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<p>All grants of naturalisation as a British citizen are at the discretion of the
Home Secretary. She may, if she sees fit, naturalise a person who meets the provisions
set out at section 6 of the British Nationality Act 1981. These include a requirement
to have been lawfully resident in the UK for a continuous period, be free of immigration
time restrictions, be of good character and have sufficient knowledge of English and
of life in the United Kingdom. The Home Secretary has some discretion over certain
residence requirements, but there is no power in law to grant citizenship outside
of the statutory requirements of the 1981 Act.</p><p>One of the statutory requirements
for naturalisation is that a person should not have been in breach of the immigration
laws in the residential qualifying period before applying. Another is that he or she
is of good character. As such, a person who is subject to a deportation order would
not normally qualify for naturalisation.</p><p>Information of persons naturalised
as a British citizen by previous nationality is published annually and given in the
table attached.</p><p> </p><p>Statistics on grants of British citizenship by category
and previous nationality is published in the Home Office ‘Immigration Statistics’
Citizenship table cz_07, available on the .GOV.UK website.</p>
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