With a signed piece of paper and a couple of pictures in front of the Queen, off we went, three new British citizens. From my experience, I know the system needs reforming. Expensive, time-consuming and practically unfair; the process to get to this point was far from simple.
With Brexit looming and the concern of paying international fees to go to University, my family decided that it would be best to begin applying for British citizenship. Whilst we were fortunate enough to be in the financial condition to afford the ‘naturalisation’ process, as it is sometimes known, it would come at a huge cost. On average, making a citizenship application costs around £1130 per person, and with the hidden costs such as collecting biometric data or getting help from a solicitor, it can cost even more. My family spent £3390 for us all, a number which creates quite the dent in anyone’s bank account! For those who aren’t fortunate enough to afford this, British citizenship is completely out of reach, no matter how long they have lived, studied, or worked here.
The problem is the hidden costs. First, there is the cost of the citizenship test itself. This consists of two parts: the first is an oral test to establish your level of English. The second part is a general knowledge exam, which by far exceeds the general knowledge of most British citizens and requires learning many dates and facts about British history and law that one would not usually learn in British education. It is an exam that is unnecessarily difficult and painful, made specifically to trip you up on obscure knowledge. Embarking on this journey without someone who does it professionally is a difficult feat, so the best thing to do is to get a solicitor to check all your documents and deal with any issues that might arise… costing even more. These are all carefully hidden within the description of “Applying for citizenship” on the government’s website, you have to scroll all the way down past all the ominous-looking requirements and warnings to find any practical help.
The system is also nerve-wracking and extremely long-winded. The whole process can take months, and within those months, if something goes wrong, such as your residence permit expiring, the whole thing can go south. This would mean you lose all your money and risk being sent back to your country of origin. In 2020, 17,0692 people applied for citizenship and 9,116 of these requests were denied. In my case, I was anxiously waiting by the letterbox awaiting a response because I knew that an ‘international’ university fee was just too much to handle for me and my family, and would have prevented me from furthering my education in the UK. Personally, I also struggled greatly with the idea of essentially leaving behind a part of my heritage. I was no longer only Italian, I was also British now. The dual citizenship option certainly made it a little easier to digest, meaning I can still hold onto my Italian passport and rights when I start missing home. In the long run, I realized that a piece of paper does not affect my heritage whatsoever, the only thing it seriously affected was our bank account and the rights we are able to access in the UK.
That is why citizenship is so important. Without it, you cannot access all of your rights. It is shocking to think that so many UK residents can’t vote and have their say. No matter how long they have been here, or are planning to stay here, they cannot get a say in the issues that affect them directly. As a young person, I was frustrated to see that my parents and I couldn’t vote simply because we didn’t have our citizenship. I was lucky to get mine so soon to be able to vote in the next general election, but not everyone has that privilege. Until just over a year ago, we could only vote for our local elections and not for the parliamentary ones. It is absurd to think that my parents could not vote regarding Brexit, which directly affects us and is a big part of the reason we needed citizenship in the first place, even after the EU Settlement Scheme. I have been raised with the strict belief that voting is not only a right but it is also a duty. Yet we had to sit back whilst others made decisions for us. The fact that you can live in the UK for 10, 20, even 50 years, unable to access all of your rights, especially one so crucial as voting, is just unthinkable. Access to citizenship should never be reliant on your financial status, and you should never have to pay your way into the polling station.
If by reading this you are thinking, ‘this system has some serious flaws’, then my friend, you and I are on the same page. Whilst I think it is fantastic that the UK permits Dual Citizenship and gives you more security within the country, the associated financial burden and resulting voter suppression is a huge cost. Aside from the fact that the money spent and waiting times are ridiculous, the right to vote should not be dependent on whether or not you have British citizenship. It is only natural that having lived in the United Kingdom for the latter half of my life, I would care more about being able to vote here rather than in Italy, a country I have not lived in for over ten years. As a matter of fact, as much as I keep regular contact with my Italian family, I often struggle to vote in Italian elections as I do not experience the political situation on a day to day basis. Many UK residents want to have their voice heard in the polling station, but are denied that right. Immediate change is needed for the citizenship process, such as the reduction of costs and time spent while permitting long-term residents to vote in elections.