Cancelling Citizenship and getting ILR Back

Hello all,
Not sure, if its the right place to post this question.
A friend of mine has recently got British Citizenship but now realised that he would like to keep his Indian Citizenship back. Can he surrender his British Citizenship and get his ILR back? He has tried to do some research on internet but have not found any convincing answer. Thus, I asked him if I could raise this question here in the forum and see what reply he gets.

Shirt answer is no he cannot get ilr back.

He would have to start an immigration journey again from scratch.

If he renounces his British citizenship and resumes his Indian citizenship while in the UK, he will end having no legal status to live and work here.

See this old thread that discusses a very similar issue. There has been no change to the law in the past decade, so the advice in that thread still stands.

Of course, keep in mind that by your friend having naturalised in the UK, they will have automatically lost Indian citizenship already. They can't renounce British citizenship until they acquire another citizenship. So, in order to renounce British citizenship, your friend will need to first reacquire Indian or some other citizenship and then renounce British citizenship.

And renouncing British citizenship does not revive ILR status. Their ILR was extinguished when they naturalised as a British citizen (as a British citizen can't hold any form of immigration leave). If they wish to reacquire ILR, they would need to start from scratch.

I am very surprised that your friend would not have known that naturalisation in the UK would have meant loss of Indian citizenship. It seems to be very well known among Indian applicants on these forums and I would have imagined that it is generally well known in the wider Indian diaspora.

9elizabeth wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 01, 2021 4:37 pm

Hello all,
Not sure, if its the right place to post this question.
A friend of mine has recently got British Citizenship but now realised that he would like to keep his Indian Citizenship back. Can he surrender his British Citizenship and get his ILR back? He has tried to do some research on internet but have not found any convincing answer. Thus, I asked him if I could raise this question here in the forum and see what reply he gets.

Immigration matters ain't just on whim, actions should be well thought out. You can not apply for, get what you want, then give it up and automatically want to revert to previous leave you held.