Borders, Immigration and Citizenship Bill

I can't see anything in the bill itself about grandfathering...which means those who currently have ILR would be subject to the new rules if they want to have citizenship (ie, active citizenship if they've had ILR for less than 3 years or potentially have their naturalisation clock extended due to the change to qualifying residence) and those who have FLR could be made to go through the whole probationary citizenship rigamarole before they qualify.  I'd love to be wrong, though.

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."

From my own bitter personal experience, I would put absolutely no faith in statements such as these. Present parliaments cannot bind future parliaments, and ministers can choose to change their mind or "redefine" what they meant at anytime. Whereas what Ms Smith said last year may in fact transpire, it's just as likely not to. When the Act comes into effect and whom it will affect is all up for debate in the next few months.

I can't see anything in the bill itself about grandfathering...which means those who currently have ILR would be subject to the new rules if they want to have citizenship (ie, active citizenship if they've had ILR for less than 3 years or potentially have their naturalisation clock extended due to the change to qualifying residence) and those who have FLR could be made to go through the whole probationary citizenship rigamarole before they qualify.  I'd love to be wrong, though.

In my post above, springhaze, I posted some lines from the draft Act which seem to suggest that current ILR holders (i.e., those with ILR before the Act takes effect) will not have to get probationary citizenship. However, whether or not they will have to jump through the new hoops of active citizenship, is still sort of unclear. But I reckon that they will. Just my feel of it, but I'd be happy to be wrong too.

People who have FLR when the Act goes into effect...that's still really unclear from my POV. I'm not sure anyone can tell at this stage.

 

I can't see anything in the bill itself about grandfathering...which means those who currently have ILR would be subject to the new rules if they want to have citizenship (ie, active citizenship if they've had ILR for less than 3 years or potentially have their naturalisation clock extended due to the change to qualifying residence) and those who have FLR could be made to go through the whole probationary citizenship rigamarole before they qualify.  I'd love to be wrong, though.

In the BBC article about the bill, there was a strong implication that people will not be able to live in the country long-term without citizenship.  What about those of us who don't want to (read: can't afford to) get citizenship?  Will our hands be forced?

note: I too tried to read the bill, but I was lost at the table of contents!

In my post above, springhaze, I posted some lines from the draft Act which seem to suggest that current ILR holders (i.e., those with ILR before the Act takes effect) will not have to get probationary citizenship. However, whether or not they will have to jump through the new hoops of active citizenship, is still sort of unclear. But I reckon that they will. Just my feel of it, but I'd be happy to be wrong too.

People who have FLR when the Act goes into effect...that's still really unclear from my POV. I'm not sure anyone can tell at this stage.

It's clear that permanent residence = ILE/ILR, which is great because as you said it obviates the need for probationary citizenship.  But from what I can see, that's the extent of protection for those who currently have ILR.  I don't think those who have had ILR for a while (in most cases >3 years or so) will be affected too much by this bill due to earned citizenship being technically optional.  I don't see anything about forced citizenship, which is encouraging.

However, I would not be surprised if those currently on FLR end up being screwed.  Besides probationary citizenship, earned citizenship, general extension of the qualifying period and the continued denial of access to benefits, what affects me the most is the change on how qualifying residence is calculated- ie for spouses/partners, only visas in those categories is counted for citizenship, which means my 2 years of living here in student/employment categories will no longer count towards citizenship.  I'm really annoyed about that.

I'm not eligible for my ILR until March 2010...If this does go through how long would it take to go into effect?

As far as I see, those on ILR will be considered as having 'permanent resideny leave'.  They will still have to fulfill the other criteria to get citizenship, including workfare if they want to hurry it through.

I do like that they only expect a maximum of 10 per cent of people to do this though  

Vicky

I'm not eligible for my ILR until March 2010...If this does go through how long would it take to go into effect?

The borders section and some of the other provisions go into effect immediately after the act is passed- but the citizenship section (which is mostly what everyone here is interested in) can go into effect on a date of UKBA's choosing, basically.

Good things:

-- no mention of revocation of citizenship if qualifying conditions end post-naturalization
-- according to policy outline, only 1-2 hours of volunteering per month (though it would've been nice to see this in the actual draft).  Though, is this for ALL qualifying years?  Will we get exemptions for the years in which we already lived here and this was not yet a requirement/be allowed to do catch-up volunteering for those years?  The Bill remains silent.  I would here also raise the practical issue that very few volunteer organizations are going to be thrilled if you announce you'd like to work for/with them for "one hour a month"; even little league soccer coaching is a bigger commitment than that!

Bad things:

-- I disagree strongly with the idea that the Secretary of State is better able to assess how I can "benefit my community" than I am, and so the concept of prescribed 'assistant citizenship' activities totally rubs me the wrong way and better not amount to anything more than 'ANY VOLUNTEER ACTIVITY' in practice.
-- impossible to read due to all the haphazard cross-referencing.  For God's sake, if you MEAN "you cannot divorce your spouse and marry another one and still qualify", just say so!  Don't make me read 8 different paragraphs to come to that conclusion.

Amusing things:

-- the inclusion of the EEAs in this entire concept.  It's nice that we've been mentioned, but as we stand to gain absolutely nothing in terms of benefits from citizenship versus PR, it will only be the few Europeans + spouses that would really, really like to vote Labour out of office who may consider volunteering and wouldn't just wait out the 8 years.

Uggh... 


 

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

Vicky, I agree and I looked for that, and no, it is not yet available. Hopefully it will be in the near future.

Vicky, I agree and I looked for that, and no, it is not yet available. Hopefully it will be in the near future.

Are these explanatory notes what you're looking for?

Brilliant!  Good work.

Vicky

Indeed yes! Thanks for the link! Certainly not there this morning when I looked.

Indeed, I think they were only added around mid-day.