were failing to consider the real impact of these costs on children and their families.

Children who cannot register as British are often all too acutely aware as to how their lack of nationality makes them different from their classmates. This can have a real impact on their sense of stability and wellbeing. The children in these cases have entered the UK whilst very young and have only known this country as their home. This is a great step forward in protecting and enshrining the rights of children in nationality law.

If you would like to speak to an expert regarding child citizenship applications, we have a team of experienced advisers who are more than happy to help! To speak with a member of our team please call us, request a callback at your convenience, message us your enquiry or email enquiry@broudiejacksoncanter.co.uk.