If Reform is elected in the UK, its policies could have serious knock-on effects on British expats in the EU

If elected to government Reform UK said it would deprive millions of foreign nationals living in UK of indefinite leave to remain (ILR) which is the right of permanent settlement possessed by foreign nationals.  

Depriving people of ILR is a very destabilising prospect for millions of people at present resident in UK. They would have to uproot themselves and leave the UK at huge cost to themselves and the country.

On a conservative estimate the number could be up to five million, of whom about four and a half million are EU citizens and the rest mostly Commonwealth citizens. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called it an immoral policy – it is certainly uncivilised.

ILR is normally acquired by length of residence in a capacity leading to settlement such as a spouse of a person resident in UK or lengthy employment – usually of more than five years. Before Brexit, EU nationals were free to move to UK if they were exercising EU rights of freedom of movement in the exercise of economic rights and it seems millions obtained settled status — ILR by another name.

Refugee status can also lead to ILR. Some refugees arrive unlawfully seeking refuge in UK and some are already in UK and become refugees because they fear returning to their country of origin. If accepted as refugees, they too obtain ILR after a few years’ residence.  

The Green Card status available in the USA is very similar to ILR. However, in US you can now buy permanent residence depending on how wealthy you are. Like the American Express card system, you have green, gold or platinum cards. For a fee of $1 million you can buy a gold card and a path to citizenship and for $5 million you can buy a platinum card to live in US 270 days a year without having to pay tax on your foreign income – as it involves tax exemption the issue of platinum cards is subject to congressional approval. 

At any given time, there is a large number of people in UK for temporary purposes such as visitors, students, persons in employment or to transact business because the economy needs them and many these days are from the Commonwealth.

One of the ironies of Brexit has been that Commonwealth immigration, which had been the main concern of the anti-immigration lobby since the 1960s, went up enormously.

But the reason for the large number of EU nationals with ILR was because the EU Brexit withdrawal agreement had to preserve the rights of EU nationals already in the UK just as the EU had to preserve the rights of British citizens already living in EU countries.  

People with ILR are not immune from exclusion or deportation from the UK if they are bad people. They are out if they commit serious criminal offences or if their deportation is deemed conducive to the public good. They can also lose ILR if they abandon it by leaving the UK and staying away longer than two years – five years if they are EU citizens. 

Generally, only British citizens have a full right of abode in UK. It is the right to live and come and go from and into the UK without regulation or control except the need to prove their right – usually by production of a British passport. 

The vast majority of the population in UK are natural born British citizens in that they have citizenship naturally by their birth in or descent from a person born in the UK – most natural born British citizens are not normally citizens of another country. 

There are also British citizens who are foreign nationals who become naturalised as British citizens on application. They are eligible after long residence, normally five years with ILR provided they are of good character and are proficient in English language and culture.  

But unlike natural born citizens they usually have another citizenship which means it is easier to deprive them of British citizenship. The bottom line on deprivation of British citizenship of any person, natural born or naturalised, is that if they are serious criminals or terrorists, they can lose their British citizenship if the UK interior minister believes on reasonable grounds they could obtain another citizenship.  

For example, the man from Syria who attacked Jewish people in a terrorist attack last Thursday morning during Yom Kippur at a synagogue in Manchester, could have been deprived of the British citizenship he acquired by naturalisation as a minor if his terrorist tendencies were known to the authorities. He was shot dead in the attack, but had he survived he could have been deprived of British citizenship and eventually deported to Syria.  

What Reform has not factored into its uncivilised policy of depriving millions of people their ILR is the cost to UK if millions of productive residents are forced to leave. What has also not been taken into account is that if a Reform government deprives EU nationals of ILR in UK, British citizens with ILR in EU countries may be deprived of their ILR too.  

The best course of action to take whether you are a foreign national in UK with ILR or a Brit settled in an EU country is to go native and apply for nationality.    

Alper Ali Riza is a king’s counsel in the UK and a retired part time judge