A child, born in the UK to Indian parents, has been granted British Citizenship under the ‘5 Year Stateless’ law on the basis that the child’s birth was never registered with the Indian embassy in the UK. The child was recognised as ‘Stateless’ and registered as a British Citizen under Paragraph 3 of Schedule 2 to the British Nationality Act 1981 as the child was over 5 years old. This is the first time such an application has been successful since the recent UK High Court decision of ‘MK (claimant) vs The Secretary of State for the Home Department (defendant)’ which considered the case of another similar applicant, who was refused by the UK Home Office.
The successful applicant whose parents are of Gujarati origin was represented by specialist Immigration Solicitor Hasil Makkar of Maalik & Co Solicitors & Advocates based in Southall. The application was submitted by Mr Makkar as far back as July 2016. This application along with several others submitted by Mr Makkar have been on hold for several months pending the outcome of the court case of ‘MK’.
Mr Makkar who has been acting for such applicants for over 18 months told the Asian Voice exclusively, “I am extremely happy for this and our other successful clients who have been patiently waiting for many months for the final decision. Hopefully we will now start receiving positive decisions on our other pending applications.”
Applicant’s father Mr Gajjar said: “My wife and I have been waiting for a result to our son’s application for over a year even though we submitted the required embassy letter. We are just happy that our child is now a British Citizen and we are thankful to our solicitor Mr Makkar for his help throughout the application process including helping us in obtaining the required embassy letter.”
This positive decision would come as a sign of relief for various other families who have applied for their children under the ‘Stateless’ rules and have been waiting for a decision.
