Automatic British citizenship for UK-born children of people with Settled Status

[1mic]

Draft SI: The British Nationality Act 1981 (Immigration Rules Appendix EU) (Amendment) Regulations 2021

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2021/9780348223125

Regulation 2 amends BNA 1981 'to provide that children born on or after 1st July 2021 to a parent who subsequently acquires ILR under Appendix EU automatically acquire British citizenship from the date of grant of such leave if the parent meets certain other conditions'.

[alterhase58]

Special provision for EU citizens applying for settled status late, after 30 June 2021, if they would have qualified for ILR by 30 June 2021, but didn't apply for good reasons.

Per the Explanatory Memorandum:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/20 ... 125_en.pdf

2.2 In particular, this instrument amends the British Nationality Act 1981 to address the position where a parent is granted Indefinite Leave under the EU Settlement Scheme after their child’s birth, and there has been a gap in the parent’s immigration status from the end of the grace period, meaning that they were not considered settled for the purposes of nationality law when the child was born. Such a grant of Indefinite Leave might occur when an application to the EU Settlement Scheme is submitted after 30th June but where there are reasonable grounds for not meeting the deadline; or when an
application submitted by 30th June is only resolved after that date. As a result, this instrument comes into force on 1st July.
2.3 For those parents who are granted Indefinite Leave in such circumstances, this instrument amends the British Nationality Act 1981 to introduce a new provision which will enable the child to acquire British citizenship from the date on which the grant of Indefinite Leave to their parent is made, provided that the parent can demonstrate that they would have met the requirements to be settled at the ending of the grace period (for a late application); or that the application was made in time.

[secret.simon]

From my cursory reading of the legislation, a really bad idea.

A general rule of British nationality law is that there is a paper trail to prove citizenship (eg, birth certificate and proof of parents Settled Status or ILR BRP, registration or naturalisation certificate, etc).

These beneficiary children of EU citizens will have no paper trail proving their British citizenship. And, as I understand it, EU citizens don't have BRCs issued either, with their status being purely digital.

That is all perfectly fine in the here-and-now. But what would be the state of a digital database of statuses in 30-50 years time, when those children may have to prove their British citizenship when their own children are born (either in the UK or abroad)? Digital databases can be corrupted or hacked and the underlying software will almost certainly change. What then?

I once supported a digital archivist on an IT project and we discussed her work. According to her, the best and safest medium for long term storage of data is good old-fashioned paper. She pointed out just how much digital storage mediums had changed in the past few decades, from magnetic tapes to floppy drives to optical drives to hard drives to flash storage, etc.

Paper, on the other hand, lasts on its own provided it is taken care of. In the UK, we have got written records for events occuring in the 12th and 13th century.

In my assessment, this legislation risks a repeat of the Windrush disaster in the next few decades.

I would suggest writing to your local MPs requesting them to block this Statutory Instrument (they can't amend it, they can only either approve or reject it) and send it back to the Home Office with instructions to issue physical/paper registration certificates to the beneficiary children.

[federyko1979]

From my cursory reading of the legislation, a really bad idea.

A general rule of British nationality law is that there is a paper trail to prove citizenship (eg, birth certificate and proof of parents Settled Status or ILR BRP, registration or naturalisation certificate, etc).

These beneficiary children of EU citizens will have no paper trail proving their British citizenship. And, as I understand it, EU citizens don't have BRCs issued either, with their status being purely digital.

That is all perfectly fine in the here-and-now. But what would be the state of a digital database of statuses in 30-50 years time, when those children may have to prove their British citizenship when their own children are born (either in the UK or abroad)? Digital databases can be corrupted or hacked and the underlying software will almost certainly change. What then?

I once supported a digital archivist on an IT project and we discussed her work. According to her, the best and safest medium for long term storage of data is good old-fashioned paper. She pointed out just how much digital storage mediums had changed in the past few decades, from magnetic tapes to floppy drives to optical drives to hard drives to flash storage, etc.

Paper, on the other hand, lasts on its own provided it is taken care of. In the UK, we have got written records for events occuring in the 12th and 13th century.

In my assessment, this legislation risks a repeat of the Windrush disaster in the next few decades.

I would suggest writing to your local MPs requesting them to block this Statutory Instrument (they can't amend it, they can only either approve or reject it) and send it back to the Home Office with instructions to issue physical/paper registration certificates to the beneficiary children.

You are soooo 100% right.

Had similar situation. My sons BC was dependant of only 1 piece of paper (WRS) so to avoid any problems for him in lets say 30 or 40 years time I applied for nationality status confirmation.

I would encourage parents of kids whose BC depends of some email with settled status confirmation to apply for nationality status confirmation. Yes it does cost but in a long run you might avoid a shock for your kids.

[secret.simon]

Another thread underscoring why I think documentless citizenship for UK-born children is a bad idea.

[annad]

I know it's an old post but I had the problem once renewing my son's passport. He got his first British passport based on father's EU residency (no paper trail as at this time it was not required so the father never applied for one). Then when I applied to renew the passport when my son was 5, the HMPO refused the renewal claiming the child was not British and asking for father's payslips (for a full year) and a WRS registration certificate (father's an A8 national) that at the time were already 11 years old. They refused to accept copies, refused to see us in person at the passport office. I was adamant I didn't want to send originals for the fear they will be lost. The WRS database was destroyed by the Home Office and no records are accessible. I feel like my son's British nationality is based on 12 payslips and a WRS registration certificate. I looked at the NS form to have a paper trail confirming his nationality but the document itself specifies it can't be used in order to obtain British passport. So the only solution is to make as many copies of the documents as possible and keep them in different places in case there are problems ahead.

From my cursory reading of the legislation, a really bad idea.

A general rule of British nationality law is that there is a paper trail to prove citizenship (eg, birth certificate and proof of parents Settled Status or ILR BRP, registration or naturalisation certificate, etc).

These beneficiary children of EU citizens will have no paper trail proving their British citizenship. And, as I understand it, EU citizens don't have BRCs issued either, with their status being purely digital.

That is all perfectly fine in the here-and-now. But what would be the state of a digital database of statuses in 30-50 years time, when those children may have to prove their British citizenship when their own children are born (either in the UK or abroad)? Digital databases can be corrupted or hacked and the underlying software will almost certainly change. What then?

I once supported a digital archivist on an IT project and we discussed her work. According to her, the best and safest medium for long term storage of data is good old-fashioned paper. She pointed out just how much digital storage mediums had changed in the past few decades, from magnetic tapes to floppy drives to optical drives to hard drives to flash storage, etc.

Paper, on the other hand, lasts on its own provided it is taken care of. In the UK, we have got written records for events occuring in the 12th and 13th century.

In my assessment, this legislation risks a repeat of the Windrush disaster in the next few decades.

I would suggest writing to your local MPs requesting them to block this Statutory Instrument (they can't amend it, they can only either approve or reject it) and send it back to the Home Office with instructions to issue physical/paper registration certificates to the beneficiary children.