UK Parliament / Open data

Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [HL]

My Lords, I will leave the question of the JCHR report for a moment. We are seeking to resist the amendments. Noble Lords will recall that when we discussed a similar amendment in Committee, I confirmed that any application for naturalisation received by the UKBA before the earned citizenship provisions are implemented, and which remains undecided at point, will be considered under existing arrangements set out in the British Nationality Act 1981. To be clear, the earned citizenship clauses will not apply to those cases. We will set this out in the commencement order giving effect to Part 2 of the Bill. This means that primary legislation is not needed in this area so I hope noble Lords will agree that there is no need to discuss this part of the amendment further. However, I see that noble Lords seek assurances about those with limited leave to enter or remain who also have an application pending for indefinite leave to remain; those who submit an application for limited leave to remain within the 12-month period prior to commencement; and those with limited leave to remain who are in a category leading to ILR or who have an application pending for asylum/humanitarian protection or a human rights claim whose claim is subsequently granted. I said in Committee that officials were examining what transitional arrangements will apply to those with ILR when earned citizenship becomes law, and I have written to the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, about that. I hope that he and other noble Lords who are interested in this have seen a copy of the letter and have had a chance to read what I have said about the transitional arrangements that we propose. I will, however, summarise the position. Migrants with a pending application for ILR that is submitted but not decided before the Immigration Rules are changed following commencement of the earned citizenship provisions will have their applications considered under the existing rules. This is also the case for those who have a pending human rights or humanitarian protection claim or who have applied for asylum. Any migrant who already has ILR in the UK will be deemed to have permanent residence status for the purposes of the earned citizenship clauses. They will not need to make an application to be recognised as a permanent resident or pay any sort of fee, and they will continue to have full access to benefits and services, subject to the general eligibility criteria. Migrants with ILR, or those whose pending application for ILR is subsequently successful when the earned citizenship clauses in the Bill are commenced, will be able to apply to be naturalised under existing Section 6 of and Schedule 1 to the British Nationality Act 1981, provided that they apply within a set period after the clauses have been commenced. We have not yet confirmed this period, but it is likely to be for between 18 and 24 months after the clauses have commenced. Such a period is fair, given that the aim behind our proposals is to encourage more people who are here legally to become British citizens, as the noble Baroness, Lady Hanham, said. We do not propose that the transitional arrangements should permit those who do not have ILR when the earned citizenship clauses in the Bill are commenced to be able to apply to be naturalised under existing Section 6 of and Schedule 1 to the British Nationality Act 1981 after the changes have taken effect. This means that when the provisions of the Bill come into force, all migrants with limited leave will have to progress through the earned citizenship architecture to obtain British citizenship or permanent residence. The Government will undertake information campaigns between now and the implementation of the earned citizenship proposals to ensure that migrants are aware of the changes and their impact on them. These campaigns will make it clear that the earned citizenship clauses will not be commenced until the beginning of 2010 at the earliest. The noble Lord, Lord Lester, referred to the JCHR’s ninth report of Session 2008-09, Legislative Scrutiny: Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill, which was published very recently. Indeed, the ink is almost still wet, and there has been time to give the report only a cursory glance. The Government will respond to the JCHR’s four major recommendations in due course. The noble Lord asked about retrospection. The Government are trying to encourage new and fundamental approaches to citizenship, and we continue to examine what transitional arrangements will apply. I can confirm, as I already have done, who will be allowed access without reference to the new clauses and who will not. We will therefore have to consider matters, but let me be clear; the consistent position is that a migrant’s only legitimate expectation is to be assessed under the rules in force at the time of their application. The question then is: when does that time clock start? In the light of the JCHR’s report and the comments of the noble Lord, Lord Lester, the sensible thing for us to do is to respond in writing, setting out more clearly the Government’s position. In the mean time, I hope that the amendment will be withdrawn.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
709 c707-9 
Session
2008-09
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
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