Naturalisation Help

[mahasath]

Dear All,

One of my friend who used to work as Project Officer in reputed company in London , and in May 2016 , he resigned his job due to the cardiac issues and currently he is claiming Employment Support Allowance. He living in the country almost 16 years and He was about to apply his Naturalisation, but unfortunately, currently he is not working, he couldn't able to afford to pay the £1236 Naturalisation fees, is there any Grants in UK that help him to achieve his Naturalisation ? Please kindly advise me. Thank you in advance

[Casa]

No grants for those unable to afford the application fee, as British citizenship is a privilege, not a right.

it's unfortunate that if your friend has been living in the UK for 16 years that he didn't apply earlier when application fees were minimal compared to now.

[secret.simon]

is there any Grants in UK that help him to achieve his Naturalisation ?

There are no fee waivers for naturalisation given by the Home Office.

To the best of my knowledge, there is no charity that is dedicated to funding naturalisation applications. Remember that naturalisation is not a part of the immigration process and immigration charities are unlikely to fund naturalisation applications.

Some people that have commented on these forums have mentioned that they funded the fees via credit card debt. Does your friend have a credit card (and no debt issues)?

I agree with Casa that had he applied in the past, he would have been much better off. In 2005, the fees for naturalisation was £200 raising to £655 in 2010. It is about £1200 now, as you mentioned.

Also see Nationality applications: Scale of Fees (4 April 1975 to date).

[ohara]

Interestingly the USA has a citizenship loan programme to assist legal permanent residents on low/no income in their journey to citizenship.

The UK unfortunately does not have such a program.