Citizenship A privilege or a right Citizenship A

Citizenship: A privilege or a right?

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? Lesson One 2 © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? Stranded Imagine you awake alone on the beach of an unknown country. You cannot remember how you got there or where you have come from. 3 © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? Consider Q: What are the first things you need to do to survive? Q: What rules might this foreign land have about newcomers arriving? Q: You cannot return to your home as you do not know where it is. Why is it important to become a part of this new society? Q: You have no ID, what problems might this cause? 4 © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? During this unit we will be exploring whether citizenship is a right or a privilege. • • Who can be a British citizen? What are the benefits of being a British citizen? What responsibilities come with being a citizen? Should citizenship ever be revoked? 5 © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? British Citizenship You do not get automatic citizenship just because you are born in the UK. It depends on: • when you were born • your parents’ circumstances 6 © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? Naturalisation If you do not automatically qualify as a British citizen you can apply for citizenship by ‘naturalisation. ’ Naturalisation is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country can become a citizen of that country. There are strict criteria. 7 © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? Activity 1: Scenarios Read through the scenarios provided and decide if the person: • has automatic right to citizenship in the UK; • could apply for citizenship in the UK; • is not currently eligible for citizenship in the UK. 8 © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? Scenario A Raphael was born in a British hospital whilst his parents were on holiday in the UK. Both his parents are Portuguese citizens and he grew up in Portugal. Raphael is now 18. He recently moved to the UK and has started studying for an under graduate degree at a university here. 9 © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? Scenario B Luca was born in Costa Rica and both his parents are citizens of Costa Rica. Two years ago Luca moved to the UK to work. Whilst here he met his partner, Matthew, and six months ago they married. Matthew is a UK citizen. 10 © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? Scenario C Imogen is five years old. Her parents are UK citizens but both work as teachers in Dubai and have done for a number of years. She was born and currently resides in Dubai, she has never been to the UK. 11 © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? Scenario D Fletcher is six months old and was born at a hospital in Germany. Both his parents are UK citizens who work for the armed forces, they are currently stationed in Germany. They plan to return to the UK within the next year. 12 © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? Scenario E Dara was born in Malaysia and studied to become a doctor there. Seven years ago she moved to the UK and has been working here as a doctor ever since. 13 © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? Scenario F Alexis was born in the UK. Her father is a UK citizen and her mother is an American citizen. When Alexis was a baby her family relocated to the USA where she now lives. She is now 42 and lives and works in the USA. 14 © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? Scenario G Layal fled to the UK with her two children three years ago to escape the ongoing conflict in Syria. On arrival in the UK she applied for asylum for herself and her family. Six months after application Layal heard that she had been granted permission to stay. Layal’s children are now settled in school and she has found work. 15 © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? Scenario H Daniel was born in Mexico. Both of his parents are Mexican. He went to school in Mexico and until recently worked there as a waiter. He is now finding it hard to get a job in his local area. He would like to move to the UK and start a life here. 16 © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? You can apply to become a ‘naturalised’ citizen if you: • are married or in a civil partnership with a UK citizen and have lived in the UK for at least three years; • have indefinite leave to remain; • have permanent residence status; • have settled status under the EU settlement scheme. 17 © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? You must also … • • • 18 be over 18; be of ‘good character; ’ be currently living in the UK; meet the English language requirements; pass the ‘knowledge of language and life’ test. © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? In most cases you must also: Have lived in the UK for five years without an absence longer than 450 days. 19 © Young Citizens Not have travelled outside the UK for more than 90 days in the past year.

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? Consider: Q: Do these criteria appear fair to you? Why/why not? Q: Can you think of any other situations where you think someone should be able to become a British citizen? Q: Can you think of any situations that might exclude someone from being a British citizen even if they meet the criteria discussed? 20 © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? 21 © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? Lesson Two 22 © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? Activity 1: Scenarios Read through each of the scenarios provided. For each case decide if you think the person described should have their citizenship revoked. Q: What other punishments might be used rather than having citizenship revoked? Q: If citizenship was to be revoked where would the person go? What impact might this have on this other country? 23 © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? Jas is 25 years old. He was born in Britain to British parents. He struggled at school but was never in trouble with the police. Trouble began after he finished school when he started hanging out with a local gang. He took part in some street robberies and burglaries and ended up going to prison for a few months. Whilst he was in jail he was ‘radicalised’ by a group that held extreme racist views. He was convinced that immigrants were all evil and wanted them out of the UK. 24 © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? Jas When he left prison he and another group of extremists burned down a building where a number of migrant families were living, killing several people, including women and children. Jas showed no remorse for his actions and has said that he will commit more acts of terror if he ever gets the opportunity again. 25 © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? Mo Mo is 31. He came to the UK when he was 15 from Afghanistan having escaped from the fighting during the conflict with UK and US forces. Most of his close family was killed by US bombs. They were ‘innocent civilians. ’ None of them – including Mo, had ever been involved in fighting, nor had they held extremist views. After several years in the UK Mo was eventually granted British citizenship through ‘naturalisation. ’ 26 © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? Mo Even though he gained citizenship, Mo felt very angry at the UK and the US for invading Afghanistan, and he was attracted to the ISIS videos he saw online and went to fight in Syria. He took part in combat, planting bombs, killing civilians and killed several members of the UK and US special forces. Mo has now been captured by special forces who have evidence of the crimes he has committed. They report that Mo is still committed to extremist ideology and has tried to escape capture several times. 27 © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? Ash is 28. She was born in Bosnia to British parents, and so had British citizenship through them. She only lived for a brief while in the UK whilst doing her A-levels when she lived with her older brother. Although she was academically smart, she had a very short temper and was prone to violent outbursts. She also got into trouble quite a few times for being violent to other students, and ended up with a criminal record. 28 © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? Ash Because of where she was born and her criminal record, she was placed on a ‘watch list’ by British intelligence services, who noticed that she was watching a lot of extremist and violent content on the internet. When she was 19, Ash went to Syria, claiming that she was volunteering to be an aid worker. She has now been found in a Syrian refugee camp and says she was kidnapped by ISIS. She wants to return home, but the security services have strong suspicions that she had in fact joined ISIS. Ash denies all this. She says the on-line content she watched was just for research purposes. 29 © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? British Nationality Act 1981: The Home Secretary can revoke the citizenship of a UK born citizen if: § they think it would be ‘conducive to the public good; ’ § it would not make the person stateless (i. e. if that person is also a citizen of another country). 30 © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? British Nationality Act 1981: The Home secretary can revoke the citizenship of a ‘naturalised’ person even if it would leave them stateless as long as: § revoking that person’s citizenship is ‘conducive to the public good; ’ § they have reasonable grounds to believe that the person is able to become a national of another country. 31 © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? Consider: Q: What do you think it means by ‘conducive to public good’? Q: What are the facts you need to know about someone in order to decide if their citizenship could be revoked? § § Were they a citizen from birth or naturalized? Have they done something to damage ‘national interest’? Are they a ‘dual national’? Could they possibly become a citizen of another country? 32 © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? Activity Two: Was it lawful? Re-read the scenarios from activity one and decide if any of these people could legally have their citizenship revoked. Answers: § Jas – Could not have citizenship revoked; § Mo – It depends; § Ash – Could have citizenship revoked. 33 © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? Consider: Q: Do you think the law is fair? Why / Why not? 34 © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? Lesson Three 35 © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? Read through the information on worksheet 5. Q: Do you think the Home Secretary was legally allowed to revoke her citizenship? When considering your answer try to think of two points for each box. Yes, it was lawful 36 © Young Citizens No, it was not lawful The evidence is unclear

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? What happens if the Home Secretary gets it wrong? § You have 28 days to appeal the decision. § Any appeal must be heard by a judge, with lawyers representing the person who has had their citizenship revoked and the government. 37 © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? Activity 3 Q: Why is it important for the government to follow the rule of law? Q: What might happen if they did not have to obey the law? 38 © Young Citizens

Citizenship – A privilege or a right? Plenary Q: What are the key eligibility criteria for UK citizenship? Q: What are some of the key benefits of being a citizen? Q: List the key facts that should be considered before someone’s citizenship is revoked. Q: What rights does someone have if they have had their citizenship revoked? 39 © Young Citizens