The Immigration and Nationality (Fees) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2020

Amendments to the Immigration and Nationality (Fees) Regulations 2018

9.—(1) Schedule 8 (nationality) is amended as follows.

(2) In paragraph 2—

(a) after sub-paragraph (1) insert—

“(1A) Table 20A provides an exception from the requirement to pay the fees specified in 19.2.1 and 19.3.1 in Table 19 in the specified circumstances.”;

(b) after sub-paragraph (2) insert—

“(3) Paragraph 6 confers a discretion on the Secretary of State to waive the fee specified in 19.3.1.”

(3) After Table 20 insert—

“Table 20A (Exception in respect of fees for applications for registration as a British citizen under the 1981 Act)

Number and description of the exception		Fees to which the exception applies
20A.1	Certain applications for registration as a British citizen under section 4F of the 1981 Act
20A.1.1	No fee is payable in respect of an application for registration as a British citizen under the 1981 Act where— (a) the application is made under section 4F of that Act(1); (b) the relevant registration provision (within the meaning given by section 4F(2) of that Act) is paragraph 4 or 5 of Schedule 2 to that Act(2); and (c) the applicant made an application falling within paragraphs (a) and (b) before 25th July 2019 but it was refused because the Secretary of State was not satisfied that the applicant was of good character.	Fees 19.2.1, 19.3.1”

(4) After paragraph 5 insert—

“Waiver in respect of the fee specified in 19.3.1

6.— (1) The Secretary of State may waive the fee specified in 19.3.1 in respect of an application for registration as a British citizen made—

(a) under section 3(1) of the 1981 Act,

(b) in respect of a child born on or after 1st July 2006, and

(c) on the grounds in sub-paragraph (2).

(2) The grounds are that—

(a) at the time of the child’s birth, the woman who gave birth to the child (“the child’s mother”) was married to, or in a civil partnership with, a man other than the child’s natural father,

(b) no person is treated as the father of the child under section 28 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990(3) or section 35 or 36 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008(4),

(c) no person is treated as a parent of the child under section 42 or 43 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008(5), and

(d) the child would have automatically become a British citizen at birth by the operation of any provision of the 1981 Act if the child’s mother had been married to, or in a civil partnership with, the child’s natural father at the time of the child’s birth (irrespective of whether the child’s mother and natural father could actually have been married to, or in a civil partnership with, each other at that time).

(3) The reference in sub-paragraph (2)(d) to automatically becoming a British citizen at birth is to be construed in accordance with section 4J(4) of the 1981 Act(6).”

(1)

Section 4F of the British Nationality Act 1981 (c. 61) was inserted by section 65 of the Immigration Act 2014.

(2)

Paragraph 4 was amended by sections 1(1)(b) and 2(2)(b) of the British Overseas Territories Act 2002 (c. 8).

(3)

1990 c. 37; section 28 was amended by paragraph 78 of Schedule 3 to the Adoption and Children Act 2002 (c. 38) and by section 1(1) of and paragraphs 13 to 15 of the Schedule to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Deceased Fathers) Act 2003 (c. 24).

(4)

2008 c. 22; section 35 was amended by paragraph 38 of Schedule 7 to the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 (c. 30) and paragraph 18(2) of Schedule 5 to the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014 and Civil Partnership Act 2004 (Consequential Provisions and Modifications) Order 2014 (S.I. 2014/3229).

(5)

Section 42 was amended by paragraph 40 of Schedule 7 to the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 and paragraph 18(4) of Schedule 5 to the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014 and Civil Partnership Act 2004 (Consequential Provisions and Modifications) Order 2014.

(6)

Section 4J of the British Nationality Act 1981 was inserted by section 65 of the Immigration Act 2014.