Belfast Agreement

(asked on 21st February 2020) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect of Article 1 (vi) of the Good Friday Agreement on (a) the legal status of people in Northern Ireland who identify as (i) Irish, (ii) British and (iii) both and (b) their related entitlement to be recognised as such.


Answered by
Kevin Foster Portrait
Kevin Foster
This question was answered on 11th March 2020

Article 1 (vi) of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement sets out the birthright of all the people of Northern Ireland to identify themselves and be accepted as Irish or British as they may so choose, and confirms their right to hold both British and Irish citizenship. In line with this commitment, the people of Northern Ireland are legally able to hold British or Irish citizenship, or both.

The reciprocal Common Travel Area arrangements between the UK and Ireland ensure the people of Northern Ireland are not required to choose and assert an identity, or to align their citizenship with their choice of identity, in order to access public services and other entitlements in the UK.

As set out in the New Decade, New Approach document published in January 2020, the Home Office intends to change the UK’s Immigration Rules so family members of the people of Northern Ireland can apply for immigration status on broadly the same terms as family members of Irish citizens and will open this route as soon as delivery allows. We aim to do this before the end of the year.

The Rules change will enable the people of Northern Ireland to bring their family members to the UK on broadly the same basis as family members of Irish citizens who have entry and residence rights under the EU Withdrawal Agreement.

Where family members of Irish citizens are not covered by the Withdrawal Agreement (for example, because the Irish citizen moved to the UK after the end of the transition period) they will, as now, be able to apply for immigration status under the UK’s family Immigration Rules. Family members of the people of Northern Ireland in an analogous position will also be subject to those Rules.

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