Changing a client’s date of birth with the Home Office

This article is based on a briefing by Amanda Gibson of Citizens Advice Sheffield — all errors are my own.

You may encounter clients seeking to change their recorded date of birth for a variety of reasons. The Home Office has a policy on this, but there’s a lot to be learned from advisers’ past experiences of trying to do this.

The wrong date of birth can be due to error by the Home Office, new evidence becoming available that was not available before, or for reasons that might show that your client has previously given false information (which will be rare).

You must be careful to advise the client of the potential consequences of trying to correct it.

Why are dates of birth wrong?

Experience shows that not all countries record information in the same way as more developed countries. There may be many valid and innocent reasons why a date of birth is incorrect, such as

• problems with official records
• different calendar systems (especially in Iran)
• the month and day got swapped round at the time the date was first recorded in the UK
• entering the UK without a passport and only knowing an approximate date of birth
• the Home Office or social services deciding to use a date that corresponded with an age estimate or forged travel documents.

Your client may not have known about a wrong date of birth being recorded until they got permission to stay. At that time they might not have had any evidence to challenge this.

The Home Office describes these as ‘recording errors’ and can be prepared to correct them. The problem is often with providing authentic evidence to the standard set by the Home Office in order to correct the error.

There are a limited number of cases where a court or tribunal will make a finding as to the client’s correct date of birth, and in general this will be accepted by the Home Office.

The Home Office might also agree to a change where there has been fraud, but this obviously brings about certain risks.

Risks

In a few cases, changing the date of birth can potentially lead to permission to stay being revoked by the Home Office. A change of date of birth — especially if combined with a correction of a name or even their nationality — can cause the Home Office to doubt the basis on which they granted permission in the first place. This can particularly affect clients who made a protection-based claim.

You must anticipate potential motives that the Home Office may think the client has for the change such as:

• earlier entitlement to age related welfare benefits such as pensions
• continuing or increased entitlement to asylum support or higher education funding
• to avoid detection for a crime (the Home Office will check criminal records in the new date of birth)
• the client was deceitful in previous dealings with the Home Office — or is even a different person or nationality
• they reduced their age when claiming asylum to take advantage of the greater likelihood of a minor getting permission to stay — and the client is now seeking to correct this

This can impact on a client’s ability to apply for further grants of leave or settlement. If it was done for a financial or other advantage a prosecution could result.

If the Home Office finds your client originally used deceit to get their status, then their current permission or even their British citizenship could be revoked. Deception in the last 10 years can also prevent an applicant from satisfying the good character requirement in an application for naturalisation as a British citizen.

What can an adviser do?

The Home Office may most readily agree to change the date of birth if there is new and reliable evidence that the old one was wrong. An adviser can explore this and help the client find evidence.

• Obtain the client’s detailed account of why the error arose. Is it recorded that an official interpreter was used?
• Did the client sign anything confirming the accuracy or truth of their account, including the date of birth?
• Are they also correcting the place of birth — and why was this wrong?
• Can they obtain a passport from their country of nationality with the date of birth corrected?
• In the case of children or young adults, has the local authority undertaken an age assessment that would confirm the ‘new’ date or override a previous age assessment by an official?

You can ask your client for any documentary evidence, but be mindful of the risk of fraudulent documents being provided

• Ask what evidence the client can provide to prove the previous date of birth is incorrect — this might be an original birth certificate, identity document, driving licence, school records, old passports, or even medical age assessments
• Ask why documents were not available previously, or why the client didn’t challenge the error previously — especially if they had a representative?
• Make a subject access request for the client’s Home Office file, which is often beneficial in unpicking how the date was recorded in the first place

Applications

If the client decides to change their date of birth, then the application they make to correct this will vary:

• If they have limited or indefinite leave they will first need to create a UKVI account to link with their eVisa — if they haven’t already done this. They then need to report a change of circumstances for their eVisa account to record the ‘new’ date of birth. This will be refused unless they have a passport with the new details, but there is an exception for refugees, stateless persons, or those with humanitarian protection. The Home Office expects these applications to be made within 3 months of the change — for instance from receipt of an original birth certificate
• If they have naturalised as a British citizen already, the certificate might be amended on application but there is a £400 fee. If it’s a Home Office mistake then the date will be amended. If there’s reliable evidence of the date of birth it will be changed and the client can have these details on any new passport they get. If not, the Home Office may place a note of the claimed details on a new certificate, but won’t change the date and the new date can’t be put on a British passport
• The client can apply to HM Passport Office (HMPO) for a new or replacement British passport with the amended date of birth. They have a policy on this. It is far easier to correct a date of birth where the day and month was not known (usually recorded as 1 January by default). In other cases, HMPO will give weight to the revised date if it has been accepted by another government department such as the DWP

Common issues

If it’s not straightforward, or if the client’s current leave or British citizenship is endangered, then they should be referred to an adviser registered at OISC level 2 or above.

Advisers should be aware that where the local authority may need to exercise a welfare function for a child or care leaver, the process is now subject to the National Age Assessment Board (NAAB) procedures under Part 4 of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022. This particularly affects unaccompanied asylum seeking children, but is OISC level 2 advice and outside the scope of this article.

For both the naturalisation certificate and the British passport, the change will be refused if the client has a valid passport from another country and the date of birth on it does not correspond to the ‘new’ one.

The Home Office will also carry out background checks on the client’s identity using the ‘new’ date of birth, to check if there is a criminal record, for instance.

If the Home Office discovers discrepancies then they should give your client an opportunity to comment before making a final decision. They can even ask to interview them.

The Decision

Officials will weigh up all the evidence before agreeing to amend a date of birth, and this should be based on a balance of probabilities. They will provide a written decision. Outside NAAB cases, there’s no established appeal procedure. If the client is dissatisfied with a refusal they’ll need to take advice from a solicitor on whether a judicial review of the decision is appropriate or on whether to seek a court declaration as to their true date of birth.

John Donkersley is Senior Immigration Expert at Citizens Advice.

The information in this article is correct as of the date of publication. Unfortunately, we are unable to respond to comments left on the medium site — please contact expertadvicesupport@citizensadvice.org.uk if you wish to give feedback on an article.