What should be the ideal requirements for British citizenship?

[AnxiousApocalypse]

In an ideal world, what would be required for someone to be deemed worthy of British citizenship? Of course, fluency in English. Should all foreigners who put themselves forward for military service be allowed a path to just residency or is that too much? Kemi Badenoch wants all immigrants who have claimed benefits and/or social housing to be ineligible for British citizenship. Should the government implement a policy that requires immigrants seeking British citizenship to prove their past and potential contribution to the state. How can this be done? I thought a criminal record disqualified people from gaining a visa to the UK, but I read that some of the Afghan people secretly resettled due to the data leak have criminal records.

Able to communicate in English, the language of the UK, agree to abide by the laws of the UK. The citizenship pledge covers it fairly well " I will give my loyalty to the United Kingdom and respect its rights and freedoms. I will uphold its democratic values. I will observe its laws faithfully and fulfil my duties and obligations as a British citizen". but I think the Australian one reads better "From this time forward, I pledge my loyalty to Australia and its people, whose democratic beliefs I share, whose rights and liberties I respect, and whose laws I will uphold and obey".

No criminal record, unless it is a very minor one such as a parking offence, should also be absolutely standard.

And not allowed to vote until you have been a citizen for three years or more would be a great addition and put paid to any claims of importing voters.

You already need to be fluent in English and have a clean criminal record. The Afghan data leak was an exceptional situation.

Military and ex-military are statistically more like to commit violent crimes so I wouldn’t be encouraging military service, no.

There is already a language requirement, for visa routes too (not visitors, but those applying for work & study visa’s too) and lots of checks take place before citizenship is granted. I do think (and believe this might be coming in, or has recently come in) that if you’ve overstayed your visa, you become illegible to become a British citizen. Not sure what else can be included.

Spamming the board with anti immigration threads tonight?

So anyone who ever had to have in-work benefits (because some wages are too low to live on) or (let's face it, mostly women) who was entitled to child benefit, often through having a child with a Brit, would be ineligible for citizenship? What a kick in the face that would be for the many, many good people who contribute more to society than money can express.

I became a citizen just after Brexit, mainly because I knew that my rights as an immigrant would keep being attacked and slowly taken away.

To meet the requirements, I had to prove I spoke fluent English either via an expensive test or by showing I had gained a degree at a British university. I did the latter. While at university, some of my lecturers pointed out that my grasp of the English language was better than that of many natives they taught.

I also had to track down and prove all of my addresses since I turned 18, which is a fun task when you've rented most of your life and therefore had to move frequently. Of course, no criminal conviction was allowed and I had to travel across the country to get my fingerprints taken and permanently stored on a national database.

Then there was the infamous citizenship test, which many people born and raised here would fail. Yes, there are some important questions about the political system and key historic events, but also questions on who designed some famous buildings, or who won a gold medal in a specific sport.

There is a time delay - you have to hold ILR for a year before you can apply, and you only gain that if you already satisfy most of the above.

Oh, and you need to scrape together around £2000. It's £300 to replace a damaged or lost certificate.

UK citizenship is already extremely hard to get.

I have lived here all my adult life, always been working in a job that society needs (and is desperate to recruit for) but which doesn't pay enough in the early stages to survive on without benefits. I've also had the poor luck of meeting and having children with two British men who didn't uphold British values themselves, and I ended up getting help with childcare money from the state when I became a single mum.

We're so desperate for healthcare professionals, IT professionals, teachers, care workers and so many other people, but the country seems hell-bent on being hostile to those who choose to live their lives here and contribute to a society that they weren't born in. It's saddening.

Wrong thread .

Ideally we'd have periodic critical thinking tests and those found to be unable to think for themselves, would be sent to somewhere like Rwanda where they can spend all day spreading vitriol about foreigners.

You should have to wear a union jack dress for a whole month and pledge allegiance to Captain Tom before we even consider you

Even the men?

I disagree. Better to extend the length of residency required before being eligible but the whole concept of citizenship is binary: either you are a full citizen with all the rights and duties from day one or you're not.

Also, on the Afghan leak - I don't know what type of crimes the people concerned had been convicted of but if you're talking about citizens living under a brutal dictatorship, you have to make a difference between political crimes and anything related to dissent versus crimes like murder. There could be very decent people who oppose those regimes and reflect our values yet end up branded criminals by the tyrants back where they're from.

Actually no you're right we can't have men in dresses perish the thought that's not British, the men have to walk around sunburnt and topless for a week that's more like it

I really struggle with this. I work with several people who are literally saving people lives every day. They are highly skilled, incredibly bright and have given so much to our society. Many of them are from immigrant stock. Their parents in some cases didn't speak English, claimed benefits etc etc.

I think the racists are alive and well on Mumsnet.

• Understanding how rounds work
Having strong opinions on whether the milk goes in first or after
• Feeling slightly faint at the prospect of queue jumping
• Knowing that the best way to open a conversation with a stranger is to say, “Oooh, it’s quite hot/cold/wet today, isn’t it?”

— Competence to B1 level in Morris dancing
— Be able to summarise the plots of all the Paddington books
— Pass a proficiency test in eating jellied eels
— Be able to identify photos of Terry Wogan, Jarvis Cocker, Sooty and Sweep, Lloyd George, and Shakin' Stevens
— Find Doncaster on a map

Fluent in any of the 'official' languages in the UK, for most that is English but also Welsh, Scots Gaelic, Irish, British Sign Language.

There are towns in Argentina that speak Welsh and if you are immigrating to a Welsh speaking part of Wales you can get along without English.

Own a Bulldog
House decorated with pictures of Churchill
Obsessed with a version of the past that never existed
Annoyed we no longer have an Empire
Claim to support “Western Values” whilst demonstrably not supporting Tolerance or freedom of expression
Get angry Christianity is sidelined, despite never having been to Church, or picked up a Bible
Both admire, and despise the NHS

I feel it should be the same as Britain imposed on other countries, so I guess none. Remember, they were the original boat people.

Is this one of those ‘jam or cream first’ threads?

Jam on one half of the scone and then cream on the other. Guaranteed to annoy both Devonians and Cornish

Mumsnet has turned into a really nasty place recently.

I think the recourse to public funds thing has to be carefully considered, if you are claiming UC whilst working a low paid job full time then you are contributing. I think full time work rather than earnings is a reasonable thing.

No criminal record.

I don’t know how you would measure integration tbh which is what people are probably worried about and tbh rightly so. There are cultural mores which are frankly negative, FGM, forced marriage, honour violence, clan based loyalties. I’m an ethnic minority myself, happily these things are not an issue in my family. But what often happens is migration from rural areas can often shore up and reinforce very traditional values which are at odds with the overall view on things like the rights of women. Pretending it’s not an issue to be anti-racist is not helpful.

I’ve been listening to a few podcasts on honour killings and it’s depressed the shit out of me.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/oct/31/honour-based-offences-soared-by-81-in-last-five-years

I actually think we should have a higher bar for issuing any kind of visas to nationalities who are overrepresented in criminal convictions.

Oh yeah, so fight in our wars and pay for our benefits system through your taxes but no citizenship for you! It’s absolutely disgusting.

I think anybody whose homeland has been adversely affected by policy decisions or war perpetrated or supported by the UK through arms deals has a right to become a British citizen. Maybe that approach would lead to the UK and other such countries thinking twice before bombing the hell out of so many countries across the world?

That’s what I do and it works perfectly!

It’s fine already. Maybe extend the length of residency.
Wouldn’t want to be like other countries such as UAE where you can live and work there for 60 years and still get kicked out when no longer working.
Its not the citizenship people are upset about as much as the lack of ‘loyalty’ to their chosen country but would hate to see US style nationalism in this country.