not registered with a British Consul be deprived of his (then) British subject status. But to introduce deprivation on similar grounds now would often ult in statelessness, since many people on acquiring our citizenship would autofic- ally lose the one they possessed earlier.
68. The Government do not, however, think that people who move on after acquiring our citizenship should be enabled to pass on citizenship further. To do so is against their general intention that the number of British Citizens living abroad with no continuing close connection with the United Kingdom should be limited as far as possible; and they will propose in the Bill that a citizen by grant shall be put on the same footing as a citizen by descent so far as the transmission of citizenship to a child born abroad is concerned. (If the child is born during the parents' temporary absence abroad, its status could be ensured by means of the provisions referred to in paragraph 80 for the registra- tion of minor children.)
Crown Service
69. The present law gives the Secretary of State power to naturalise aliens, and to register Commonwealth citizens, on the ground of their service to the Crown. In each case grants of citizenship are at discretion, though until the British Nationality Act was amended by the Immigration Act 1971 with effect from 1 January 1973 Commonwealth citizens had an entitlement to be registered after 5 years service. The people who acquire Citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies in this way include locally-recruited staff of diplomatic posts and Service bases overseas.
70. The Bill will contain provisions enabling the Secretary of State to naturalise people as British Citizens on the grounds of Crown Service. It is not intended to prescribe any fixed period of service. It is envisaged that grants of Citizenship on these grounds would be made only sparingly. It would not be right, for example, to make them simply on grounds of a period of satisfactory service; citizenship, carrying with it the right of abode in the United Kingdom, is not appropriate as a form of emolument.
Citizenship by Virtue of Marriage
71. The suggestion in the Green Paper that distinctions between the sexes in nationality matters should be ended has met with general support. Under the law as it is at present a woman who has at any time been married to a Citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies is entitled on application to be registered as one herself. Men, on the other hand, have no such entitlement. The Green Paper commented that to give men this entitlement might have repercussions on immigration, particularly in relation to bogus marriages; and referred to the practice of other countries in placing restrictions on the acquisition of citizenship by both husbands and wives.
72. While the reaction of the public has been in favour of removing distinc- tions there has been no clear preference for any of the 4 possible options mentioned in paragraph 50 of the Green Paper, viz:—
(i) to give men married to citizens the same entitlement which women who are married to citizens now enjoy;
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(ii) to give spouses of both sexes who are married to citizens an entitlement to citizenship but to make this subject to a residence requirement of, say, 3 ars;
(iii) to treat spouses on the same terms as other applicants for citizenship; (iv) to treat spouses on the same terms as other applicants for citizenship, but to give both sexes some concessions on the length of residence.
73. The Government could not contemplate a general provision under which all spouses of British Citizens would have an entitlement to acquire citizenship; as pointed out in paragraphs 49-50 of the Green Paper, a provision of this kind would inevitably have repercussions on immigration, and in particular the possibility that bogus marriages might thereby be encouraged cannot be ignored.
74. In considering what provision should be made in the future the Government have been influenced by the fact that since the 1948 Act was passed ideas on the status of women have changed. They will propose in the Bill that for both sexes the means of obtaining British Citizenship shall be the same, that is, that a spouse should first be accepted for settlement in the United Kingdom, but that he or she should be able to apply for naturalisation after a shorter period of residence than the normal one; they will propose 3 years.
75. The Government are aware that there will be a number of women married to Citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies who when the Act comes into force will not have exercised their entitlement under the 1948 Act to be registered. Many of them will of course have had good reason for not doing so because, for example, the acquisition of their husband's citizenship might mean the loss of their own original one. But others may simply have neglected to apply though they would wish to do so. The Government will therefore propose in the Bill that for a limited period after the coming into force of the Act a woman married to a man who becomes a British Citizen, and whose marriage still subsists, should be entitled to obtain that citizenship on applying for registration. They will further propose that a woman formerly married to a man who becomes, or would but for his death have become, a British Citizen may be granted citizenship at the discretion of the Secretary of State.
Cessation of Registration Entitlement Under Section 6(1) of the 1948 Act, as modified by the Immigration Act 1971
76. Since the coming into force of the Immigration Act 1971 the grant of citizenship on the grounds of residence has, in general, been at the Secretary of State's discretion, and has been subject to the conditions summarised in paragraph 59. However, certain Commonwealth citizens who have been living here for a long time have retained an absolute right to be registered as Citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies. The people concerned are those who were settled here free of any conditions on their stay on 1 January 1973 and who have remained ordinarily resident here since that date. The Pakistan Act 1973, under which citizens of Pakistan became aliens, preserved for a limited time the right of those who were qualified to apply under this provision; the final date for such applications was 1 September 1979, although the Home Secretary is empowered to accept a later application in the special circumstances of a particular case.
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