REGISTRATION AND NATURALISATION UNDER BRITISH NATIONALITY ACTS I948 TO I965. (Hansard, 2 June 1981)

§ Mr. Raison
I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.

§ Mr. Speaker
With this, we may take Government amendments Nos. 58 to 61 and. 63 to 65.

§ Mr. Raison
Taken with the various consequential amendments to clause 49 and schedules 8 and 9, the new clause seeks to simplify the current procedures for registration and naturalisation and will help to reduce some of the delays in dealing with applications for citizenship. It is envisaged that, unlike the other provisions of the Bill, these measures will come into force as soon as the Bill receives Royal Assent. They will, therefore, have an immediate impact and are framed in terms of alterations to the current nationality legislation.
The problem that the amendments seek to relieve is that, under present law, once a decision has been made to grant, for example, a certificate of naturalisation, it is necessary to write to the applicant on three separate occasions.
First, the applicant is asked to check the details that are to appear on his certificate of naturalisation, such as his name. He is also asked to send in his fee. The certificate is made out and signed on behalf of the Home Secretary. The applicant is approached a second time and asked to take the oath of allegiance before a solicitor or other authorised person. The oath of allegiance for applicants for naturalisation is printed on the back of the naturalisation certificate. The applicant returns that to the Home Office. His certificate is duly sealed, and the Home Office writes to him for the third and final time, with the certificate of naturalisation. He is a naturalised citizen from the time his certificate is signed, but that is conditional on his taking the oath of allegiance. Broadly similar procedures apply with most applicants for citizenship by registration. There is no discretion to simplify those procedures under existing legislation.
It would greatly help the flow of work if the second stage of the process—the request to the applicant to take the oath of allegiance—could be included in the first stage. Applicants could then be asked in one letter to check the details to appear on their certificate, send the fee and take the oath of allegiance. A time-taking stage in the process of naturalisation would be eliminated. That would simplify matters for the applicant, would save staff time and effort and would reduce some delays.
Under clause 39 we propose to adopt that system when the Bill comes into force, but it may be some little time before the Bill comes into force, since much preparation 823 has to be done. In the meantime, the provisions of the British Nationality Act 1948, as amended, will apply, and in their present form those do not permit any simplification of existing procedures. We think, however, that we ought not to wait until then before moving over to the new system for oaths of allegiance. There would be considerable advantage, we believe, in eliminating the second stage from the process of issuing certificates of naturalisation and registration as soon as the Bill receives Royal Assent.
Accordingly, we propose that, as from Royal Assent, the arrangements for acquiring citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies by naturalisation and registration should be simplified in the way that I have described. As from then, we propose that applicants should pay the fee and take the oath of allegiance before they are naturalised or registered. Their naturalisation or registration will take effect, as at present, from the time that the registration is made or the certificate of naturalisation is granted, but it will no longer be dependent on their subsequently taking the oath of allegiance where that is required.
Anyone who has been granted naturalisation or registered before Royal Assent but has not then taken the oath of allegiance will still, in appropriate cases, have to do so, as a condition of naturalisation or registration, but thereafter the normal procedure will be that the applicant will be asked to take the oath of allegiance before he or she is naturalised or registered and will be asked to return the oath, duly attested, with the appropriate fee before the certificate of naturalisation is signed or the registration made.
We believe that the change will yield significant improvements in the processing of applications for naturalisation or registration, once those have been decided. In our view the improvements ought not to be delayed till the Bill as a whole comes into force, but should take effect as soon as it receives Royal Assent.