Labour has quietly reversed a rule that prevented small-boat arrivals and other people who entered the UK illegally from later obtaining British citizenship.
The significant shift follows a legal challenge arguing that the policy breached human rights legislation and international agreements protecting refugees.
As a result, migrants who entered the country unlawfully but are later granted asylum will once again be able to apply for British passports, three years after the Conservatives introduced restrictions blocking them from doing so.
Guidance prepared under Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood states that applicants will now be able to argue that arriving in the UK without permission was “outside their control.”
The Home Office published the change on its website, where it was presented as a “minor change,” despite the political sensitivity surrounding the issue.
Conservatives criticised Labour’s move as a “weak” retreat and claimed it risked encouraging more people to attempt illegal Channel crossings.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “If Shabana Mahmood has any backbone she will urgently change the law to restore the Conservative absolute ban on illegal immigrants from claiming citizenship.
“I will be seeking to amend their legislation to do that in the near future.”
Migrants carry an inflatable boat in to the sea at Wissant, France, to head towards Britain earlier this month
‘The difference between Labour and Conservative has never been clearer: I want to deport all illegal immigrants within a week of arrival, yet Shabana Mahmood wants to give illegal immigrants citizenship.’
The Conservatives blocked claims from anyone who came to Britain ‘without leave to enter’, such as small boat migrants, under the Illegal Migration Act 2023.
But Labour suspended the Tories’ measures just weeks after the 2024 General Election and later repealed them.
Instead, former Labour Home Secretary Yvette Cooper introduced guidelines for Home Office caseworkers which attempted to replicate the laws they had ditched.
The guidelines, published in February last year, said citizenship applications ‘will normally be refused’ from anyone who came to Britain without permission ‘having made a dangerous journey’ such as by small boat or in the back of a lorry.
Three months later, two law firms lodged a legal challenge applying for a judicial review on behalf of five migrants who had been barred from winning citizenship under Ms Cooper’s measures.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood quietly changed Home Office policy so illegal immigrants can once again secure British citizenship
In legal papers submitted to the Home Office one of the applicants, an illegal entrant identified only as ‘CBW’, claimed the policy ‘failed to address’ Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which protects the right to ‘private and family life’.
His lawyers also alleged that it amounted to discrimination, contrary to a separate part of the ECHR.
Further, his lawyers said the Home Office was in breach of the Refugee Convention which says countries should ‘as far as possible facilitate the assimilation and naturalisation of refugees’ and ‘not impose penalties on account of their illegal entry or presence’.
In April this year, Ms Mahmood quietly published a new version of the rules which ditched the blanket ban on applications by small boat migrants.
The new rules say: ‘It will normally be appropriate to disregard overstaying, illegal entry, or arrival without a required entry clearance or electronic travel authorisation having made a dangerous journey, where it was outside the person’s control.
‘This includes, but is not limited to, where there is reliable evidence that a person was trafficked into the UK.’
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Earlier this month the Home Office capitulated in the High Court judicial review and was ordered to pay the costs of four of the five applicants.
Their citizenship claims will now be reconsidered by the Home Office, and are likely to be granted.
Tory frontbencher Mr Philp went on: ‘This weak open borders Labour government has given up even trying to protect our country from illegal immigrants.
‘They repealed the Conservative government’s law stopping all illegal immigrants from ever becoming British citizens.
‘And now Labour has snuck out an announcement that means many illegal immigrants will now be able to get citizenship by making up claims to have been trafficked.
Migrants clamber aboard an overloaded dinghy bound for Britain earlier this month
‘This will increase the already huge pull factor that attracts illegal immigrants to cross the Channel from France and come here.’
It comes as Ms Mahmood is set to unveil a new package of immigration measures on Tuesday.
It will include a scheme allowing thousands more asylum seekers to come to Britain under sponsorship from community organisations and universities.
The United Nations’ refugee agency will help decide who wins permission to come to the UK under the controversial new refugee scheme.
Ms Mahmood also revealed new details of her plan to scrap the lower immigration and asylum appeal court and replace it with a new independent body.
The Home Office said on Sunday night that paid volunteers from the general public – comparable to magistrates – will decide immigration appeals instead of judges.
The new Independent Immigration Appeals Authority (IIAA) is set to begin hearing cases from the end of next year, and will be phased in in stages.
Ms Mahmood said she would also change the law so that asylum seekers whose claims have been rejected by the Home Office can only bring a single appeal, rather than mounting repeated challenges on different legal grounds.
The IIAA will be able to prioritise cases such as challenges against deportation by dangerous foreign criminals, in order to better protect the public, a Home Office spokesman said.
It will also be able to bring forward hearings in ‘human rights claims that are clearly without merit’, in a bid to speed up deportations, they added.
The Home Secretary said: ‘People are gaming the system, lodging vexatious appeals to frustrate their removal.
‘Our new appeals body will ensure claims are heard swiftly and fairly.
‘Those with a legitimate claim will get their hearing.
‘Those who have no right to remain in this country, and are abusing the system, will be swiftly removed.’
In a further announcement, the Home Office said it will build another 700 bed-spaces at two immigration removal centres – Campsfield, near Kidlington, Oxon, and Haslar, near Gosport, Hants.
A Home Office spokesman said of the citizenship changes: ‘This government is introducing the toughest standards anywhere in Europe for gaining settled status and applying for citizenship.
‘This will include a 30-year wait for those who arrive via small boat and 20 years for others who claim asylum.
‘Citizenship in the UK is a privilege to be earned, not a right, and will be granted only to those who meet strict requirements.’
