UK anti-discrimantion law question

I recently saw a job posting for a director level position that in the listing stated a requirement to be that the candidate must be a UK citizen.  Is this even legal to state this?

It's bizarre as it is a London based role but it's a role working on Europe in general and Africa so isn't even a UK focused position.

And yes I do realize I spelled discrimination horribly wrong on the subject line. 

What kind of job was the director-level position?

Companies can require that applicants are British citizens, but it does usually depend on the type of job it is - because there may be specific reasons why the applicant must be British.

For example, government positions and jobs requiring certain security clearances (i.e. police, military, politicians etc.) usually require that applicants are UK citizens, because of the nature of the work.

For my job, working in a government organisation and handling restricted and up to top secret documents, I had to get full UK government security clearance and I also had to show that I had been living in the UK for the last 5 years. Ideally applicants needed to have UK citizenship, or at least ILR in the UK. They could still apply if they didn't, but they may have been restricted in terms of what information they would be allowed to handle in the job (i.e. they may not be allowed the same security clearance or have restricted access to certain departments in the company).

Definitely not a position where there is issues with security clearances.  Is a biz development position with a NGO.

I'd guess it's because if you're not British they can't get you visas for Africa and you don't have permission to work in Europe.

and you don't have permission to work in Europe.

This is not completely correct. A non-EU citizen, residing and working legally in a Member State can work in any other Member State (or Switzerland) for an employer located in the original  Member State (subject to certain restrictions).  

The little known Van der Elst "Visa" exemption.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/policyandlaw/guidance/ecg/eun/eun4/

I'd guess it's because if you're not British they can't get you visas for Africa and you don't have permission to work in Europe.

Yes I'd have to disagree on this one as well, any european citizen would have these same rights and yes as a family member of a European citizen I have no issues working abroad in greater Europe if needed (and why would being a UK citizen grant you a visa in Africa above any other country).

Haven't seen anything other than if there were security issues (and there aren't) to be a valid reason for their statement.

Yes I'd have to disagree on this one as well, any european citizen would have these same rights and yes as a family member of a European citizen I have no issues working abroad in greater Europe if needed (and why would being a UK citizen grant you a visa in Africa above any other country).

Haven't seen anything other than if there were security issues (and there aren't) to be a valid reason for their statement.

Actually, your status in the UK does not afford you automatic permissions to work in Europe unless you are accompanying an EU spouse exercising treaty rights or working for your UK company as sonofasailor said.  You cannot take a job in Europe in your own right based solely on your status in the UK.  And as for the visa to Africa, there may be countries where UK citizens can get visas but US ones can't. 

Actually I was referring to working in Europe temporarily (for an event, meetings, etc), which I most certainly have the right to do under EU law. And again on Africa, this is not just discriminating on anyone American but anyone from any other nationality apart from British...

I have no idea about any African nation though.

It would seem that this company's requirement may be a little bit shaky (perhaps legal though? - I don't know). But I would have no idea about how to approach them other than to apply and include some sort of statement - a copy of the appropriate EU Directive/Regulation.

You see stuff like this all the time really...like "applicant must have valid Work Permit"....just indications that HR is not quite up to speed.

I have a problem with "please enclose recent photo with application"...

/not an employment lawyer

 

Must have valid work permit does make sense to mention if the company is not open to sponsoring a potential employee, and I don't think is the same thing as saying must be a UK citizen. I see must have work permit all the time yes, but not must be UK citizen.

Saying must be a UK citizen means lawful UK residents/students with right of employment in this country that are from any country other than UK can't apply, EU nationals can't apply. It's not a governmental/security clearance role and I severely doubt there are any African countries a British could definitely get in to that someone from another first world country could not.

Ahh well doesn't seem that there is any UK law forbidding this at least, I'm surprised I don't see "Only UK Citizens" more often!