Live after obtaining British passport
Posted: Fri May 03, 2024 5:08 pm
Hello to all forum members!
I recently became a British citizen and received my passport.
Now, I might be well overthinking, but all the recent rules regarding secretly stripping British citizenship with no notice or even explanation makes me deeply concerned of our future here as it essentially means we are doomed to walk on eggshells for the rest of our lives. It is mind blowing that a single person can strip one's citizenship without even taking the matter to the court first and getting a decision. What will happen with person's mortgage, job, bank accounts, family if they will be suddenly stripped of citizenship and won't be allowed to come here anymore? They might be unable to withdraw all their money, prosecuted for not paying rent/mortgage without even having a chance to attend the court, lose their job, life, future. How are they going to build a new life somewhere else if no progressive country will ever consider giving them a status as they will all refer to the fact their citizenship was stripped so they are not a good character? How are they going to be deported back to their country of birth in situations where they officially renounced their citizenship after getting British nationality so are essentially stateless? There are so many wrongs in this phenomenon and I feel these violate fundamental human rights. In a broad term, it blurs the line between a citizen and a tourist visa holder as both can easily taken away at any given moment. Its like we and our UK born children are doomed to be "forever immigrants" and "2nd class citizens", living in fear all our lives just because we have been unfortunate enough to born in the countries we born.
I understand this (as they say) is applicable to criminals only (I would still argue that a criminal should still face justice and serve their punishment here, as it is no other country's responsibility to accept and accommodate criminals from the UK, even if UK believes those folks can get citizenship in those countries, but ok, lets close our eyes on this for a moment) - I am specifically concerned about "special provisions" like "public good" which can be easily abused and exercised for pretty much everything, not just for criminal cases.
What is "public good" anyway? - there is no definition of this at all, so pretty much everything can be considered "public good" in the eyes of authorities. So one might like a comment on Facebook that will be against government's agenda and get punished for this. Or one might well try to become a political figure and get their citizenship stripped suddenly for competition or political reasons. Or someone in power might just decide "ok, lets get rid of X people just because we don't like them" and that's it, game over. What if someone will rightfully criticize the government for breaking their own rules (a real thing that happened during pandemic) - what are the guarantees those in power won't get rid of this person silently because of political or personal reasons, labelling it "for public good"? What if someone will exercise a freedom of speech that government will not like? What are the guarantees this power is not going to be abused if they provide no explanation, require no court approval and can do this anytime? Just think about it - it essentially forces us to live in fear and silence all our lives. This power, if abused (which can well happen and we won't even know about it) is is a borderline dictatorship. This can be well used as a control mechanism, to silence people and get rid of unwanted individuals even if they are not criminals.
This all makes me realise that we are doomed to be 2nd class citizens and pretty much need to live our lives in constant fear.
Does anyone else sharing my concerns, or am I just overthinking this greatly?
I recently became a British citizen and received my passport.
Now, I might be well overthinking, but all the recent rules regarding secretly stripping British citizenship with no notice or even explanation makes me deeply concerned of our future here as it essentially means we are doomed to walk on eggshells for the rest of our lives. It is mind blowing that a single person can strip one's citizenship without even taking the matter to the court first and getting a decision. What will happen with person's mortgage, job, bank accounts, family if they will be suddenly stripped of citizenship and won't be allowed to come here anymore? They might be unable to withdraw all their money, prosecuted for not paying rent/mortgage without even having a chance to attend the court, lose their job, life, future. How are they going to build a new life somewhere else if no progressive country will ever consider giving them a status as they will all refer to the fact their citizenship was stripped so they are not a good character? How are they going to be deported back to their country of birth in situations where they officially renounced their citizenship after getting British nationality so are essentially stateless? There are so many wrongs in this phenomenon and I feel these violate fundamental human rights. In a broad term, it blurs the line between a citizen and a tourist visa holder as both can easily taken away at any given moment. Its like we and our UK born children are doomed to be "forever immigrants" and "2nd class citizens", living in fear all our lives just because we have been unfortunate enough to born in the countries we born.
I understand this (as they say) is applicable to criminals only (I would still argue that a criminal should still face justice and serve their punishment here, as it is no other country's responsibility to accept and accommodate criminals from the UK, even if UK believes those folks can get citizenship in those countries, but ok, lets close our eyes on this for a moment) - I am specifically concerned about "special provisions" like "public good" which can be easily abused and exercised for pretty much everything, not just for criminal cases.
What is "public good" anyway? - there is no definition of this at all, so pretty much everything can be considered "public good" in the eyes of authorities. So one might like a comment on Facebook that will be against government's agenda and get punished for this. Or one might well try to become a political figure and get their citizenship stripped suddenly for competition or political reasons. Or someone in power might just decide "ok, lets get rid of X people just because we don't like them" and that's it, game over. What if someone will rightfully criticize the government for breaking their own rules (a real thing that happened during pandemic) - what are the guarantees those in power won't get rid of this person silently because of political or personal reasons, labelling it "for public good"? What if someone will exercise a freedom of speech that government will not like? What are the guarantees this power is not going to be abused if they provide no explanation, require no court approval and can do this anytime? Just think about it - it essentially forces us to live in fear and silence all our lives. This power, if abused (which can well happen and we won't even know about it) is is a borderline dictatorship. This can be well used as a control mechanism, to silence people and get rid of unwanted individuals even if they are not criminals.
This all makes me realise that we are doomed to be 2nd class citizens and pretty much need to live our lives in constant fear.
Does anyone else sharing my concerns, or am I just overthinking this greatly?