The UK government’s approach to citizenship laws has been brought into question following a recent ruling by the UK’s high court. In the case of Roehrig v Secretary of State for the Home Department, the ruling stated that the Home Office’s restrictive approach since 2000 to how the children of EU nationals automatically acquire citizenship is the correct interpretation of the law. This could affect many thousands of people who believed they were British and has caused confusion over the government’s understanding of its citizenship laws.
The case that sparked this ruling concerns the nationality of Claimant, who was born in the UK in 2000. He argued that he acquired British citizenship at birth because his mother was ‘settled’ in the UK at the time he was born, due to section 1(1)(b) of the British Nationality Act 1981. The Home Office disputed this and refused his application for a British passport. The high court determined that EU nationals without indefinite leave to remain could not be considered “settled,” which has upended the lives of many EU-national residents in Britain and left them uncertain over their UK-born children’s citizenship.
Before 1983, anyone born in the UK automatically acquired British citizenship. After that, following the British Nationality Act 181, those born in the UK would only be considered British citizens if at least one of their parents was either a British citizen themselves or “settled” in the UK at the time of the child’s birth.
For 17 years, the Home Office considered EU nationals exercising free movement rights in the UK to be settled and their UK-born children British. But on 2nd October 2000, the Home Office changed the rules and to be regarded as “settled,” EU nationals had to apply for and be granted indefinite leave to remain. The difficulty concerns the fact that many EU nationals did not apply for indefinite leave to remain, as they did not need it to enter and reside in the UK.
This ruling could affect tens of thousands of people who may have been mistakenly granted or denied British citizenship due to the Home Office’s restrictive approach to citizenship laws. The government has greatly underestimated the number of EU nationals living in the UK before Brexit, making it difficult to predict the exact number of people who could be affected. While the Home Office has accepted, “as a matter of policy and fairness,” that affected children born before October 2, 2000, are British, this provides no legal certainty.
By Jenny Comani