CONFIDENTIAL
The Residence Qualification
60. The present ways in which residence may serve as a qualification may
be summarised as follows:
(i) an alien may apply for naturalisation on grounds of residence, defined as being one year immediately before the application is made and 4 years out of the preceding 7;
(ii) a British Protected Person may also apply for naturalisation, but in his case the requirement is that there shall be 5 years'
ordinary residence;
(iii) certain Commonwealth citizens and citizens of the Irish Republic retain an entitlement to become Citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies by virtue of section 6(1) of the 1948 Act as modified by the Immigration Act 1971, provided they were settled here before the latter Act came into force on 1 January 1973, and have remained ordinarily
resident here since that date;
(iv) other Commonwealth citizens may apply for citizenship at the Home Secretary's discretion by a process akin to that for naturalisation, save that the residence qualification is expressed as being 5 years' ordinary residence.
61. In the Government's view the residential qualification should be such as to demonstrate, very clearly that an applicant has thrown in his lot with the United Kingdom and that he intends to regard the United Kingdom as his home. There have been signs that under the present law citizenship has some- times been sought merely for the convenience of having a United Kingdom passport. and that having obtained one the person concerned has later gone elsewhere to live. The Government do not take the view that citizenship should be available solely for convenience of travel.
62. Neither of the terms 'residence' and 'ordinary residence' has been the subject of interpretation by the Courts for purely nationality purposes. Neither has been found entirely satisfactory in all circumstances, for example where a person who has established some residential connection with the
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