Summary
Today we have launched a briefing on settlement and citizenship for children in care. It is based on the experiences of young people in Greater Manchester who we have supported with their immigration or citizenship applications.
Children’s experiences:
Children in care and care leavers have shared their views on how they want to be supported by social workers and the local authority to regularise their status and apply for British citizenship if they can. Children have asked local authorities to recongnise the importance of:
- Having secure immigration status, or citizenship
- Resolving status and citizenship early
- Understanding the emotional impact of applications
Our work with local authorities
We are working with local authorities in Greater Manchester to ensure that they identify children in care with insecure immigration status and support them to make those all-important applications to resolve their immigration situation.
Our asks of local authorities
The briefing outlines our asks of local authorities based on our experience of supporting children in care, and children’s direct experience of being supported through immigration processed by local authorities.
- Adopt a passports for all policy. By applying for a British passport for all children in care, local authorities will know which of their children are already British.
- Work with GMIAU to ensure systems, care proceedings, and care plans are designed to capture children’s nationality and immigration status at the earliest point
- Work with GMIAU to deliver training to staff, guides on how to resolve common issues, and immigration consultation sessions about specific children
Our offer to local authorities
- We have published two guides for social workers and local authority staff. These guides are to support with applications for British citizenship for children in care, and for leave to remain under annex FM. You can find the guides and more information here.
- We provide free training to social workers, IRO’s and personal advisers about routes to citizenship and routes to leave to remain in the UK. We are offering this to local authorities in Greater Manchester who are working towards our asks with us.
We can provide training in person for your team, please contact kathleen@gmiau.org.
Alternatively, we are running online training you can sign up for here:
16.02.2026 10.00am-11.30am- book training here.
16.03.2026 10.00am-11.30am- book training here.
13.04.2026 10am-11.30am- book training here.
- We are offering immigration consultation sessions to front line staff in Greater Manchester, when a local authority is working towards achieving our asks with us. These 30-minute online sessions allow us to explore the child’s situation and advise on their immigration and citizenship options. We can take on a small number of complex cases, but this is dependent on our capacity, we will signpost you where we cannot. The consultation slots will be on the morning of the last Thursday of the month. To book a slot please contact kathleen@gmiau.org.
- We offer systematic support for local authorities’s committing to the pledge, and to improve systems across the local authority to ensure all children leave care with the best status possible.
- Peer support across Greater Manchester, we bring leads together to promote a unified response to supporting children with immigration issues across GM. We will work with local authorities to ensure their experiences influence national policy relating to immigration routes for children in care.