For many people, registration or naturalisation as a British citizen marks the end of a long road to feeling secure in the UK. You attend a citizenship ceremony, take the oath of allegiance to the King and receive your certificate confirming you are now a British citizen. For some, usually as a result of criminality or historic dishonesty, this is not the end and the Home Office may try to deprive that person of their citizenship.
If you are facing deprivation proceedings you must, as a matter of urgency, take legal advice. Resisting deprivation proceedings is complex and requires carefully evidenced submissions. The consequences are huge and can be financially crippling.
Most importantly, a deprivation decision cannot normally leave a person stateless – without any nationality. This means, if you hold no other citizenship, the Home Office will not normally be able to deprive you of your British citizenship. Only if, according to the statute, you have conducted yourself in a manner seriously prejudicial to the vital interests of the UK, and the Home Office has reasonable grounds for believing you are able to become a citizen of another country. You might remember this from the case of Shamima Begum. In the Begum case, she was, the Home Office decided, entitled to become a national of Bangladesh when deprived of British citizenship.
As you can see from the Begum case, those born British can still be deprived of their citizenship assuming they have another nationality – being born British is no protection.
There are two main reasons people might face deprivation proceedings – serious criminality or historic dishonesty.
Criminality can be a reason for deprivation proceedings but, in general, it requires offending that causes public revulsion. Shamima Begum joined ISIS. Another high profile deprivation action was taken against members of a child grooming gang.
Historic dishonesty – such as use of a false identity - is the other main reason for deprivation proceedings. The dishonesty must be relevant to the grant of citizenship OR a previous grant of leave to remain that led to the citizenship application. This means that dishonesty, or deception, in earlier applications can be relied upon to revoke a persons citizenship. This is often relied upon when a false identity was used to obtain a visa and that identity was relied upon through to the citizenship application.
When proceedings begin it is important to understand whether you are facing:
The difference has profound consequences on any family members you may have.
If you face deprivation then your children might keep their citizenship – if they obtained it via your own citizenship. If you face a nullity, then you were never British, so your children’s status might be at risk as a result.
Client - Dr & Mrs O08/2024Successful naturalisation for couple
"I just want to say a big thank you to Keelin, Anna and the rest of the team there at Latitude Law Solicitors, for the professional manner in which you handled our British naturalisation applications.
We're fully aware you were working tirelessly and efficiently behind the scene, throughout the process of compilation of our documents, completion and the eventual submission of our naturalisation application. We truly and sincerely appreciate the invaluable contribution you made, that ultimately resulted in a successful naturalisation application for us. You've been exceptional. Please keep up with your great work ethic and dedication to excellence.”
If your citizenship is lost, you will not automatically be returned to the status you had prior to becoming British. For most people this would be indefinite leave to remain (ILR). Your ILR ceased to exist when you became British and losing your British citizenship does not resurrect your ILR.
The Home Office will make a second, later, decision about what status you should be granted and, for most, this is not ILR but a form of limited leave to remain or an outright refusal to grant any status. You could therefore face removal from the UK.
When facing deprivation you will first be asked to make submissions to the Home Office. The submissions must focus on both the reason for the proceedings – criminality or dishonesty – and also the impact that losing your citizenship will have. Generally, people inside the UK will have a stronger response than people outside the UK because the impact of losing their citizenship will be greater.
To resist proceedings based on criminality you will likely need to show that the criminal offending does not reach the required threshold or is otherwise mitigated by circumstances of the offence or the strength of your ties to and life in the UK.
To resist dishonesty based proceedings you might need to show you were not dishonest, that the dishonesty had no impact at all on the grant of citizenship or that the dishonesty was of such insignificance that losing your citizenship is a disproportionately harsh response.
In any case, detailed evidence and careful preparation will be required including witness statements from you and any who can support you.
If the Home Office do not accept the submissions, you will receive a deprivation (or nullity) decision which can be appealed. If you appeal, and you should, the same submissions can be made to a Judge. The Judge will weigh any mitigating circumstances against the public interest raised by the Home Office.
You will need evidence of the circumstances of your offending or dishonesty. You will also need to evidence your life in the UK and the impact losing your citizenship will have on you an any family members.
There is a whole range of evidence that could be required and it is impossible to give general advice about this; each case turns on its own specific facts.
We understand how challenging and stressful it will be when facing deprivation proceedings. You must, as a matter of urgency, take legal advice since resisting these proceedings will be complex, requiring carefully evidenced and detailed submissions. The consequences are huge and can be financially crippling
That is why our team of specialist solicitors, who have many years of experience in immigration law, will work with you to prepare a compelling case to fight your deprivation proceedings.
We are pleased to be recognised as a leading law firm by the following independent bodies: The Times Best Law Firms 2024, Chambers & Partners 2024, Legal 500 2024 and Who'sWhoLegal 2024. These endorsements from the international legal directories demonstrate our integrity and success in dealing with difficult cases. We are also proud of our 5-star Google reviews from over 150 satisfied clients.
As resisting deprivation proceedings is always complex, you must seek specialist advice from an immigration solicitor as a matter of urgency. Latitude Law’s specialist lawyers can advise you about your individual situation and prepare a carefully evidenced submission to provide the best possible chance to successfully fight the UK government decision deprive you of your British citizenship.
Get in touch with our legal team today on 0300 131 6767 or fill out our enquiry form and we will get straight back to you. Face your future knowing you have the dedicated support of one of our expert lawyers.
If your partner is a British citizen and you see your future in the UK, you may be considering gaining British citizenship through marriage. This type of naturalisation application is dependent on satisfying a number of requirements, so it’s smart to seek legal help when you begin your application.
A settlement visa – also known as indefinite leave to remain – can only be applied for once a person qualifies, usually after a set period of residence in a visa category that leads to settlement. In most instances, settlement is obtained once a person has resided in the UK for five years.
The UK government believes that family should stay together wherever possible, which is why they offer visas for family members of British citizens or migrants who are settled in the UK. The immigration solicitors at Latitude Law can guide you through the application process and provide legal advice on complex matters, such as past refusals and appeals.
