The appellant was vietnamese by birth, but had later been granted British Citizenship. The Secretary of State came to seek to deprive him of that citizenship on conducive grounds for reasons of national security, and his deportation to Vietnam. The appellant appealed saying that the notice would leave him stateless.
Held: If the result of the decision wold be to make him stateless, then an order could not be made. The court considered the state of Vietnamese law and practice in such circumstances: ‘Now that the Vietnamese government has received adequate information about the appellant, we are satisfied that it does not consider him to be a Vietnamese national under the operation of its law. Its decision may, to western eyes appear arbitrary. Nevertheless, for reasons which are more fully explained in the closed judgment, we are satisfied that that is the stance of the Vietnamese government. Given that both Vietnamese law and state practice give it that power, we must accept that it is effective. Accordingly, the answer to the preliminary question is that the decision of the Secretary of State to deprive the appellant of his citizenship on 22nd December 2011 did make him stateless and so is not permitted under section 40(4) of the 1981 Act.’
Judges:
Mitting J, Allen UTJ, P Nelson
Citations:
[2012] UKSIAC 114/2012)
Links:
Statutes:
British Nationality Act 1981 40(2), Immigration Act 1971 3(5)(a)
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Appeal from – B2 v Secretary of State for The Home Department CA 24-May-2013
Appeal from the Special Immigration Appeals Commission in which the issue was whether the Secretary of State for the Home Department was entitled to deprive a British Citizen originating from Vietnam of British nationality following his alleged . .
See Also – Pham v The United States of America Admn 12-Dec-2014
The defendant appealed against an order for his extradition to the USA to face extra-territorial terrorist charges.
Held: The court dismissed the appeal: ‘whether the appellant is a British citizen or not makes no difference to his relevant . .
At SIAC – Pham v Secretary of State for The Home Department SC 25-Mar-2015
The court was asked: ‘whether the Secretary of State was precluded under the British Nationality Act 1981 from making an order depriving the appellant of British citizenship because to do so would render him stateless. This turns on whether (within . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Immigration, Crime
Updated: 14 November 2022; Ref: scu.470891