British Citizenship fees - why in the name of sanity.....

[Lottapianos]

.... do I have to pay EIGHT HUNDRED AND FIFTY POUNDS to have a form processed?

Sorry for shouting but it drives me around the bend. I'm happy to pay a fee but Christ on a bendy bus! They say it's to cover the administration costs and the cost of the citizenship ceremony you get invited to if/when your application gets approved. I can only imagine it must be an Elton-John-style White Tie and Diamonds Ball if that's how much they are charging!

Anyone shed light on why it's so bloody expensive? Is there a good reason or are they just taking the you-know-what? Thanks!

Yes, it is absurd. DH has been here at school/working since he was seven years old, he pays more tax than a citizen.

karma is right though - the government has people over a barrel.

porcamiseria Why do you think that the Auz government wants over £30k to become an Australian citizen?

From what I've read, they only want 260 Australian (£175)..

There's an O missing from the beginning of my last post. Soz.

I know it's expensive. I surrendered an old passport recently to receive an A4 surrender certificate - and an old passport with its corner clipped 120£

You cant just 'buy' oz citizenship, doesnt quite work like that. lol

As another poster said its a few hundred dollars and for that you have had to held PR for 4 years, my ex is taking his in oct and once i get back to oz i have to another 18 months and then do my citizenship.

There is a Parents visa to become a Permanent resident which costs in the region you are speaking of but that is for people over 50 with children/family living in oz and again its not for citizenship is for PR

LulaP, this is the exact situation that my dh was in although we are further along in the process as we have the ILTR. Once you have ILTR there are no restrictions on recourse to public funds but of course in order to gain ILTR they expect you to be financially viable and not looking to access public funds anyway....

I know it drives me nuts, I've lived here all my life, my Mum, brother and DH are all british but because I wasn't born in this country because my parents were staying with my Dad's family at the time I have nationality of another EU country. I really want to change my nationality to British, it's what I feel I am, I want to vote, I don't want to be sneered at the Embassy when I can't speak the language of the country I was born it. Added to which there are some laws pertaining to care of the elderly in that mean I might have to pay for my father's care even though I haven't spoken to him for twenty years and he never paid a penny towards me. However I can't afford it, £850 is a heck of a lot and it's not fair.

This is on a par with the Netherlands.

At the moment I'm not bothering to get a Dutch passport - the only advantage would be that I can vote in a General Election.

I applied to be naturalised just before they brought in "citizenship ceremonies" as mandatory (gah) and well before the citizenship tests. I seem to recall it costs about £50 for the processing fees back in 2004. I was seeing a solicitor about something else so he just threw in his signature for free.

Good God, YADNBU at the ridiculous cost, especially as you haven't a scooby what that money actually goes for. I can't imagine it costs THAT much more to do what they did for me 8 years ago.

Ah, mrsSOAK, yes we are in the same boat. I was typing my post when you posted yours. Apologies for being repetitive!

I have heard that even with ILTR he won't be able to use NHS services beyond emergency medicine or primary care? e.g. if he had an accident he would get patched up in A&E but if he needed any follow up physio or something we would have to pay for it?

We're also looking into bringing his son over to live with us, so that's more visa fees. I will of course do what I have to do to be with my DH and DSS but it still annoys me!

jericho sorry for the tangent but why is your DH paying more tax? I'm non-EU and I didn't pay more tax than an English person.

I did have a couple short jobs where they put the wrong tax code on me because they thought they had to for non-EU, but I got the money back. You can write to HMRC with your documents, tell them you think you paid too much (going back 7 years I think), they will do the math for you and refund if you're entitled.

All I know is that he does, dreaming - he was told he had to pay at this rate as non-EU. I had no idea that wasn't standard.

Maybe it is different from you because he doesn't have permanent leave to remain, could that be it?

He's going to ask about it now though, you can bet!

"... and the cost of the citizenship ceremony you get invited to if/when your application gets approved. I can imagine it must be an Elton-John-style White Tie and Diamonds Ball if that's how much they are charging!"

at the very notion...

DH and I got dolled up in our Sunday best for mine. Let's just say that everyone else looked like they were on their way home from Tesco.

I have a nice medal, though.

Merchant, you got a medal?

I got a letter from Charles Clarke who'd already been sacked for months!

Oh gosh, that doesn't sound right at all. I honestly don't think immigration status matters for tax codes, as long as you have an NI number you pay just like anyone else.

I worked on a student visa, before I got married and switched my visas, and did not pay more in tax. My first two jobs put me on the high-level BR tax code because they thought non-EU could not get NI numbers, but once I gave them my NI number they put me on the normal rates.

Definitely check it out! I think there's a website somewhere to find out what your tax code should be? Otherwise I found HMRC surprisingly helpful, they were actually really quick to refund me too.

jerico are you a name changer with a Russian DH?

I'm dead subtle, me.

dreaming - I will make him check, I am really excited now!

I'll see if we can find a website - thanks so much. I would be reallly pleased if his work are wrong and they might be, they're a really small place and probably don't have much experience of it.

I'm sure it was free when I was first eligible but couldn't get the paperwork sorted and now there is the bloody citizenship test. I think a fee is appropriate though. I want my vote! Endlessly annoyed that EU and Commonwealth people passing through can vote in various elections and I can't after 11 years.

YANBU

And I get cross when people say that immigrants should pay this because they are getting the benefit of the NHS.

Generally, by the time someone applies for naturalisation, they have been in the country and paying taxes for many years.

Passport costs abroad are extortionate too. We waited till we returned to have DS's passport renewed because it is so expensive through the German or Swiss consulate.

The Australian citizenship test is very sensible, just facts, nothing laden with cultural values, and is written in plain, accessible English. Twenty questions, and I think you have to get 17 right.

It's cheap at $260, but the expense of entry visas and PR has to be factored in.

The ceremony was very touching, certificates, handshakes, a native plant as a present, the nation anthem, and a buffet of typical Aussie grub, meat pies, lamingtons. Everyone dressed up and it was free.:)

jericho I think without LTR, you're always taxed on emergency code - ie as if you had no allowances (because the assumption is you're not a permanent resident for the full tax year) - however you would still get the tax back at the end of the year. But I can't see a quick site confirming this.

jericho good luck -- I hope I haven't gotten your hopes up for nothing! Crossing fingers for you...

Thanks both. I'm sure we'll work it out!

Sorry, I derailed this. And feel kind of absurd saying I object to the citizenship fees if we've been paying too much tax by mistake.