By Cryton Chikoko
I was delighted to watch Emma Raducanu reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon. The hope of success for the nation at the grand slam rested on the migrant teenager after Sir Andy Murray crashed out.
At the age of 18 and waiting for her A-level results, Emma Raducanu became the youngest British woman to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon in the Open era. The sheer frenzy Raducanu sent to the nation was ecstatic to behold.
As a migrant in the UK, I was quick to note that Raducanu was born in Canada to a Romanian father and a Chinese mother. Her family moved to London when she was two years old. Crucially, Raducanu was able to represent the nation at Wimbledon because of her British nationality. The UK would not have been such a great nation without the huge contributions of the migrant community.
Raducanu has become a huge inspiration for our sport mad three boys. The eldest is an aspiring footballer for Manchester United and the England national team! However, unlike the tennis ace, our boys who were born in the UK are not British nationals. And they are completely unaware of their predicament. Their precarious immigration status is a consequence of the barriers created by immigration rules.
Unfortunately, there are many children and young adults who were born and have grown up in the UK who are denied the chance to fully participate in society because of their immigration status. The Project for Registration of Children as British Citizens (PRCBC) estimates that there are approximately 120,000 young persons living in Britain without the legal right to reside. Of these children, approximately 65,000, like our children, were born in Britain.
Citizenship to children is about identity, integration, sense of belonging, confirmation that the UK is their home, having the same rights and feeling part of their peers. Children without immigration status may not be able to join friends on a school trip, work, study, or even get hospital treatment. Many find it difficult to access education and medical care and face social isolation from friends. Further, they could face detention and deportation to a country they do not know.
Samuel, who was brought to the UK when he was under two years old, told PRCBC that growing up with his friends while not being fully British felt like he was living with an arm tied behind his back: “I felt like an outsider. I felt like I was detached from the community even though the UK is all I have known. I recognise this country as my home. There were trips and activities in high school and college I couldn’t attend just because I didn’t have a British passport.” Fola said: “Growing up not being British felt like not being fully part of a community in which I lived. During high school and the duration spent in college, multiple school trips were offered in which I could not attend due to not having a British passport.”
Ironically the Secretary of State, who makes it hard for children to be British citizens, points out on the guidance to citizenship that: “Citizenship is a significant life event. Apart from allowing a child to apply for a British citizen passport, British citizenship gives them the opportunity to participate more fully in the life of their local community as they grow up.” Many children born in the UK and some with a lengthy residence like Raducanu have a right in law to register as British citizens, but many others face insurmountable obstacles.
The government could unleash the potential of the undocumented young people by, among other measures: abolishing the extortionate registration application fee for children; making legal aid available in registration applications; local authorities funding and registration training for children in care; improving on poor decision-making by the Home Office.
Further, the Home Office could scrap the good character requirement on children’s registration as British citizens and reduce the 10 years to settlement. How much time and what character should it take a British-born and bred child to be… British?
Emma Raducanu may have retired with an injury, bringing her fairy-tale run at Wimbledon to an abrupt end, but her inspiration to the nation, especially to migrant children and our three boys, will live on.