British Citizenship & Naturalisation - How To Apply

If you are at least 18 years old and have been granted indefinite leave to remain, EU settled status, or have acquired a right of permanent residence in the UK under the EEA Regulations, you may be eligible to apply for British Citizenship on the basis of Naturalisation...

Overseas adoption and British citizenship

The entitlement of adopted children to British citizenship is not a straightforward matter. In some circumstances, adopted children are British citizens automatically from the date of their adoption. In others, the Secretary of State for the Home Department...

Good character - what has changed?

The British Nationality Act 1981 requires any person who is over the age of 10 who wishes to register or naturalise as a British Citizen to be of ‘good character’. This is not defined in the Act, but Home Office nationality policy guidance explains how ‘good...

Life in the UK Test - What is it and when is it required?

A Life in the UK test is ordinarily required for both ILR and citizenship applications.   The Life in the UK test was introduced in 2005 for citizenship applications and 2007 for ILR applications.  The plans were first introduced in 2002 by the then Home Secretary...

When is a child born in the UK to EU national parents British?

Section 1 of the British Nationality Act 1981 (the “BNA 1981”), titled “Acquisition by birth or adoption”, provides: “(1) A person born in the United Kingdom after commencement, or in a qualifying territory on or after the appointed day, shall be a British...

Brexit: How does EU Settled Status fit with Naturalisation? Lawful residence and the ‘good character’ requirement

EU Settled Status is something of an anomaly.  Not only does it take five years’ continuous absence from the UK to lose this status, which is longer than for other grants of indefinite leave to remain, but, other than being someone eligible to apply and meeting...

Naturalisation as a British Citizen - A wide discretion

The Special Immigration Appeals Commission has given an open judgment in relation to the statutory review of decisions by the Secretary of State to refuse applications for citizenship by relatives of Bashar Al-Assad, in the case of LA, MA, RA, SAA v Secretary...

Appeals against deprivation of British citizenship

In an earlier blog post, we covered the scope of the Secretary of State’s statutory power to deprive an individual of their British citizenship. In this post we will explore the scope of an appeal to the First-tier Tribunal against a decision to make a deprivation...

Deprivation of British citizenship

Who said immigration woes are reserved for the non-British? Section 40 of the British Nationality Act 1981 (“1981 Act”) affords the Secretary of State a power to deprive an individual of their British citizenship on two occasions: If the Secretary of...

New nationality provisions in the Immigration Act 2014

Although much of the Immigration Act 2014 (‘the 2014 Act’) deliberately makes the lives of people in the UK much more difficult (including those of British citizens, not “just” migrants and their families) there are some helpful provisions - in particular,...