UK Government Toughens Rules on Citizenship for Illegal Immigrants

Migrants picked up at sea attempting to cross the English Channel from France disembark from Border Force vessel Typhoon after it arrived at the Marina in Dover, England, on Feb. 9, 2025. Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images

The British government has tightened up the guidance on granting UK citizenship to those who arrive in the country illegally.

The Home Office’s good character guidance for caseworkers on granting citizenship was updated on Monday to say that an applicant who had entered the UK illegally would henceforth “normally be refused, regardless of the time that has passed since the illegal entry took place.”

The guidance previously stated that the application should “normally be refused” if the illegal entry was made within the past 10 years of the date of application.

It also makes explicit reference to small boat migrants, stating that those who arrived via a dangerous journey would also “normally be refused citizenship,” before clarifying that “a dangerous journey includes, but is not limited to, travelling by small boat or concealed in a vehicle or other conveyance.”

Small boat crossings from France have been a high-profile symbol of what an increasing swath of the UK public believes to be out-of-control illegal immigration, and successive governments have failed to stop the flow.

Last year, the crossings accounted for more than 36,000 arrivals to the UK, with more than 70 would-be illegal immigrants dying in their attempt.

While the guidance update was issued under a Labour government, it has drawn criticism from some of the party’s own MPs.

Longstanding Labour MP Stella Creasy described the change as “counterproductive to the message that we want to send about being proud of our country and the role that it has played in supporting those fleeing persecution,” during an interview on BBC Radio 4.

She went on to state that the move would be so draconian as to deny citizenship to Paddington Bear.

“It would deny, frankly, Paddington. Paddington did the same thing; he came by an irregular route and we couldn’t give him a passport,” Creasy said.

The fictional anthropomorphized bear, created by author Michael Bond in the late 1950s and now voiced in a successful film franchise by actor Ben Wishaw, arrived as a stowaway in Britain from Peru wearing a label reading, “Please look after this bear.”

He received the moniker “Paddington” after being discovered by the Brown family at the London train station of the same name.

Enver Solomon, CEO of the Refugee Council charity, also objected to the changes, saying that it “flies in the face of reason.”

“The British public want refugees who have been given safety in our country to integrate into and contribute to their new communities, so it makes no sense for the Government to erect more barriers,” he said.

“So many refugees over many generations have become proud hard-working British citizens as doctors, entrepreneurs and other professionals. Becoming a British citizen has helped them give back to their communities and this should be celebrated, not prevented. We urge ministers to urgently reconsider.”

Citizenship applications are decided on a case-by-case basis, and policies are kept under review.

In a statement emailed to The Epoch Times, the Home Office said: “There are already rules that can prevent those arriving illegally from gaining citizenship.

“This guidance further strengthens measures to make it clear that anyone who enters the UK illegally, including small boat arrivals, faces having a British citizenship application refused.”

Labour’s new Border Security, Asylum, and Immigration Bill, which scraps the Conservatives’ Rwanda plan, passed a key vote in the House of Commons on Monday.

The legislation contains “counterterror-style powers” including the ability to seize suspected smugglers’ phones before they are arrested.

MPs voted 333–109 to approve the bill at second reading, after earlier rejecting a Conservative amendment designed to block the legislation.