Overcharging immigrants will foster ill feeling between state and new citizens – it's nonsensical as well as unethical

The notion that citizenship is a commodity from which profits can be drawn ought at the least to raise eyebrows. Yet that is precisely how the government appears to be treating those who, as long term, incomer residents or as UK-born children of immigrants, require bureaucratic assistance to process and confirm their citizenship rights.

That there should be a cost attached to conferring citizen status is not unreasonable in and of itself. Just as there are small administrative charges attached to obtaining birth certificates, for instance, the machinery of the state can fairly assert that individuals who are entitled to become citizens of the UK should cover the associated fees. Much as we would wish it were otherwise, general taxation does not provide an unlimited fund for all seasons.

Nevertheless, as The Independent reports today, the actual cost of processing a citizenship application is only £372; yet the charge levied by officialdom to the applicant is £1,102. All other things being equal, that profit margin surely cannot be justified. Indeed, as it stands, it feels like simply another element of the deplorable “hostile environment” immigration policy. If the home secretary, Sajid Javid, is serious about ending that approach, he must examine these charges.

After all, while it is true that fees can be waived if an applicant is destitute, there are a great many individuals and families who are in work, and who are doing their level best to build a life in this country, but for whom the cost of confirming their British status is out of reach. It hardly seems an attitude which will foster the kind of lasting bond between migrant and the state which lies at the heart of successful integration. Immigration policies should not be based on such short-term thinking.

Amnesty International says some individuals are forced to turn to crime in order to fund their citizenship application. Others have taken on sex work because they are unable to save money from the menial jobs that are the lot of a considerable number of immigrants. This demoralises the individuals concerned, places them at personal risk, and has knock-on consequences for other state agencies. Once again, the government appears to putting an easy gain ahead of long-term pain. It is as daft as it is amoral.

The charges seem especially egregious when they relate to children who were born in the UK and whose parents were settled here. In instances such as these where the case for citizenship is clear cut, and when the children may indeed have no idea that they are not officially “British” until school trips require them to obtain a passport, it must be heartbreaking for individuals to discover not only the reality of the situation but also the fees associated with obtaining clarification.

With the Windrush scandal fresh in the mind, it is incumbent on Mr Javid and the prime minister to act quickly here. If there is a legitimate rationale that can explain why the cost of confirming citizen status has risen in recent times let us hear it straight away. If there is no reasonable explanation – and it is difficult frankly to know what genuine justification there could be – the charges should be capped so that they do no more than cover the administrative burden of processing applications.

If the Brexit debates of the last few years have shown us anything it is that we cannot shy away from difficult questions about immigration. But the question of whether the UK should be making money out of people who desire to become – and have the right to be – British citizens seems eminently straightforward. This hostile, exclusionary policy is counterproductive; the government should rethink.