Borders, Immigration and Citizenship Bill

Round 1.
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/managingourborders/border-cit-imm-bill/bordercitizenshipandimmigration/borderscitizenshipimmigration?view=Binary

That's the text and current state of play.  Please know that this affects EVERYBODY, including lots of people who are too young to even know they will be in the UK someday...

Garry, thanks for posting that link. Lots to take in there. No doubt more detailed comments later.

At this moment I merely say that it looks like the Bill is going to be taken through the House of Lords first, before proceeding on to the Commons. The clue is that it is a member of the House of Lords that has made the Human Rights statement on the first page.

Here is the link ..... click here .... which confirms that the Bill received its formal first reading on 14th January ... and that no Second Reading has yet been scheduled.

cheers, garry- now I know what I'll be doing on my lunch break!

Argh, the legalese is killing my brain. Does it actually say in there somewhere that they would revoke citizenship if the reason for your qualification (work or family) is no longer in place? I could only make out that you have to be in work or still with your partner/spouse during the qualifying period, but no mention of once you have citizenship.

Just had a first read through:

Clear? Concise? Easy to follow?

You wish!

NOTE:  for the good people trying this for the 1st time, the bill is in "RUBRIC" text.  It means you need to have the 1981 act open in a different window.

There may be some early concessions.  Hopefully, we can see some of these later today or tomorrow.

Props to the good people who care enough to dig in to the material!

superl99, you need to appreciate that much of the Bill is merely altering existing legislation, and much referring back to that existing legislation is needed to make sense of what they are suggesting.

However, at this moment in time, I cannot spot anything about cancellation of Citizenship in the Bill. There is already legislation about that on the Statute Book, but it appears that such legislation will stay unaltered by the new Bill.

E&OE !

er, yes, I tried to read through this... 

i can't find the bits about revoking citizenship or about limited rights for immigrants to benefits such as the NHS.

I've looked it over also.  I'm afraid it takes a much sharper mind than mine to make sense of it all. 
Garry, do you have a link for the 1981 act? 

Click here for the British Nationality Act 1981.

Is the Explanatory Statement available yet?  That is often the best place to start when trying to digest these things?

I am going to e-mail the Shadow Leader of the House and the Shadow Justice Minister, to complain about the inadequate length of time given for scrutiny.  Unless anyone has any opbjections?

Vicky

All my hope is that if this does pass, then for those of us already here on our FLR's will be able to get the old route of ILR then Citizenship sort of a grandfathering in?

RE: those already with ILR when the Bill comes into effect

It seems as if the status of ILR has been protected within the draft. This is mentioned on page 39 (or 45.3.4).

A person has permanent residence leave if the person has indefinite leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom.

And as such, it seems as if ILR holders will not have to attain "probationary citizenship" prior to applying for naturalisation:

(From p. 27 or 37.2.2.d)

that on the date of the application A has probationary citizenship leave, permanent residence leave, a Commonwealth right of abode or a permanent EEA entitlement;

Of course this is only a draft, but that should be encouraging to you ILR holders. Of course be prepared for some significant fee rises for the next budgetary year!

All my hope is that if this does pass, then for those of us already here on our FLR's will be able to get the old route of ILR then Citizenship sort of a grandfathering in?

That's exactly what I want to happen.

Regarding, Grandfathering, an early Jaqui Smith Article (Guardian FEB 2008) states:

"Changes will apply to new arrivals after the new laws are passed, and not to foreigners already living in the UK, so reforms are only likely to affect migrants arriving from 2010."


Full article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/feb/20/immigrationpolicy.immigration


Can anyone who can inturpret from the bill (i.e. Sharper than me!) what will happen to those currently on FLR - or anyone already else already in the system? I.e. will we be grandfather in on the current system?

The impact assessment for earned citizenship goes into more details (well, a wee bit more) about the requirements about active citizenship (1 to 2 hours a month) and the limitation on benefits. It's nice to see that they are anticipating a spike in citizenship applications from those currently on ILR (which includes me) before the new plan is in place.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/managingourborders/border-cit-imm-bill/supporting-documents/iaofearnedcitizenship?view=Binary