British citizenship is one of the six different forms of British nationality.
The forms of nationality currently are:
- British citizenship;
- British overseas citizenship;
- British overseas territories citizenship;
- British national (overseas);
- British protected person; and
- British subject.
Only British citizens and certain British subjects with rights of abode have the right to live and work in the UK. People holding of the other forms of nationality as above may only live and work in the UK if their immigration status allows it.
From 19 December 2011 the Ministry of Justice which is in charge of the Courts and Tribunals Service shall introduce appeal fee charges for some immigration and asylum appeals.
Appellants and/or their sponsors who want to appeal against a decision notice after 19 December 2011 will need to pay an appeal fee which will apply in most categories. Exemptions to appeal fees shall be outlined in the Ministry of justice’s website.
Also from 19 December 2011, appellant’s will need to lodge their appeals the Tribunals in the UK and the Tribunals shall no longer accept appeals being lodged at overseas visa application centres. Appellants seeking to appeal overseas should therefore ensure that their sponsors or representatives based in UK are able to lodge appeals on time.
The Ministry of Justice website is expected to publish full guidance on changes from 19 December 2011.
After a recent Supreme Court Judgment which considered the joined cases of Aguilar and Bibi, the Courts ruled that preventing under 21 year olds from applying for spouse visas for entry clearance or leave to remain was not a lawful way of dealing with the problem of forced marriages.
The Courts rejected the Secretary of State’s appeal against an earlier Court of Appeal decision which outlawed the ban on under 21’s as arbitrary.
On Monday 31 October 2011 a thinktank The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) warned that the Home Office’s proposal of banning almost all economic migrants outside Europe in settling in would create a ‘guest worker’ labour force and would damage the economy.
The IPPR are of the view that the policy of breaking the link between temporary work and permanent settlement of Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) in UK for all but the few very wealthy outside Europe is likely to reduce the numbers settling each year in UK from 40,000 to just over 1000.
On 27 October 2011 Katie Zatuliveter aged 26 has told an immigration appeals tribunal how Mike Hancock the MP for Portsmouth had paid for her three trips to Moscow, Rome and Brussels. She was a former aide and a mistress to the Mike Hancock MP and denied being a Russian spy to the immigration tribunal. She is currently challenging deportation action in the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC). Lawyers acting for the Home office argue that she started the affair with the MP because she thought he was an influential figure who would benefit her.
Immigration scandals relating to a rise in unmeritorious appeals, have increased in the UK, it has been said a year ago 37,300 cases were filed by immigrants on an appeal basis to remain in the UK, because their application failed in the first instance to remain in Britain. It is also said that some of these who over stayed or illegal immigrants are criminals and fraudsters, who want to remain in the UK. Some of these immigrants have over stayed their visa period or some just happened to have slipped into the UK without border detection.
Yesterday in the Supreme Court a panel of five Judges dismissed the appeal made by the Home Secretary to increase the spouse visa age from 18 to 21! This seems to be the centre of attention for politicians, because in 2008 the age went up from 16 to 18, and even then it was deemed to be unlawful. This ruling was made in order to uphold a judgement which was made earlier which was seen to be intruding with family life for those who will be affected by such ruling and it is against their basic right to family life under article 8 ECHR.
The British Prime Minster has called for tougher and harsher regulations to crack down on immigrants in the UK and new citizenship criteria to be met by foreigners wanting to permanently live in the UK. For some, this is a breach of their basic human rights but we will see further on what his speech consisted of. David Cameron, the British Prime Minster speaking at the institute for Government in London, begun by saying that the government and the citizens of UK will now need to be a team and build alliance if there is to be a tougher approach on immigration.
Since 29 November 2010 new English language requirements were introduced and inserted in the Immigration Rules as requirements for foreign spouses to be able to speak English in order to join their spouse who is settled in UK. A couple have recently launched a judicial review at the High Court to challenge this rule.
Mrs Rashida Chapti aged 54 is a British Citizen and her husband Mr Vali Chapti aged 57 an Indian national who does not speak read or write English had applied to join her in the UK since the new rules were introduced. The couple have claimed that this interferes with their right to family life, their right to marry and consituties discrimination. The couple have been married for 37 years and have six children together.
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