(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.
60. 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.
61. 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 United Kingdom has returned to his country of origin for a lengthy spell. In framing the requirements the Government will take account of the circumstances most generally encountered, and their proposals are likely to require a period in the United Kingdom similar to that now prescribed for naturalisation but with stipulations concerning the amount of physical presence here and the length of any absences overseas; and with a minimum of 1 year between the date of acceptance for settlement and the submission of an application. The Secretary of State would have discretion in exceptional circumstances to reduce the prescribed periods. It will also be proposed that periods spent here illegally, that is, having entered or remained in the United Kingdom in breach of the immigration law, should not count towards the residence qualification.
The Language Qualification
62. The nature of the language test at present is set out in paragraph 57 of the Green Paper, that is that an applicant should have an adequate command of spoken English (English or Welsh in the case of Commonwealth applicants), and that such factors as the age and capability of the applicant are taken into account in assessing his suitability. The Government's view is that it is right to continue to have a simple language requirement: the Bill will accordingly provide that a candidate for naturalisation must show that he has sufficient knowledge of English or Welsh. The intention would be to continue to take account of the age and general ability of the applicant. But to allow for the exceptional case, in particular where the applicant is elderly or handicapped, the Bill will propose that the Home Secretary should have power in special circumstances to dispense with the language requirement altogether.
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The Good Character Requirement
The present requirement is that if an applicant is to succeed in an appation for naturalisation, or registration at the Secretary of State's dis- cretion, the applicant must satisfy the Secretary of State that he is of good character. This is referred to in paragraphs 53–56 of the Green Paper. The limited amount of correspondence that has been received on this topic has tended to favour the introduction of objective tests as to character. But correspondents seem to have given little thought to the question whether alternative standards could be devised to identify the person who could meet the basic tests, but might nevertheless be thought unsuitable for other reasons.
64. The requirement is of long standing. It is admittedly an imprecise one, but it is not easy to devise an adequate substitute. Among the most difficult cases in which decisions have to be made are, for example, people who have not been before the courts but who are known to be engaged in criminal or other undesirable activities, who are heavily in debt, or whose activities are open to objection on grounds of public order or national security. The great variety of circumstances revealed when candidates' backgrounds are investig- ated mean, in the Government's view, that a purely objective test, based for example, on the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, would not be effective or sufficient, and would result in some unsuitable people being naturalised.
65. The real question to be considered is perhaps whether a person who has been living in this country the stipulated time, and has an adequate knowledge of the language and intends to go on living here, should have to meet require- ments as to his character. Should the fact of living here be sufficient? There can in the Government's view be no doubt that it would be generally offensive to public feeling if someone with recent criminal convictions were to be able to claim British Citizenship as a matter of course; and the same would apply to people of dubious reputation in others ways, or known to be working against the interests of this country, or to have no sense of loyalty to it. It would not be right to devalue the naturalisation process in this way. Since in the Government's view no objective tests would prove adequate, the Bill will propose that the requirement concerning character should be on the same lines as in the existing law.
The Requirement to Intend, if Naturalised, to Live in the United Kingdom
66. An applicant for naturalisation or registration at discretion has to satisfy the Secretary of State that he intends, if granted citizenship, to live in the United Kingdom or continue in Crown Service, or enter Crown Service. This intention is among matters checked in the course of enquiries and it sometimes transpires that the applicant clearly intends to go and live abroad; and some- times it comes to notice after citizenship has been granted that he has in fact gone abroad, though of course it may have been that the intention was genuinely formed only after the grant of citizenship.
67. As a general proposition it does not seem right that someone who has lived in this country for a relatively short time should be given citizenship as a matter of convenience, in order to facilitate his entry to another country. At one time, while the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act 1914 was in force, a naturalised person who went to live abroad for 7 years could, if he had
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