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50.
below:
Four possible options, with some comments on them, are give n
(i)
(ii)
To give men married to citizens the same entitlement to citizenship which women who are married to citizens now enjoy. This would "level up" the sexes by enabling a woman citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies to confer on her foreign husband the same benefit as a man can confer on his foreign wife, and would more adequately recognise the equal status of women in marriage. But such a provision could, as indicated above, have some undesirable consequences. Because any Commonwealth citizen or foreign national would be able to acquire citizenship - and the right of entry to the United Kingdom - simply through marriage to a British citizen, there could be an encouragement to bogus marriages, particularly where a foreigner was aware of being in danger of deportation (which his acquisition of citizenship would prevent) and, more generally, to securing entry ostensibly for some temporary purpose but really with a view to marriage and permanent settlement. Accordingly a provision of this kind might have to include a reserve power to refuse citizenship in certain circumstances.
To give spouses of both sexes married to citizens an entitlement to citizenship, but make this subject to a residence requirement of perhaps three years.
(iii) To treat spouses of citizens on exactly the same terms
as other applicants for citizenship. This would mean that wives would have to qualify for citizenship in the same way that husbands do. It might be said that marriage should not of itself entitle anyone male or female to take his or her spouse's citizenship particularly if the marriage no longer subsists, and that we should not assume that a spouse is automatically fitted for citizenship or that he or she is prepared to identify with this country; but that spouses of each sex should be treated on their merits.
(iv)
Ad
To treat spouses of citizens on the same terms as other applicants for citizenship, but to give both sexes some concession in the matter of residence perhaps by requiring only three years instead of the normal five for naturalisation. This would ensure that marriage to a citizen brought a real advantage without giving the unqualified entitlement which at present is conferred on
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