A six-year-old British boy who has spent all his life in the UK has been denied permission to enter his home country after a holiday due to the revocation of his passport by the UK Home Office. The boy, Mohamed Barrak Diallo Bangoura who was born in Leeds in 2012 had gone to spend his 6-week school holidays with family friends in Belgium. And when he was at Zaventem airport in Brussels to board a flight home to his mother, the officials at the airport said that he could not go back to the UK as per the instructions of the Home Office.
The Home Office revealed that they had informed to the boy’s mother, Hawa Keita, that her son’s passport was issued in error and was revoked on the grounds of his British citizenship. However, Ms. Keita expressed that she didn’t receive any letter on this subject before and it was sent to her via email when he asked the Home Office about the restrictions on her son’s return to the UK.
The letter sent to Ms. Keita said that the child was no longer entitled to a British Citizenship because it had come to notice that the man Ms. Keita married to at the time of the child’s birth was not settled in Britain. As per the alteration to the British Natuonality legislation in 1983, children born in the UK will only be eligible for British citizenship only if at least one of their parents is a British citizen or is living in the UK with permission to reside in the country permanently.
Explaining the British Nationality rules 121 Immigration lawyers commented “that after the British Nationality Act 1981 came into force in 1983, children born in the UK only have an automatic right to British Citizenship if one of the parents is a British National or has settled status or Indefinite leave to remain in the UK. There are provisions made for children to be registered for British Citizenship if the parents later become settled or attained British Citizenship. This would involve making an application to register the child for British Citizenship, if this is accepted they can then apply for a British Passport. It is advisable in cases where there is uncertainty to seek legal advice”
