Highlights
- British citizenship costs £1,839, compared with £562 in the US
- UK citizenship applications reached a record 315,000 in the year to June
- IPPR warns high fees and tougher settlement rules could leave more residents without full political rights
THE cost of becoming a British citizen is three times higher than in any other G7 country, with the high fees potentially putting citizenship out of reach for many long-term residents, new research has found.
A British citizenship application costs £1,839, including a £1,709 naturalisation fee and a £130 charge for the citizenship ceremony.
By comparison, the cost in the US, the next most expensive G7 country, is £562.
The figures were reported by the Financial Times, citing research by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR).
The Home Office estimates that processing a citizenship application costs £324, meaning the application fee is substantially higher than the estimated administrative cost.
The issue has particular significance for long-term non-EU residents, including people who have settled in the UK but have not taken the final step to citizenship.
According to the thinktank, the cost and complexity of the process created “a fundamental constraint on belonging” and could discourage hundreds of thousands of non-EU nationals with settled status from applying for citizenship.
It also criticised the level of fees, saying they risked giving the impression that the Home Office viewed citizenship “primarily as a source of income rather than a democratic institution core to the British way of life”.
Record level of application
There were 315,000 applications in the year to June, according to the figures cited by the FT. The increase partly reflects earlier rises in immigration, but the newspaper reported that it may also be linked to political proposals to restrict or remove rights from non-citizens, including some people who already have settled status.
For non-Commonwealth nationals, citizenship is also significant because it provides full voting rights. Migrants generally become eligible for indefinite leave to remain after five years in the UK and can apply for citizenship after holding that status for a further year.
However, proposed changes to settlement rules could make the route considerably longer for some workers.
The government has proposed that lower-paid workers could have to wait as long as 15 years before becoming eligible for indefinite leave to remain. IPPR warned that such changes could result in “an expanding subclass” of people living under British laws without full political representation or social inclusion.
Marley Morris, an associate director at IPPR, said ministers should be encouraging long-term residents to become citizens rather than introducing further barriers.
“Transience is worse for integration,” Morris said, according to the FT.
IPPR has called for clear and consistent routes to citizenship for all long-term residents. It also wants blanket bans on naturalisation removed and proposed settlement reforms changed so that no one has to wait more than 10 years for indefinite leave to remain.
The organisation has also called for changes to the Life in the UK test, which prospective citizens must pass as part of the naturalisation process.
It argued that the test should place greater emphasis on British rights and institutions, as well as legal and political processes, rather than requiring applicants to memorise obscure facts.
The thinktank has also suggested adding a practical volunteering element.
In 2022, the House of Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee called for an urgent review of the test, describing it as containing obscure facts and subjective assertions.
