British citizenship as a non-constitutional status

Abstract

It would generally seem uncontroversial to suggest that citizenship constitutes a fundamental status in all democratic societies. The UK Supreme Court’s recent decision in PRCBC casts doubt on whether that assertion holds true. The case was brought by O, a child holding Nigerian citizenship, who was born in the UK in 2007 and has lived there ever since. On this basis, O would be entitled to register as a British citizen under Section 1(4) of the British Nationality Act 1981, but for her family’s inability to afford the registration fee, currently set at £1,012. O was joined by the Project for the Registration of Children as British Citizens (PRCBC), a charity campaigning against the fee.