Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the number of naturalisations by discretion (1) by nationality, (2) by gender, (3) by age, and (4) by ethnicity, annually since 2010.

All grants of naturalisation as a British citizen are at the discretion of the Home Secretary. She may, if she sees fit, naturalise a person who meets the provisions set out at section 6 of the British Nationality Act 1981. These include a requirement to have been lawfully resident in the UK for a continuous period, be free of immigration time restrictions, be of good character and have sufficient knowledge of English and of life in the United Kingdom. The Home Secretary has some discretion over certain residence requirements, but there is no power in law to grant citizenship outside of the statutory requirements of the 1981 Act.

One of the statutory requirements for naturalisation is that a person should not have been in breach of the immigration laws in the residential qualifying period before applying. Another is that he or she is of good character. As such, a person who is subject to a deportation order would not normally qualify for naturalisation.

Information of persons naturalised as a British citizen by previous nationality is published annually and given in the table attached.

Statistics on grants of British citizenship by category and previous nationality is published in the Home Office ‘Immigration Statistics’ Citizenship table cz_07, available on the .GOV.UK website.