JCWI’s legal team provided expert advice and acted as intervenors in an important case at the Supreme Court this month.
An individual who had previously held UK citizenship had been made stateless. However, their citizenship was reinstated as this was found to be unlawful. In the intervening period, their child was born.
The question of this case was – what next for the child?
Amanda Weston KC and Ali Bandegani of Garden Court Chambers acted as counsel for JCWI in the appeal, with Freshfields acting as solicitors.
Laura Smith, JCWI’s Co-Director of Legal and solicitor Taher Gulamhussein worked on the case.
Laura Smith, JCWI Co-Director LegalThe Home Office's powers to take away British citizenship are both draconian and arbitrary. It's hard enough for adults affected by these decisions to bring these matters to court, but the victim in this case is a child who happened to be born during the period when their parent had been made stateless.
If the fathers of the children had British citizenship when they were born, they would have had automatic British citizenship.
The legal question therefore is – if the Secretary of State withdraws an order depriving a person of citizenship because they accept that the order has made the person stateless, does this mean that the original order is of no effect and the person has always retained their British citizenship?
Laura Smith, JCWI Co-Director LegalThe parent whose citizenship had been revoked has since had their citizenship reinstated so the child should not be denied their own right to citizenship. This is an incredibly important case, and we will do everything we can to get the best outcome for this child.
