To be worried about my indefinite leave to remain. Should I get British citizenship?

Be very sure OP if you decide not to - who knows what might happen - remember that the Windrush generation in the 50’s could never have foreseen that they might be deported 40-50 years later. And if anything were to happen - say you were driving a car, had an accident and the police charged you with dangerous driving - what if Reform passed a law about having a criminal record and ILR status? You just never know and with the rise of the right, need to take precautions.

Thankyou

It was a surprise too that if born here and not automatically a citizen that someone wouldn't have already taken steps to become one.

Learned lots from replies.

So if he OP was born before then shed be ok as a British citizen, if after it's not so clear cut if neither parent is British

Unless you have a British parent then it's not automatically making you a UK citizen just by being born here. This has been in effect since 1982.

Given that the goalposts seems to be moving a lot at the moment go and see an immigration advisor. They should be able to advise you on your options.

I wouldn't. Not in this climate.

I am reading enough thank you, I don't believe this will ever happen, and if it does, I won't be one of those that the new Government would be looking to deport. Gets people talking for sure. Reform don't know what they are doing, things change with the wind.
Stuff to think about for sure, I know my DH would be quite relieved if I took my finger out and just organised it.

Yes, I looked this up - neither of my parents fit these criteria! And they'd been in the country less than five years at the time of my birth, iirc. Will ask my mother how she sorted it.

you are not reading enough. Reform said if they get in, they plan to deport people on ILR. So having ILR may not mean a lot in a few years.

Anyone born in the UK isn’t necessarily a British citizen- if your parents (more importantly, the mother) aren’t British citizens then you wouldn’t automatically be one. I used to work in Nationality and it’s common misconception.

If you become a British citizen then it doesn’t affect your other nationality (although some
countries don’t allow dual citizenship so if they find out…)

"Having sole citizenship of that country is sort of symbolic. A reminder of my heritage. I understand that having dual citizenship would not change that but it does feel conflicting. Like I’m letting that side of my heritage go"

This doesn't make any sense at all. If you get dual citizenship then you're not letting anything go. You will be both a citizen of a country and heritage you closely align with and also a citizen of your birth country and where you live full time. Your logic is a bit bonkers to be honest.

Agree with doing it before you need to especially if you don’t have to choose between two. My DDad has had ILR for 50 years, he doesn’t feel able to go through the process now. I wish he’d done it years ago.

I have gone through this recently for another country for the whole family.

My take on it is do it before you need to. It takes a while and you won’t want to feel under pressure.

If it takes a year your could wait a year to see how things are shaping up.

Our county council went reform in may and if what they're doing is an example of what they would do in government then people will soon start changing their mind. They are causing utter chaos here.

I do get the emotional aspect. I am a dual citizen. British by birth. I got my Australia passport purely for greater security. But getting Australian citizenship had no impact on my identity. For me it was purely a legal decision to make me more secure in the country and allow me to move back to Australia if I need to.

You don’t want to wait till Reform get in and it becomes too late.

Of course natural born citizens have zero requirement to ever swear allegiance to the monarch (unless they choose to join a profession that requires it). It's just taken for read. (And I suspect a lot of people give it no thought for themselves).

OP - having read the rules more closely, you are very possibly a British citizen already. If you were born pre-1983, you acquired citizenship at birth regardless of the citizenship/immigration status of your parents. If you were born post-1983 to parents who were citizens of countries that were, at the time, members of the EU/EEA, then you also acquired citizenship at birth.

“For people born in the UK between 1 January 1983 and 1 October 2000:

You’re automatically a British citizen if when you were born at least one of your parents was both:

• a citizen of a country that was in the EU or the EEA at the time
• living in the UK with free movement rights

If the parent that meets these conditions is your father, he must have been married to your mother when you were born.”

So I think EU citizens living in the UK with free movement rights are treated as having had indefinite leave to remain (because effectively they did from the day they arrived, and they weren’t eligible to actually apply for ILR at the time). Possibly wouldn’t apply if they were here as students, but if they were working/living long-term in the UK, then their kids would be UK citizens at birth.

www.gov.uk/check-british-citizenship/born-in-the-uk-between-1-january-1983-and-1-october-2000

One reasons I've put it off is there there is no choice to attend the citizenship ceremony (that you have to pay) for, and affirm alliengence to the British King)

But you have your citizenship now and your rights are secure, right? There is nothing stopping you from fully experiencing your emotions AND getting rid of the anxiety/fear from someone questioning your legal right to be here at any point in time. Would you give up the citizenship of your adopted country just because you feel emotional about it?

I meant to add, that's one explanation for why there are so many people who haven't gone to the effort and expense of getting citizenship. Up until now, they've assumed (not unreasonably) that they have rights and protections under their ILR status which means the additional rights citizenship confers were perhaps not of sufficient value.

My husband has settled status so not quite the same. But when he first was eligible for citizenship his home country didn't allow adults to hold dual nationality. The additional rights he would get as a citizen weren't worth giving up his other nationality for.

i wouldn't say that. I have spent way way more of my life in my adopted country, than i have in the UK but it is still a big part of you.

So when I (thanks Brexit) got citizenship of where i live, i was quite breezy about it. Until i signed the form and the clerk put the certificate in my hand and i burst into tears. And she gave me a tissue and said "don't worry, it gets lots of people like that"

So, OP, have a good think about it - unless you have to give up another citizenship to do this, treat it as an admin task (like getting a visa) but be prepared for unexpected feelings to surface.

That Spains sovereignty at play. In the same way the UK is and always has been a sovereign nation.

That is a very insightful comparison - I'm using that from now on 😎