inmigration the journey to british citizenship€¦ · 2 the exam and the citizenship ceremony are...
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INMIGRATION
THE JOURNEY TO BRITISH CITIZENSHIPCristina Palomares, PhD (LSE), MPhil (Cambridge)
From 1st November 2005 and endorsed by the “Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act” of November 2002, the British Government took an unprecedented series of steps on the issue of immigration in the United Kingdom1. Those residents
intending to apply for British citizenship had to, among other requirements, demonstrate “sufficient” knowledge of one of its official languages and also of its society. To do this they had to pass an exam in English on subjects relating to life in the United Kingdom, its institutions, customs and so forth. At the same time the
exam probes the candidate’s knowledge of the language and the British way of life. It is held in English, though it is also available in Scottish Gaelic and Welsh. With effect
from April 2007 the prior exam requirement was also extended to those applying for indefinite leave to remain in the country. And even more importantly, the law
introduced the essential requirement of taking part in a “Citizenship Ceremony” to obtain British nationality2. Would it be possible for us in Spain to learn from the British
experience and apply these or similar measures?
1 According to Conservative MP and Shadow Minister for Home Affairs (2001-2005), Humfrey Malins, the plight of political asylum seekers was one of the most serious problems facing Tony Blair’s government in the late nineties. Although the 2002 Act proposed measures to deal with this problem and Malins insisted in our interview that they became the fl agship of the Act, in this paper we will only deal with measures concerning the requirements to obtain British nationality.
2 The exam and the Citizenship Ceremony are essential requirements for those applying for British nationality, including citizens of the European Union and of Commonwealth countries.
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The Prince of Wales greets Sheela Newa at the first Citizenship Ceremony at Brent Town Hall, London, on 26th February 2004. This was also attended by Home Secretary David Blunkett.
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The United Kingdom is one of the European countries with most experience in taking in immigrants. It has been doing this since the 16th century, although it was in the 18th century, with the arrival of a large number of Jewish families, and the 20th century, particularly in the wake of the Second World War, when the country saw a heavier influx of immigrants, many of them arriving from Commonwealth countries. Part of immigration today hails from the former So-viet Union satellite countries which are now within the European Union.
Some of these immigrants stay for a limited time, while others apply for Bri-tish nationality. One way or another, they make the United Kingdom their new country of residence. The new patterns in the labour market and the increasing demands from society for the immigrant population to become satisfactorily in-tegrated, especially the part which plans to stay on permanently in the country, have led British political leaders to search for effective solutions to take in this new section of the population.
The answer has been, on the one hand, to implement a multiple-choice type of test to gauge knowledge of English and the British way of life for those wis-hing to take up British nationality and, on the other hand, to celebrate their new status through a Citizenship Ceremony. The handbook on which the exam is based “was the best-selling non-fiction book in the United Kingdom in 2007”, as I was told in an interview with David Blunkett, who was the Home Secretary who pushed through this new policy.
“Gaining British nationality requires passing an exam to ascertain one’s knowledge of English
and the British way of life, and attending a Citizenship Ceremony”
The British Government understood that a basic knowledge of the language and British customs would be conducive to a better understanding between communities and greater respect for the values the country holds. And that this would smooth the integration process for new citizens, as improving inte-gration is the key objective of the Act. It also intended that gaining citizenship should be celebrated as a milestone in the life of new citizens.
The outcome of the measure taken by the Labour government applauded by many citizens and by the Conservative opposition, has been a drop in re-quests for nationalisation. This could well be because applying for citizenship has become a genuine commitment and not a mere formality. Moreover, the new citizens are better qualified and know enough about the country and its language to help them become more involved and fit in better within their new society.
We will examine the steps which the British Government took to make prac-tical measures out of the requirements set out in the 2002 Act for gaining British citizenship and indefinite leave to remain in the country.
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The Nationality, Immigration and Asylum ActAccording to the British Office for National Statistics, net migration (people ente-ring minus people leaving) from 2001 to 2005 in the United Kingdom amounted to 755,000 people, an average of 151,000 a year. More recently, in mid 2006, net migration had already reached 189,000 people (that is to say, 574,000 people arrived in the United Kingdom, while 385,000 left the country). And even though the percentage of applications for British citizenship is much lower than the total number of immigrants, the arrival of new nationals and the lack of inte-gration of many of them has become an issue of debate in recent years.
“Countries such as France, Australia, Germany and Canada also require a knowledge of their language in
applying for citizenship”
The change came about with the November 2002 “Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act” passed by Tony Blair’s government after long months of nego-tiation. The spirit of this Act had already been manifested in the White Paper on Nationality, Immigration and Asylum titled “Secure Borders, Safe Haven: Inte-gration with Diversity in Modern Great Britain”, published in February 2002. In this report the government recognised the need for a specialised labour force in the short term, as well as less specialised in the long term, in an ageing society with a low birth-rate as is the case in the United Kingdom. It also made public its intention to celebrate gaining citizenship with a ceremony and to help improve the integration of the new citizen by encouraging the knowledge of the country’s language and democratic system. Countries such as France, Austra-lia, Germany and Canada also require a knowledge of their language in applying for citizenship.
In September 2002, in the midst of debate on the Bill, Home Secretary Da-vid Blunkett (2001-2004) gave the go-ahead for the set-up of an advisory group called “Life in the United Kingdom”. The group was independent and was to be made up of experts in the field of immigration and of teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. Sir Bernard Crick, Emeritus Professor of Politics at Birkbeck College and Blunkett’s former university tutor, was appointed to direct the group. As minister Blunkett explained to me, this group was charged with putting forward the best way to move ahead with the government’s plans to promote knowledge concerning the language and British civility among those who had applied to become citizens.
The group’s final recommendations were presented in the report “The New and the Old”, which was published in September 2003. However, according to Conservative MP and Shadow Minister for Home Affairs (2001-2005), Humfrey Malins, these recommendations were taken up by the government without de-bating them first in the House of Commons.
The report stressed the importance of the new citizen learning the customs of what was going to be their new country as follows:
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“To be British seems to us to mean that we respect the laws, the elected parliamentary and political structures, the traditional values of mutual tolerance, respect for human rights and mutual concern; and that we give our allegiance to the State (as commonly symbolised in the Crown) in return for its protection”.
The report added that being British should not imply losing one’s original identity, although it warned of the danger of creating parallel communities gi-ven that “parallel lives, like parallel lines, only meet at infinity”.
Following the group’s recommendations, preparations were started for the drafting of the English exam, later to be combined with topics concerning the British institutions, customs and way of life. To this end the report suggested creating an advisory board to establish “to advise and report on the processes and final assessment of understanding of language and of life in the United Kingdom”.
Not just an examIn November 2004 the Advisory Board for Naturalisation and Integration (ABNI) was created, once again headed by Sir Bernard Crick. Following its recommen-dations the government gave the go-ahead for an unprecedented measure in the United Kingdom: from 1 November 2005 all those applying for British na-tionality had to pass an exam beforehand on their knowledge of the country and its language.
Just after ABNI was created, the Home Secretary published the handbook “Life in the United Kingdom: a Journey to Citizenship”, upon which the exam was to be finally based. At the presentation announcement for the handbook on 15 December 2004 in London, Crick explained his purpose in the following words:
“New arrivals to our country, whether those with work permits or refugees (the successful minority of asylum seekers) need to know all kinds of things about our country -- the humble, everyday things about settling in; knowledge of the laws as they affect everyday life; sources of help and in-formation; the education system; employment rights and responsibilities; the role of elected councillors and MPs and the main differences in the devolved administrations; and a summary of the history of the making of the United Kingdom”.
Blunkett stressed that the aim of the handbook, and thus of the exam is “not to teach morals, but to inform about Parliament, laws, institutions...to the new nationals. We have introduced equivalent topics into secondary schooling.It is therefore logical to seek the same knowledge in the new arrivals, especia-lly if you require it in your own citizens.”
Immigration Minister at the time, Tony McNulty, insists that “this is not a test of someone’s ability to be British or a test of their Britishness. It is a test
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of their preparedness to become citizens, in keeping with the language requi-rement as well”. NcNulty says the idea of the exam is to ease the integration and involvement of the new citizen in the wide-ranging and complex community that the United Kingdom already represents.
The exam targets those candidates with a good level of English. Those who-se English is below the minimum standard required must attend a course of ‘language-with-civic-content’ at any of the ninety-plus teaching centres that the government has set up in the United Kingdom. Attendance at such courses is rewarded with a certificate which will be a requirement when applying for Bri-tish nationality.
“The British Government decided to extend the obligation to pass an exam to those applying for indefinite leave to
remain in the country too”
As Blunkett himself acknowledges, the exam has considerably reduced the number of requests for nationalisation. According to the ABNI’s second report, in 2005 there were 219,115 applications for citizenship, while in 2006 these dropped to 149,035. In April 2007 this figure was 121,109. The increase in the price for processing these, complained minister Blunkett, might have con-tributed to a lowering of the number of applications. Applying for citizenship which used to cost 200 pounds (300 euros) during Blunkett’s term of office has increased to 655 pounds (980 euros) in December 2007. Plus 34 pounds (50 euros) to take the exam. This increase has even been criticised by the AB-NI. Becoming a British citizen now is therefore “a genuine commitment”, says Blunkett.
Despite the drop in nationalisation requests, immigration levels have kept rising in the United Kingdom. For this reason the government decided to ex-tend the obligation to pass the exam to those applying for indefinite leave to remain in the country too. The measure, which will affect a much wider range of people, came into effect on 1 April 2007. On this date a revised and extended version of the handbook “Life in the United Kingdom: A Journey to Citizenship” came out, which is, also as of April, the text upon which the exam is based.
History, institutions and useful informationThe new handbook is “a unique compilation of useful information”, which, al-though it was initially only aimed at English teachers and tutors of immigrants with little knowledge of the language, has aroused interest, even among ordina-ry citizens wanting to find out about aspects of their country in a more succinct form. The information put together on life in the United Kingdom is so compre-hensive and readable that the text is even recommended for school teachers.
The handbook begins with a chapter on how the United Kingdom was crea-ted. Over its first eighteen pages the text objectively and briefly describes the most important moments in the history of the United Kingdom, from the
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Roman conquest up to the governments of Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair, as “to understand a country it is important to know something of its history”. The handbook, for instance, goes over the origins of and changes to the British Parliament in the Middle Ages, the religious conflicts, the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, the Civil War, the arrival of Constitutional Monarchy, the Enlig-htenment, the Industrial Revolution, the war with America, the second British Empire, and other relevant subjects, such as the right to vote, partition in Ire-land, the First and the Second World Wars, the Welfare State and the latest Conservative and Labour governments.
The making of the United Kingdom over the years serves as a backdrop to explain the role that immigration has played in its history. Although the United Kingdom has been taking in immigrants since the 16th century, it was in the 19th and 20th centuries when the island experienced the greatest influx of fo-reigners. Thus it says in the handbook, “the UK is [today] a more pluralistic so-ciety than it was 100 years ago, both in ethnic and religious terms. […] Nearly 10% of the population has a parent or grandparent born outside the UK”.
The handbook dedicates a section to families, the problems of young people and the contribution of women in transforming British society. It stresses that, although today 51% of the population and 45% of the labour force is female, women continue to suffer discrimination at work and continue to shoulder the principal burden of the housework.
“The handbook objectively and briefly describes the most important moments in the history of the United Kingdom,
from the Roman conquest up to the governments of Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair”
After such details the handbook offers a profile of the United Kingdom. It explains the political division in the country, the population number, its geogra-phical distribution and its ethnic composition, as well as the customs and tradi-tions and official religion of the country. It shows that the State is still constitu-tionally united to the Anglican Church, with Queen Elizabeth II at the top as its head of state. It adds that “although the UK is historically a Christian society, everyone has the legal right to practise the religion of their choice”. According to the report, 71% of the population are Christians (with 10% Catholic), around 6% belong to other religions (including 2.7% who are Muslim, 1% Hindu, 0.6% Sikh, 0.5% Jewish and 0.3% Buddhist), while the rest either purports not to be religious or does not make their faith public.
The next chapter explains the United Kingdom’s form of government. The country has been a constitutional democracy with full universal suffrage since 1928 (when women obtained the right to vote at twenty-one, the same as men at that time). It is governed not by any one single document but by “a wide ran-ge of institutions, many of which provide checks on each other’s powers”. Such institutions include the Monarchy, Parliament (comprising the House of Com-
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mons and the House of Lords), the office of the Prime Minister, the Cabinet, the Bench, the Public Administration and the local government. In the same chapter the handbook deals with the role of the opposition in the parliamentary system and tells of the rights and duties of British citizens, including of course the new nationals. It finally explains the role of the United Kingdom in interna-tional organisations. Surprisingly, there is no special section on the role of the armed forces, which are very much associated with British society.
“The ceremony includes the traditional oath to the Queen and, by way of a novelty, the pledge of loyalty to the
country’s democratic values”
The next four chapters are given over to practical questions which might be useful to those who have just arrived. Housing, public health, education, trans-port and free time are discussed. They look at employment issues, the rights and duties of workers, the legal system and human rights, among other things. There is even a section on help and information centres, ranging from public libraries to the police.
The last chapter, “Building better communities”, begins by saying that “al-though Britain is one of the world’s most diverse societies, most people belie-ve that there should be a set of shared values with which everyone can agree”. For example it emphasizes that “there is a general principle that all people should respect the law and the rights of others”; a vital principle if different cultures and religions are to live together.
The handbook closes with a useful glossary of everyday terms to help the new citizen get by in their new society.
Citizenship ceremonyAnd, after the exam, the celebration. As we have mentioned above, the 2002 Act also required the celebration of a Citizenship Ceremony to make the new status of the recently accepted British citizens effective. The measure, which was hailed by the Conservative opposition but, according to minister Blunkett, initially not by the public in general, came into effect on 1 January 2004.
This type of ceremony is also held in the United States, Australia and Cana-da, among other countries, and, although at first sight it might seem a super-ficial exercise, it has a twofold objective. Firstly, obtaining British citizenship should be celebrated by the new citizen as “a milestone in life”. Secondly, and more importantly, the intention is to create a bond with their new coun-try, as the ceremony includes the traditional oath of allegiance to the figure of the Queen and, by way of a novelty, the pledge of loyalty to the country’s democratic values3.
3 From 1 June 2007 the oath and the pledge may be said in Welsh.
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Thus, to become registered or nationalised as a British citizen one has to make the following oath:
“I, [name], swear by Almighty God/do solemnly and sincerely affirm that, on becoming a British citizen, I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Her Heirs and Successors according to law”
And the following pledge:
“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 fai-thfully and fulfil my duties and obligations as a British citizen”.
According to the Crick Report, speaking about “democratic values” repre-sents “not only a corporate symbol […] but above all the collective will, interests and values of all its individual citizens”.
The first Citizenship Ceremony was held with great hype on 26 February 2004 in the London district of Brent and was followed by 19 new British citizens (including three children) from ten different countries. Given the im-portance of the event, the ceremony was attended by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and Home Secretary David Blunkett. The national flag and anthem, sung by the Brent District Youth Choir, were not missing at the celebration. According to ABNI, from January 2004 to April 2007 a total of 306,416 new citizens took part in citizenship ceremonies. Today, Blunkett congratulates himself that nobody objects to such ceremonies.
Requiring a certain command of language and life in the United Kingdom and the celebration of the citizenship ceremonies to obtain British natio-nality has been widely accepted by the British population. We should study whether such new measures in Spain could also contribute to successfully integrating the immigrant population.