Transitional arrangements for earned citizenship

On 23^rd September 2009 the UK Border Agency (UKBA) announced that it would be putting in place transitional arrangements for those individuals who hold indefinite leave to remain status (also known as permanent residence) or who have applied for such status before the new system of earned citizenship is introduced.

The Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 received Royal Assent on 21^st July 2009 and gives effect to earned citizenship, which the UKBA proposes to introduce in July 2011.

As the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill progressed through Parliament the government listened to the views of both the House of Lords and the House of Commons and subsequently agreed to the following transitional arrangements:

• Migrants who have already been granted indefinite leave to remain on the date when earned citizenship is introduced will automatically be considered to have permanent residence status.  As such, they will be eligible to make an application for British citizenship under the current rules, provided they do so within 2 years of the implementation of earned citizenship.
• Migrants who have filed an application for indefinite leave to remain before the implementation of earned citizenship will have their application considered in the usual way and, if granted indefinite leave to remain, they will be eligible to apply for British citizenship under the current rules provided they do so within 2 years of the implementation of earned citizenship.
• The government will continue to meet its obligations to migrants who entered the UK on the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP) and had a legitimate expectation that they would be eligible to apply for indefinite leave to remain in accordance with the rules in place at the time they applied under the HSMP.
• The introduction of earned citizenship has been postponed by six months to allow people time to adjust to the new system and to give those migrants who are eligible to apply for indefinite leave to remain or British citizenship under the current rules time to make those applications, should they wish to do so.  Earned citizenship will therefore be introduced in July 2011.

We would strongly recommend that any migrant workers who are currently eligible to apply for indefinite leave to remain or who will become eligible prior to July 2011 consider making an application while the transitional arrangements are in place.  Otherwise, they will be subject to the full earned citizenship criteria.  We would be happy to assist with any indefinite leave to remain or naturalisation applications.

This article was first published in Business Immigration eBulletin October 2009