Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a pathway for British citizens by descent to upgrade citizenship status after a defined period of continuous UK residency.

The Home Office keeps all aspects of the immigration system under review. However, British nationality law is governed by the British Nationality Act 1981, which came into force on 1 January 1983. There is no power in law to grant British citizenship outside of the statutory provisions of that Act 1981.

Further details of all the measures announced in the White Paper will be set out in due course, and where necessary, subject to consultation.