Roehrig (appellant) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (respondent)
Tuesday 16 – Wednesday 17 January 2024
Appeal against the Order of Eyre J dated 20th January 2023 dismissing claim for judicial review.
The issue is whether the claimant (C) had automatically acquired British citizenship at birth. This turned on the question of whether C’s mother (“M”), who was present in the UK at the time of C’s birth as a French national exercising EU free movement rights (as a worker), was “settled” for the purposes of s.1(1)(b) and s.50(2) of the British Nationality Act 1981 (“the BNA 1981”). The ultimate question was whether M was, pursuant to the statutory definition in the BNA 1981, present in the UK “without being subject under the immigration laws to any restriction on the period for which she may remain”.
The Judge held that M was not so settled and that C accordingly did not automatically acquire British citizenship at birth. Applying Coomasaru, M was subject to a restriction for the period for which she could remain. Therefore A was not automatically a British citizen.
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Day 1
Day 2