Thank you,
@Lopand, for the excellent spot.
Lopand wrote: ↑Wed Jun 10, 2020 1:02 pm
She was responded by Kevin Foster, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, the following:
"Following Government guidelines and social distancing measures, normal arrangements for citizenship ceremonies have been suspended at present. The volume of individuals awaiting citizenship ceremonies is a matter for Local Authorities and figures are not recorded centrally by the Home Office.
This is of course a
completely foreseen impact of the Freedom Of Information Act, which requires the government to disclose all written records of specific requests, unless exempted under very specific measures.
The simple way around that rule is; don't create any written records!!! That will make history poorer (as there will be much less written documentation of how and when government decisions were taken), but gets the government off the hook for FoI purposes (it can't release records that it does not have).
rozearo wrote: ↑Wed Jun 10, 2020 12:25 pm
please try to put yourself in people shoes.
I thank you for your advice and am so in agreement with it that I suggest that you take it yourself. Put yourself in the Home Office and government's shoes (indeed, as an aside, I always say that for your application to succeed, think as a Home Office caseworker, who is not hostile to you, but indifferent. You are another stat to them. Think like them, not like a migrant). Look at the larger picture, not just your own circumstance.
Let's look at it objectively and dispassionately (passion is the enemy of reason).
Adults and children born outside the UK applying for naturalisation/registration already have ILR (which already has most of the rights of British citizens within the UK) before applying. Therefore they are not negatively impacted by a delay if they remain in the UK.
Children born in the UK have an autonomous right to apply for British citizenship after 10 years of continuous residence (5 years in some cases) anyway. So their rights are also relatively secure.
So you can see that the children are mostly provided for in either circumstance.
The only people who I think would be impacted negatively are people on ILR who are due to have children born to them abroad and who were expecting to be British citizens before the child's birth (thus making the child a British citizen by descent). But relativel to the larger society, the number of such applicants is miniscule (numbering at most in the hundreds, but likely in the tens).
The only other set of people that it would likely impact is people who are looking to travel on their British passports soon. But given the exceptional circumstances (as mentioned in another thread) of this year, global travel is likely to be much lower on most people's priorities and certainly on the Home Office's.
rozearo wrote: ↑Wed Jun 10, 2020 12:25 pm
No single mature would tell that pubs are more important than such an important event (registration and citizenship ceremonies).
Again, put yourself in the government's shoes.
Pubs being shut impacts the economy far more than you think. Pubs are shutting down at an alarming rate for the government anyway (I think there was a recent statistic that about 52 pubs were closing a week in 2019, so before the pandemic) and pubs are a major source of employment and services, especially in rural areas, where the pub is also likely to be the local store and sub-post-office. So the government is hit by a double whammy of both losing out on VAT (from the sale of food, drinks and other products) and paying unemployment benefits to those who have lost their jobs when the pubs shut down.
By contrast, applicants for naturalisation and registration have already paid their fees, the number of applicants is far smaller than those employed by the pubs and the most impact that it would have for most applicants is that they get to apply for their passports after a longer period of time, which given the dire travel situations of the day, likely does not matter that much.
So, in the grand scheme of things, you can see why the government would prioritise pubs over registration and naturalisation ceremonies.
silverocks wrote: ↑Wed Jun 10, 2020 12:00 pm
Your comments are always to the point and knowledgable.
Thank you for your compliment,
@silverocks. I am flattered and flummoxed by it, as it is not usual to be complimented on these forums, especially when one takes a critical and analytical approach.
I am not a lawyer or immigration advisor. My statements/comments do not constitute legal advice. E&OE. Please do not PM me for advice.
