Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [HL]

My Lords, we are grateful to the Government for having listened to us on the registration of minors and for the various discussions that we have had with the Bill team during the past couple of weeks. Those discussions have led to this solution for the problem of the registration of minors, which has been with us for a long time. We would be even more grateful if the noble Lord would go a little further and consider the improvement of Section 3(2) of the BNA 1981, as provided for in our amendment. A key requirement of the section as drafted is that the grandparent must have been a British citizen otherwise than by descent on the date of birth of the parent who is a British citizen by descent. We propose that the same right should be granted to the grandchild of a British citizen otherwise than by descent who has acquired that status after the grandchild’s parent in question has also acquired British citizenship by descent. That would deal with those covered by the granting or registration of citizenship under the British Nationality (Falkland Islands) Act 1983, the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1990, the Hong Kong (War Wives and Widows) Act 1996, the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1997 and the British Overseas Territories Act 2002. Many of the grandchildren of these people cannot benefit from new Section 3(2)(a) as drafted because it requires the grandparent to have been a British citizen otherwise than by descent at the time of the birth of the child’s parent or on commencement of the British Nationality Act 1981. Perhaps I may briefly give two examples. First, GP from St Helena was conferred British citizenship otherwise than by descent by Section 3 of the British Overseas Territories Act 2002. Her daughter, P, has lived in the UK for more than three years and was granted British citizenship by descent under the same Act. So GP is a British citizen otherwise than by descent and P is a British citizen by descent. P then has a child, C1, who is born overseas and is not entitled to register as a British citizen because GP became a British citizen only on 21 May 2002 and was therefore not technically a British citizen at the time of parent P’s birth. There may be many British citizens by descent on whom British citizenship was conferred under the 2002 Act who could never be covered by or benefit from Section 3(2) of the BNA 1981, despite having long-standing residential connections with the United Kingdom. Secondly, GQ, who registered under Section 1 of the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1990, became a British citizen otherwise than by descent. Her son, Q, born in 1998 was then registered under Schedule 2 to that Act as a British citizen by descent. After living in the UK for nearly 10 years, Q meets the residential test under Section 3(2) of the BNA. While he is on temporary assignment abroad with his wife, she gives birth and the child, C2, cannot be registered as a British citizen under Section 3(2) because the grandparent only became a British citizen otherwise than by descent after the parent’s birth. Under Amendment 42A, a child must have sufficient connections to the United Kingdom to be entitled to registration as a British citizen when at the time of their birth: first, the child must have a grandparent who is a British citizen otherwise than by descent; secondly, the child must have a parent who is a British citizen by descent; and, thirdly, the parent must continue to meet the United Kingdom residential requirements of Section 3(2), unless the child is born stateless. Our amendment would put all grandparents holding British citizenship otherwise than by descent on an equal footing. Their grandchildren would qualify if the parent held British citizenship by descent and met the residential requirement set out in Section 3(2) of the BNA 1981, unless the child was stateless. Our Amendment 50 would remove the good-character test for stateless children who were registered under Section 3(2). That is in line with government policy. Clause 45 and its predecessor, Section 58 of the 2006 Act, make exceptions for children, the stateless and the de facto stateless and we are merely adhering to those precedents. I beg to move.