The Church of England demanded that Britain slashes the fee to apply for citizenship, declaring the £1,282 charge to be “prohibitive” to low-paid migrants.
Members of the General Synod, the Church’s parliament, voted unanimously on Monday in favour of putting pressure on the government to reduce the cost of citizenship.
The Daily Mail reports the vote was to urge bishops to push ministers in the House of Lords to cut the fee, and for parishes to lobby their local MPs. In addition, Church leaders said parishes should give support to individuals wanting British citizenship, and help them obtain credit from mainstream lenders.
Synod member Ben Franks said: “Many of those who are eligible to apply for citizenship are working in the low-pay sectors of our economy due to their uncertain status making well-paid employment more difficult.
“Many people save over years to pay for their applications, there are also those whose difficult situation leads them to go into long-term, high-interest debt from unscrupulous lenders to do so.”
At its meeting in York, members of the Synod heard Church leaders lament that asylum seekers and refugees lack civil rights in Britain — such as the ability to travel freely, and vote — unless they become citizens, according to the Daily Mail.
In order to be granted UK citizenship, applicants normally must show that they have lived legally in Britain for five years without having committed a crime, and should not have been abroad for more than 450 days during that period.
The Church’s move comes after news at the weekend that it has christened hundreds of asylum seekers hoping to use their new-found-faith to win the right to stay in Britain, with one church alone having baptised 200 Iranian asylum seekers according to documents placed before the Synod.
The Bishop of Wakefield, the Right Reverend Tony Robinson, described congregations of newly-christened asylum seekers as “exciting” and a “great joy”, but acknowledged that the phenomenon is “costly and transitory”.
As Breitbart London reported Monday, the Church also backed a ban on conversion therapy for Christians struggling with their sexuality, at its four-day Synod, and voted to “welcome transgender people” by considering preparing a church service as a way to “mark a person’s gender transition”.
In addition, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said the Anglican church is to spend three years outlining a new stance on sexuality, with current rules banning same-sex weddings and civil partnership blessings.
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