Clause 39
Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [Lords]
1:00 pm
Phil Woolas (Minister of State (the North West), Home Office; Oldham East and Saddleworth, Labour)
One copy is in the room because I have it. I will make arrangements for others to be sent. I am trying to be helpful. There is no substantial policy change in the document; there are some up-to-date figures that will inform the House on Report. We will put some reports on the table.
I shall try to answer some of the specific questions that were asked in what has been an interesting and important debate on the amendments. I shall choose my words carefully because others outside the room will read and interpret them. I shall answer the general principle points raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Dover, but the key point is about work permit conditions. It has been tested in the court, as I said before, under the Ooi case. Mr. Ooi was a gentleman of Chinese citizenship. It was stated that a condition of the work permit was that the person could, within four years, apply for leave to remain. The court, in line with our policy, found that was not an explicit and unequivocal representation creating a legitimate expectation. My hon. Friend was talking about the expectation of applying, not the expectation of necessarily receiving. It is an important point, because there is a clear difference between temporary admission for a purpose and indefinite leave to remain.
The hon. Member for Ashford helpfully read out the letter from Lord Brett, following the debate in the Lords. It duplicated the comments the noble Lord had made in the Lords about clause 37. The critical change between what was reported at column 541 of House of Lords Hansard of 2 March 2009 and the subsequent letter was the point relating to migrants with ILR when the earned citizenship clauses under the Bill are commenced. They will be able to apply to naturalise under existing section 6 and schedule 1 of the British Nationality Act 1981, provided that they apply within a set period after the clauses have been commenced. Lord Brett said that, although we have not yet confirmed the period, it is likely to be for 18 months after the clauses are commenced.
Following the debate in the Lords, I looked at that point and made the suggested change to 24 months not 18 months. The hon. Member for Ashford read out a reference to 24 months. My suggestion is dependent, of course, on the House agreeing a commencement date of December next year. That would meet the specific point that has been made.
I come now to the more general points. The hon. Member for Ashford referred to policy and what we were trying to achieve. He made an important statement in respect of Conservative policy. I think that he said it was desirable, and that he agreed with the Government, that the indefinite leave to remain concept should move on, and that we should have a system of temporary leave to remain and moving into citizenship. He is right to suggest that—perhaps for reasons of dual citizenship—people might not want to have to choose. That is recognised, but it is important that people note the statement that has been made.
As for what we are trying to do, our policy is aimed at helping the migrant who wishes to become a citizen of our country to integrate, to better understand our society and the specific community and to better be able to contribute. That is based on the belief that migrants want to contribute and that we should provide a route for them to do that. One can see earned citizenship in a punitive sense as a hurdle that has been put in front of people or as a platform on which to help people build a life. We believe that it is right—I welcome the consensus on this point—that those who wish to become citizens of our country should have an adherence to the commitment to the rule of law and to the English language, and an understanding of our democratic system. During the debate we shall look at how we can define that. The strategy is to try to break the automatic link that is in many people’s minds, and in some cases in statute, between temporary stay and automatic right to citizenship, and to help the migrant to integrate.