Summary
Today we are publishing two key guides for social workers, to help them support children in their care to resolve their immigration status. Social workers are invited to our launch event on the 11th September 2025.
Why is this important?
It’s estimated that there are 215,000 undocumented children living in the UK. At least 1 in 10 children in care in England are not British. Many of those children may have grown up in the UK, and may not even know that they are not British. All will have hopes and dreams for their future life, education and career – but without resolving their status, they may have all of that ripped away from them. It is the responsibility of the people caring for them to ensure that does not happen.
It’s vital that children have permission to be in the UK, and that their status is resolved before they turn 18. Without it, they will miss out on things like university, driving, housing, employment and benefits. They may even be at risk of removal or deportation from the UK.
Turning 18 is a cliff edge after which many routes to immigration status and citizenship are closed to a child in care. It is essential that they are identified and supported before then. Often, getting British citizenship before turning 18 will be the best and most secure option, but where that is not possible there are other options.
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 status.
We started this work with Manchester City Council over five years ago, and they adopted a pledge to identify all children in care with insecure immigration issues, support them in getting legal advice, and support them on a pathway to citizenship. We hope that all local authorities in Greater Manchester will sign this pledge.
To help local authorities on this path, GMIAU is offering support through:
- Meeting with service leads to ensure that children’s immigration status and nationality are mandatorily recorded on their systems, to ensure they are not missed before they turn 18.
- Working with social work teams to ensure they have the knowledge to identify children with immigration issues or who are not British. This includes training and offering consultation sessions for immigration advice.
There is a nationwide lack of free legal immigration advice, so it can be difficult to find a lawyer to help. That’s why we are empowering social workers to do some of this work themselves, with our support. There are certain applications for citizenship and other kinds of immigration route that social workers can complete themselves, because they have a role akin to a parent or guardian. However, there will always be some more complex applications that will require immigration advice and representation.
The new guides
We have created two guides to support social workers to:
- Understand children’s options,
- Complete applications themselves, where they can, and
- Support in applications where legal representation is needed.
The first guide is about applying for British citizenship for children in care. In many circumstances, having British citizenship will be the best thing for a child. The guide explores the benefits of British citizenship, when someone is automatically British, and when they can apply to register to be British. It answers frequently asked questions and offers practical advice on gathering evidence and completing applications.
Download the British Citizenship guide here
British Citizenship for Children in Care – A Guide for Social Workers
The second guide is about applying for leave to remain in the UK through other routes, especially an application called Annex FM. This is a form of leave to remain for children in care, where the local authority has assessed it is in a child’s best interest to remain in the UK. This guide explains when this application could be made, how to make the application, and offers practical advice on gathering evidence and completing applications.
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Download the Annex FM guide here
Annex FM: A Guide to Understanding and Completing Annex FM applications
Both guides include template letters and detailed guidance to making applications. They are intended as a really practical guide for social workers to give the best support possible to the children in their care, for their current circumstances and for their future. The guides should always be used alongside getting immigration advice for a child’s specific situation.
We want all children in Greater Manchester to leave care with the most secure form of immigration status possible. If you are a local authority in Greater Manchester and want to work with us to ensure this, then please contact our Children’s Policy Adviser Kathleen at kathleen@gmiau.org.
Launch event
We are holding an online launch event for the guides, including training and information on different routes to immigration status and British citizenship for children in care. It will be on the 11th of September at 10am.