Stateless Punjabi kid ruling opens UK doors for many

By Kamalpreet Kaur
CHANDIGARH: Who would have thought that at a Punjabi girl, who is little over six years of age, would hold the key to changing lives of thousands of illegal immigrants in Britain. After an 18-month-long legal battle, the decision on stateless applications in the UK has been allowed by the Royal Courts of Justice.
A child born on or after December 3, 2004, to Indian parents outside India, who has not been registered by the Indian authorities, was deemed stateless and entitled to be regis tered as a British citizen.This means thousands of potential families will now be able to settle in the UK.
The application of the minor 'MK' (claimant) vs The Secretary of State for the Home Department (defendant) came up for hearing in the Royal Courts of Justice in February this year. It was the first of its kind application put in for the applicant by the team of Gurpal Oppal of UK-based Charles Simmons Immigration Solicitors.The application was based on Paragraph 3 of Schedule 2 to the British Nationality Act 1981.
Talking to TOI, Oppal said, “The application for British citi zenship was made for MK on the basis of an Indian child born in the UK to Indian parents, both of whom had overstayed. It was argued that she had not been registered with the overseas Indian authorities as an Indian national and was therefore stateless and entitled to become a British citizen.“
“A person is stateless if he has no nationality. Ability to acquire a nationality is irrelevant for these purposes. The biggest difficulty was obtaining 'confirmation from the Indian authorities (in one version it is 'the authorities in India') that the birth has not been registered in accordance with Indian law and that she is not a national of India...,“ he added.
The parents of the applicant (who cannot be identified for legal reasons) are over the moon following the success of the application.If their child is granted the British citizenship, they are likely to get a residence too.
The Sharma couple, who didn't want their first names to be revealed, said, “We are just glad that the Indian High Commission in the day (six years ago) treated us like trash. We were so hassled because we had come here as students and started living together. When we had our son, getting him registered with the high commission was so painful that we gave up on it. Now, the son, being stateless, is likely to work to our advantage.“
Balraj Singh, who came as a visitor to the UK, about 10 years ago “through an agent who charged ten lakh rupees for the six-month visa“ and got married to a nursing student, is planning to apply for his 7-year-old daughter under the stateless category .
“After coming to know about this court decision, I am regretting why I had applied for my children's Indian passport. We are planning to apply for staying in the UK when the elder one completes seven years. Until then we can only hope that I am not caught for staying here illegally and de ported,“ said Gurnam Singh, who said the name on his passport was different.
“I recognise of course that this conclusion opens an obvious route to abuse. Indeed, the facts of the case might be said to be an example of abuse. M and F are both overstayers. Both have sought, and been refused, further leave.They have preferred to allow C (claimant) to be stateless all her life to date rather than to register her birth and obtain Indian nationality for her. Yet C's right to British nationality (and the consequence that she will not be or become a national of India) will now immeasurably improve M and F's prospects of being allowed to stay in the United Kingdom.“