Dual nationality and bargaining chips

From my FB profile 
On 20th of February EU Nationals in the U.K will go on strike and will lobby to have some clarity on their position in post-Brexit U.K, something that neither the Government nor the Labour opposition have yet offered. No amendments of the Brexit White Paper re the position of EU Nationals were voted in Parliament last week, thus giving substance to the notion that no one really seems to care. Three hundred and twenty two MPs voted against guaranteeing pre-Brexit referendum EU Nationals the right to stay in the UK. Scary. EU Nationals are painfully aware of being turned into bargaining chips.
Me holidaying in Spain Photo by Martin Robinson

Everyone is welcome to support them on the 20th, even though when I read or hear comments about it being 'an excuse for fun and frolics' I honestly despair and feel that really, deep down, EU Nationals are no longer welcome in an increasingly chauvinistic UK. The Home Office has been sending an inordinate number of  'prepare to leave' letters to EU Nationals which have caused tremendous havoc and upset. It will not stop now.



Holidaying in Spain. Photos by Martin Robinson 

I am one of a handful of EU Nationals living in UK who, years ago, when it was completely unheard of, applied for naturalisation and thus obtained a British passport. Everyone thought at the time that my doing so was somewhat bizarre and frankly needless. I had very specific reasons for wanting to do so, I just had no other choice but at the time I would not necessarily disclose my reasons to everyone, I would simply say that, as I lived in Britain, I wanted to go by the book and after all 'you never know, just in case, a British passport might be useful'. Those words took on a chilling meaning on the morning of the 24th of June. But here I am getting ahead of myself.

I can reveal why I needed a British passport, it's no big deal. I married and divorced a non-British  and non-EU National in the UK, but my British divorce was not recognised as valid in my country of origin, Italy, though my marriage was, as I had been foolish enough to register it - I was not obliged to do so and should not have, but I knew no better, one always believes that marriage is for life. It would take several more years before the EU legislated in favour of recognising divorces across the Union. Following my divorce, I had sole custody of my minor son but Italian law required I should obtain permission from my (ex) husband every time I wished to travel with my son and even to obtain a passport for myself. That was frankly too much for me to take.  I did not like it at all especially since my divorce had been a very acrimonious one and I basically had to beg my ex-husband to grant me permission and it was not easy. A way out of this impasse was to get a British passport for both myself and my son which I could do, as I had been in the UK and in employment, for over ten years. Later, when my son reached the age of 18 I no longer needed anyone's permission to renew my Italian passport so I went back to the Italian consulate and got my Italian passport back. It felt good. By then I was one of those people with dual nationality, recognised as lawful by both Britain and Italy - some countries do not, so I was lucky to be in such a position.

Following the Brexit referendum I have been very aware of the plight of EU Nationals in the U.K. and could not help feeling that had it not been for the circumstances I have just related I could have easily found myself in the same position as many others are now, namely, in  a limbo. Thus I wholeheartedly support the EU Nationals cause and have even written to my MP who unfortunately happens to be Jeremy Corbyn, someone who so far has shown he frankly does not care much about the EU Nationals in UK and is quite happy for them to be turned into bargaining chips.

Lately,  I started researching what it actually means to have dual nationality (or dual citizenship, the two are distinct legal notions but in practice they are the same) and have discovered that strictly speaking British citizenship can be revoked, when someone has dual citizenship, 'for the public good'. I quote here the full paragraph from Eudo about the categories of British citizenship. There are:

(1) Those who are British citizens by birth and do not have another nationality [and] cannot have their citizenship removed.
(2) Those who are British citizens by birth or naturalisation and are dual nationals. They may have their citizenship removed if that is considered conducive to the public good.
(3) Those who obtained their citizenship by naturalisation who are not dual nationals so that deprivation will leave them stateless. Their British citizenship may be revoked if:
1. It was obtained by fraud, false representation, or concealment of a material fact; or 
2. They are considered to have acted in a way which is seriously prejudicial to the vital interests of the UK and there are reasonable grounds for believing that the person is able to acquire another nationality.

An immigration lawyer, keen to minimise the anxiety that EU Nationals currently feel, rebuked me for daring to ask publicly  about circumstances for revoking citizenship, categorically stating that it ain't going to happen and this revoking of citizenship can only be expected to hold true solely in the case of proven criminals and terrorists. But knowing that in principle it could happen, as this 'public good' is indeed a vague concept, totally unsettles me. The whole issue of EU Nationals in the U.K is deeply political. In practice someone holding dual citizenship and who is British by naturalisation is not quite the same as a British person holding only British citizenship, who cannot under any circumstance be stripped of their citizenship or they would become stateless. A person holding dual citizenship cannot be stateless, by definition.

I do not wish to engage in any scaremongering but I would always carefully consider all eventualities. 'Against the public good' is an elastic concept. If until now it has been interpreted as referring to terrorist activities, it could also be stretched to mean burdensome on public money. Now, at a time when Britain is going through a major crisis concerning an underfunded NHS operating beyond capacity someone might come up with the idea that denying EU Nationals in the UK the right to avail of  the NHS without paying for treatment might help to save much needed money. And who is to say that naturalised EU Nationals might not have their citizenship revoked on the basis of 'public good'? Or that they may not be asked to give up their EU member state nationality if they wish to be or keep their British one, in some twisted schadenfreude? Three hundred and thirty two MPs showing they really do not care about EU Nationals in Britain is frankly scary. Do, if you will, get angry with me for daring to mention the unmentionable but the Britain we live in is no longer the tolerant Britain I once knew, loved and respected. Politics is a dirty game and yes, EU Nationals in the U.K are no more than bargaining chips. Dual nationality could well not make that much difference, after all.







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