Hina Majid on the government’s probationary citizenship proposals
Integration, international competitiveness, clarity of laws and efficient administration are all laudable aims and the government is right to pursue these objectives in redesigning its scheme for settlement and naturalisation. However, the fundamental problem with its current proposals is that they are unlikely to achieve any of the above.
The Draft (Partial) Immigration and Citizenship Bill’s key innovation, as regards citizenship, is to reflect the creation of a new “probationary citizenship” status. This is to be interposed between temporary leave and British citizenship. Although not presently stated in the Bill, the intention is that probationary citizenship will carry only limited access to the welfare state. In progressing from probationary to British citizenship, the key change is that economic migrants will be required to demonstrate that they have been in continuous employment, complying with certain, as yet unspecified, conditions. Partners and spouses will also be required to establish that they are in an ongoing relationship.
Time frames for naturalising
In terms of the time frames, probationary citizenship is to last anything from one to five years. The total
