Thousands to get free citizenship

Fees waived for Windrush generation

Thousands of people who arrived in Britain from the Commonwealth will be offered UK citizenship for free under emergency plans to tackle the Windrush scandal.

As well as waiving fees of £1,330, ministers said those seeking naturalisation will be exempt from a requirement to pass English language and knowledge of life in the UK tests. The offer is open to members of the Windrush generation from all Commonwealth countries, not just Caribbean nationals.

Controversy erupted last week after it emerged scores of long-term residents who settled in the UK from the late 1940s to early 1970s had wrongly been identified as illegal immigrants. Home Secretary Amber Rudd, who along with her predecessor Theresa May has faced intense pressure over the crisis, acknowledged that the “state has let these people down”. She said: “We were too slow to realise there was a group of people that needed to be treated differently.

“And the system was too bureaucratic when these people were in touch.”

The furore prompted fresh scrutiny of immigration controls requiring migrants who want to work, rent property or access benefits to produce documents showing they have a right to be in the country. Those who have been living legally in Britain for decades have lost their jobs, been denied access to NHS treatment, benefits and pensions, had driving licences withdrawn and been warned they face deportation.

Ms Rudd said: “I’m personally committed to tackling illegal migration because I have seen in this job the terrible impact has on some of the most vulnerable in our society.

“But these steps intended to combat illegal migration have had an unintended, sometimes devastating, impact on people from the Windrush generation, who are here legally, but have struggled to get the documentation to prove their status. This is a failure by successive governments to ensure they have the documentation they need and this is what we must urgently put right.”

Ministers faced a furious backlash over the treatment of the Windrush generation – named after the first ship that brought them to Britain in 1948.

People who had arrived in the UK before 1973 were automatically granted indefinite leave to remain but the Home Office did not keep a record of those allowed to stay or any documentation confirming their status.

While many of those who arrived have taken British citizenship, others have struggled to source paperwork demonstrating they are lawfully resident.

“I’m personally committed to tackling illegal migration”