FIRST SCHEDULE.—(Naturalisation.) (Hansard, 13 July 1948)

§ Mr. Peake

There is one point upon this First Schedule on which the Committee ought to have some explanation. It lays down for aliens what hitherto has been the normal conditions for naturalisa- 1153 tion. In regard to British protected persons, however, the period of residence required is reduced from five years to one year, and paragraph 3 of the Schedule states: The qualifications for naturalisation of a British protected person who applies therefor are:—

(a) that he is ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom and has been so resident throughout the period of twelve months, or such shorter period as the Secretary of State may in the special circumstances of any case accept, immediately preceding his application; or
(b) that he is in Clown service under His Majesty's government in the United Kingdom, and"

If we turn to paragraph 4, we read: The foregoing provisions of this Schedule shall, in their application to any colony, protectorate or United Kingdom trust territory, have effect as if"— and I quote from sub-paragraph (b)— for the reference in sub-paragraph (a) of paragraph 1 residence in the United Kingdom there were substituted a reference to residence in that colony, protectorate or territory. It follows, therefore, that any British protected person will now be able to apply for naturalisation here without any residence in this country at all, because, although paragraph 3 lays down a period of 12 months' residence in the United Kingdom, paragraph 4 tells us that residence in a Protectorate shall count as residence in the United Kingdom. It would, therefore, appear that within 12 months of the passage of this Bill all of the teeming millions of British protected persons throughout the Colonies, the Dominions and the Protectorates will be able to apply for naturalisation.

That appears to be the intention of the Schedule as it is drawn, and the Committee is entitled to have some explanation of this enormous change in our naturalisation law. Hitherto the British protected person has had to come here like other people and to have five years' residence, of which one year must immediately precede the application for naturalisation. In future, it appears that, without moving their residence in any way, they will be able to make application for naturalisation from the Protectorate where they are resident at the time. This is such a large and startling change in our naturalisation law that we ought to have a word of explanation from the Government Front Bench about it.