U.K. to Review and Tighten Requirements for Citizenship

3. August 2009 by Dan Walkow, CFA, CMT.

The U.K. government is planning to review its immigration policies, in a move likely to make it more difficult for foreigners to become British citizens.

Home Secretary Alan Johnson plans to announce as early as Monday new proposals under which foreigners would have to score a certain number of points to become British citizens — a requirement already in place for people entering the country to work or study.

This would extend a system, modeled after one in use in Australia and introduced last year, that grades workers and students hoping to enter the U.K. on criteria including education, age and need for their skills. The changes were aimed at making it easier to slow the flow of foreigners looking for work in the U.K. when the economy weakens.

This trend is taking place all over the world as countries try to insulate domestic labor markets from foreign immigrants.

Posted in Immigration | No Comments »