May 2025: QARN: Model Letter/email to MPs – Requesting an end to barring individuals who reached the UK through irregular means from ever being granted British citizenship
This is a suggested letter that people and/Meetings may like to send to their MP
Please adapt the message, as you feel led.
Dear ……………..MP,
I am writing to express grave concern regarding the recently updated guidelines that prevent individuals who arrived in the UK by irregular routes from ever being granted British citizenship. The Refugee Convention to which the UK is a signatory recognises that people seeking asylum may need to arrive through irregular routes, and this is especially the case when countries like our own do not provide safe and regular options for people who need protection.
This change was brought about through recent updates to the ‘Good character requirement’ Guidance 1 for caseworkers (10.2.25 and 13.2.25) which would now normally bar individuals who entered or arrived in the UK through irregular means or having made a dangerous journey from ever being granted British citizenship.
This new exclusion from citizenship would include people who have been granted refugee status or whose claim to humanitarian protection has been recognised, as well as those who had gone through the 10-year route to settlement and have been granted Indefinite Leave to Remain – but who initially had to use an irregular route to seek refuge in the UK. The exclusion from citizenship would also affect people who came here as children through an irregular route and have grown up in the UK and who have no other place to call home.
I ask that you raise this issue with the Home Secretary and ask her to urgently reconsider and revoke this deeply divisive and harmful Guidance.
Yours sincerely
(Provide your full name and address to show you are a constituent – or the Meeting’s address if your Meeting is sending the letter).
If you feel able, please let QARN know that you have sent the letter, and to which MP, thank you.
The letter can be copied from this text, or downloaded here: