What Will it Take to Become a UK Citizen in the Near Future?

The first part of this reform was established in July 2009, and there is currently public consultation going on that considers including new points based elements in the qualifying criteria sometime before approving the naturalization of a foreign person.


The reforms present important restrictions to the activities of migrants who want to become citizens and most probably will impact whether these people will be ready to travel for business or other reasons in representation of a UK company.


The second part of the reform asks for several changes in UK citizenship law, and includes the new 'path to citizenship'. Most of the detail of this new path will appear in future immigration rules and guidance, but it includes the following points:


- The indefinite leave to remain will be substituted by the probationary citizenship, which is really an extra period of limited leave to remain before applying for either citizenship or permanent residence.


- Migrant workers could be required to be in uninterrupted employment during the probationary citizenship period.


- The migrants on probationary citizenship will not be able to access certain public funds and will not be regarded as settled under immigration UK law and for nationality law purposes.


- The period of the probationary citizenship stage will be between one and three years for the migrants who later apply for citizenship, and between three to five years for the ones who later apply for permanent residence.


- The period of the probationary citizenship stage can be reduced if the migrant meets an 'activity requirement' that deals with getting involved in voluntary activities, nevertheless, the details on how to do this are not known yet.


- The migrants who want to apply for permanent residence or citizenship must hold leave/status in specific qualifying immigration categories.


- The maximum permitted absence time during each year of the qualifying period will be ninety days, however, there can be extenuating reasons that will have to be studied.


The new 'path to citizenship' is planned to begin in July 2011, with transitional protection of as far as two years for the migrants who have applied for indefinite leave to remain by the time it starts.


Migrants and employers should be concerned, because the policy regarding treatment of excess absences will most probably not be available before mid 2010, and no one knows if the policy will be applied with hindsight.


Migrants who want to protect their eligibility to apply for probationary citizenship, naturalization, and/or permanent residence may have to avoid leaving the UK for more than ninety days per year until the policy is finalized. This will certainly impact the hiring decisions of UK employers that need to send employees abroad to work on global projects, or who offer international work positions or programs.


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