UK Home Office Lists Category of People Who Should Not Apply for Citizenship Fee Waiver
- The UK Home Office published specific guidelines on who qualifies for a British citizenship fee waiver for children under 18
- Children in local authority care are directed away from the fee waiver process and must follow a separate route
- The Home Office outlined how qualifying applicants can submit their fee waiver requests, with exceptions for some regions
PAY ATTENTION: Mark YEN.com.gh as a preferred source, and our content will appear higher in your Google feed!
The UK Home Office has outlined the criteria for children under 18 seeking a fee waiver when applying for British citizenship.
The guidance explains that children who meet the requirements for British citizenship but face severe financial hardship may qualify for an exemption from the registration fee.
Source: Getty Images
However, the Home Office has identified a specific group of applicants who should not apply for the fee waiver.
Who should not apply for the UK citizenship fee waiver
Children who are currently in the care of a local authority have been instructed not to submit a fee waiver application.
Instead, looked-after children should provide evidence confirming their local authority care status alongside their British citizenship application.
Under the relevant provisions, citizenship applications made by young people in local authority care are processed free of charge.
This means such applicants do not need to go through the separate fee waiver process before submitting their citizenship applications.
Who can apply for the UK fee waiver?
Children under 18 who meet the requirements for British citizenship may apply for a fee waiver if paying the registration fee would cause severe financial hardship.
The Home Office considers circumstances such as:
- Not having adequate accommodation.
- Being unable to afford basic living costs, including food and heating.
- Having insufficient income after paying essential housing and everyday living expenses.
A parent or legal guardian can submit the application on behalf of a child.
Families may also be able to include multiple eligible children from the same family unit in one fee waiver submission.
How the UK citizenship fee waiver application works
Eligible applicants can submit fee waiver requests online or by post.
However, applicants living in Guernsey or Jersey must submit their applications by post.
People living in the Isle of Man are currently not eligible to apply for this particular fee waiver scheme.
Where an online fee waiver application is approved, the subsequent British citizenship application must also be submitted through the official online application service.
The guidance therefore distinguishes between children facing financial hardship who may qualify for a fee waiver and looked-after children, whose citizenship applications have separate arrangements for being processed without a fee.
UK names category eligible for British citizenship
In a related development, YEN.com.gh reported that the UK government had published official guidance on how stateless individuals could register as British citizens.
Adults aged 18 and over faced a total cost of £1,670, while applicants under 18 paid a reduced fee of £1,000.
Children who could not afford the registration fee could be eligible to apply for a fee waiver before submitting their applications.
Don't miss out! Get your daily dose of sports news straight to your phone. Join YEN's Sports News channel on WhatsApp now!
Source: YEN.com.gh
