Latest news with #BritishCitizenship
BBC News
09-07-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
More funds needed for London Chagos arrivals, says council
More money is needed to help cope with the number of Chagos Islanders moving to the UK, according to a London Council said it had seen more than 400 Chagossians - who have British citizenship - arrive via nearby Heathrow Airport in the past year, with the cost of supporting them totalling hundreds of thousands of May 2025, the UK government signed a long-planned deal to hand the Chagos Islands to council wants the government to "do the right thing" and provide more funding to cover costs, including temporary accommodation. The government said it was providing funding where Chagossian arrivals were "creating immediate local pressures". The residents of the Chagos Islands, a British overseas territory, were evicted between 1967 and 1973 to create a joint UK-US military granddaughter of one of those residents was in tears as she thought about her homeland's history when she landed at Heathrow."My grandmother was a British Chagossian," said Rebecca Philippe. "Fifty years ago, she was uprooted from her island, and we have seen her suffering. "By seeing her suffering, we suffered too, with her. Unfortunately she is no longer with us. But we are here, not only for our rights but to honour her."Ms Philippe said she had to hide her British Chagossian identity when living in Mauritius because anyone who criticised Mauritian sovereignty risked a prison sentence."We have a penal code on our heads. We can't protest or do anything to fight for our rights, so we feel powerless there," she said. "Here I can tell people who I am, and there's no more fear inside me."A report by Human Rights Watch found that many Chagossians displaced to Mauritius continued to suffer poverty, stigma and discrimination. More than 100 Chagossians arrived at Heathrow Airport in one week in May, the same month the UK government signed the deal to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, Hillingdon Council arrivals did not have accommodation plans and needed housing British passport holders, Chagossians are allowed to enter the UK but do not qualify for the support that refugees and asylum seekers council said it helped those who had arrived to open a UK bank account and apply for Universal Credit, and provided bedding and a prepaid card for essentials. It said Chagossians went through a similar process to anyone else in the borough when it came to housing support. The council said the arrivals were placing an unsustainable demand on services, and cost more than £508,000 between July 2024 and March has forecast an annual cost of £1.2m going forward, as more Chagos Islanders global population of Chagossians is reported to be around 10,000, with many of them living in Mauritius, the Seychelles or the UK."It's the government's policy on the Chagos Islands which is creating this surge in people coming to Heathrow," said Steve Tuckwell, the council's cabinet member for planning, housing and growth. "Heathrow's in Hillingdon and that's where the burden sits. So the government needs to do their bit to make it fairer for Hillingdon taxpayers."Mr Tuckwell said many of the Chagossian arrivals have children, and the council had a legal responsibility to find temporary accommodation for families with dependants. The council added that the government would only cover the costs incurred for up to 10 days after arrival.A spokesperson from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: "We are giving Hillingdon Council funding to support Chagossian arrivals where arrival numbers are creating immediate local pressures."Government guidance is clear that people must make their own accommodation arrangements before they travel."
Daily Mail
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
US actress Julianne Moore reveals plans to permanently move to the UK with husband Bart Freundlich as she joins huge list of stars fleeing America
Julianne Moore has revealed plans to permanently move to the UK with her husband Bart Freundlich. The actress, 64, was born in North Carolina but gained British citizenship because her late mother, Anne, was Scottish. And now she could join a huge list of stars fleeing the US with some citing Trump as the reason they want to leave Appearing on the Capital Breakfast with her Echo Valley co-star Sydney Sweeney on Tuesday, Julianne opened up about her plans to move to the UK. Host Chris Stark asked: 'Julianne, you're a British citizen, is that right?' From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new Showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. Julianne replied: 'Yeah, I have a passport,' before a shocked Sydney said: 'No way, I didn't know that!' 'Yeah, my mother was from Scotland, so I have a British passport,' Julianne explained. Chris said: 'That's so cool.' 'I know it is cool, right?; Julianne added. 'So, what's it like being back? Could you see yourself maybe coming and living here full-time?' Chris asked. Julianne revealed: 'I can actually, my husband and I have talked about that sometimes. It could be kind of fun. 'I've worked here a lot and I'm really comfortable here. I've been working here, gosh, probably since the nineties.' Radio co-host Jordan North asked: 'Really?' Sian Welby added: 'What since Hannibal?' 'Yeah, since before that actually,' Julianne laughed before continuing: 'Once I was coming into the UK and somebody told me I was in the wrong line and I was like 'no I'm not!' In March, Courtney Love became the latest star to reveal she's becoming a British citizen, because of 'frightening 'Donald Trump's return to the White House. Courtney, who was married to Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain from 1992 until his suicide in 1994, says she's looking to permanently relocate in the UK due to her dissatisfaction with the Trump administration in the US. Speaking at the Royal Geographical Society in London, she said: 'I'm really glad I'm here. 'It's so great to live here. I'm finally getting my British citizenship in six months. I get to be a citizen - I'm applying, man! Can't get rid of me!' The remarks drew rapturous applause from the London audience. Courtney went on to criticize the US President and his inner circle, admitting: 'In terms of Trump, and particularly this group... it's like emperor-core - like, [they're] wearing million-dollar watches. Celebrities including Ellen DeGeneres and her wife Portia de Rossi, designer Tom Ford, Ryan Gosling and his wife Eva Mendes are among those who have fled America for the UK 'Emperor-core is going on at Mar-a-Lago. It's frightening now. It's like cyanide now.' Courtney, who has a 32-year-old daughter, Frances Cobain, with Kurt, has been living in London for several years, having moved to the capital from Los Angeles in 2019. Courtney has been vocal of her love of London for some time, saying in 2017: 'I know I'm going to end up there. 'I know what neighbourhood I'm going to end up in, and I know that I want to be on the Thames. I subscribe to this magazine called Country Life, which is just real-estate porn and fox hunting. It's amazing.' She is not the first celebrity to move to the UK since the reelection of Trump, with the woke stars being dubbed the 'Donald Dashers'. The so-called 'Donald Dash' has been backed up by Home Office figures this week which revealed that applications for UK citizenship soared in the last quarter of 2024, rising 40 per cent year on year. In fact more than 6,100 US citizens applied last year, the most since records began two decades ago and 26 per cent more than in 2023. Ellen DeGeneres and her wife Portia de Rossi put their California mansion up for sale after the election results came in and kickstarted their 'retirement' in the UK, with sources alleging the 'US doesn't like her because of her sexual preferences'. Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling were already living in the UK and are now planning to stay put, a sentiment echoed by British-American actress Minnie Driver, who returned to London after nearly three decades of living in Los Angeles. Ugly Betty star America was allegedly spotted checking out schools in west London - after saying she wanted to leave the US when Trump was elected. One Notting Hill estate agent, who revealed the amount of wealthy American families they are moving in has 'skyrocketed' since Trump, told MailOnline: 'We moved a Marvel actress into a house very near here in the last week.' Eva Longoria, a Texas native who has been living abroad for work, is taking permanent residency in Mexico and Spain with her husband and son in order to 'escape' her 'dystopian' homeland.
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Can you pass the British citizenship test? Try and answer these questions
Immigration is a controversial subject that is regularly debated. Prime Minister Keir Starmer recently said that we face becoming an "island of strangers". It is a comment that many found wrong, but others may have agreed with. And now there are promises from the Labour government to tighten up immigration rules and make it more difficult to live and work in the United Kingdom. READ MORE: Legal age for children to stay home alone as summer holidays approach READ MORE: ASDA, Morrisons and Matalan customers told 'return' products One requirement of that process has been taking the 'Life in the UK' test, which can put you on the pathway to becoming a British citizen, reports Manchester Evening News. To take the test, you have to have been living in the UK for a certain period of time, not have any criminal convictions, and pass an English language test. The test consists of questions on a mixture of subjects, including culture, history, and customs, and you get 45 minutes to take it. While some questions are pretty straightforward, others would require a bit of background knowledge and research. You can take the test as many times as it takes to pass, but each attempt costs £50. Generally the pass rate has hovered around the 80% mark. To pass, you must correctly answer 18 questions, or 75%, and the results are given immediately at the end of the test. Click here if the test has not appeared below.
Telegraph
26-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Firm behind UK citizenship tests owned by company embroiled in ‘cheating scandal'
British citizenship tests will be administered by a company whose new owners were previously embroiled in a cheating scandal, The Telegraph can reveal. PSI Services, a newly acquired subsidiary of New Jersey-based Educational Testing Services (ETS), was awarded the £19.8 million three-year contract last month. ETS previously held the contract for providing English language tests for immigration purposes until cheating allegations more than a decade ago compelled the Home Office to sever ties with the provider. The US assessment firm has now returned to immigration testing by purchasing PSI Services, which has been given responsibility for creating and rolling out the Life in the UK knowledge test for those seeking to become British citizens. A spokesman for ETS said that despite the purchase, PSI was 'operating as a separate entity'. The test is currently made up of 24 multiple choice questions aimed at proving the applicant has sufficient knowledge of British values, history and laws. It costs £50, takes 45 minutes and has a 75 per cent pass mark, asking questions such as: 'Who was the King of England at the time of the Norman invasion in 1066?' The Home Office has determined the bounds of required knowledge, which ranges from early British history and religion to politics, arts and culture. Setting out its specifications, the Government also recommended that questions should be asked on more taboo topics such as 'domestic violence', 'forced marriage', 'female genital mutilation', 'ethnic diversity', 'the slave trade' and 'conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq'. ETS, the world's largest private provider of testing and assessments, bought PSI Services in January 2024. Claims of systemic cheating The company held the licence to carry out the UK's secure English language testing for immigration purposes until it was alleged that its English language tests had been undermined by allegations of systemic cheating. An undercover BBC investigation in 2014 claimed tests were being sat by 'proxy' test takers on behalf of actual candidates and some invigilators were reading out answers. It was later claimed that some ETS staff had informed the Home Office of significant evidence of organised cheating almost two years before it was exposed, as they voiced concern that efforts to close some 'fraudulent' test centres were being blocked by managers worried that test fee income would fall. Asked by the Home Office to mark its own homework, the testing giant allegedly found that of around 58,000 people who sat the test between 2011 and 2015, some 58 per cent had used deception while another 39 per cent were deemed questionable. ETS's allegations prompted the Government to arbitrarily cancel 36,000 student visas and deport more than 2,500 people, with many since contesting the US company's findings. In the wake of the scandal, the Home Office cut ties with ETS, saying the contract had ended and would not be extended, and ETS closed its UK subsidiary. Wes Streeting, now the Health Secretary, told Parliament in 2018 that ETS was 'the grubby contractor at the centre of this scandal' and had 'serious questions to answer about their conduct in all this'. Stephen Timms, a Labour MP, said: 'Clearly, ETS was a discredited witness and yet the Home Office relied on them totally.' At the time, a spokesman for ETS told the BBC: 'ETS does everything it can to detect and prevent rare instances of dishonest test administrators or test takers.' In 2019 the company confirmed it had taken prompt action when it was made aware of serious allegations about UK tests in 2014. It said these were conducted by third-party contractors and overseen by its UK office. A spokesman said: 'ETS shared our methodology and findings with the UK Home Office but did not make any recommendations in relation to the same nor was ETS involved in determining how such information was utilised by the Home Office in its subsequent actions.' ETS added that it would continue to improve test security. Last year, Reed in Partnership was also handed a three year contract with option to extend to develop and deliver a test of knowledge of Life in the UK. Asked how both Reed in Partnership and PSI Services would be sharing the responsibilities for creating and running the service, the Home Office declined to comment. PSI Services is joining the immigration testing fold at a time when trust in citizenship testing has been rocked by further incidents of individual fraud. 'Complete disregard for UK immigration laws' In February, a 42-year-old woman from Kent was arrested on suspicion of wearing disguises to fraudulently sit the Life in the UK test on behalf of at least 12 people across multiple test centres. Chris Foster, the Home Office's criminal and financial investigation lead for London, said: 'This individual went to extreme lengths, using wigs and disguises to impersonate others and cheat the immigration system, showing a complete disregard for UK safety and immigration laws. 'There are 30 test centres around the UK and hundreds of thousands of people throughout the course of the year who sit the Life in the UK test and many are doing it legitimately.' The arrest came soon after Josephine Maurice, 61, from Enfield, admitted using wigs to fraudulently take the Life in the UK test on behalf of 13 people between June 2022 and August 2023. A spokesman for ETS said: 'PSI is a wholly owned subsidiary of ETS, operating as a separate entity. 'Under the terms of the contract between PSI and the Home Office, PSI retains full responsibility for the delivery of the Life in the UK Test on behalf of the Home Office. 'While PSI is now under ETS ownership, it functions with autonomy in service execution for this contract.'
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Record number of Americans seeking UK residency, says Home Office
During the 12 months leading up to March, more than 6,000 US citizens have applied to either become British subjects or to live and work in the country indefinitely – the highest number since comparable records began in 2004, according to data released on Thursday by the UK's Home Office. Over the period, 6,618 Americans applied for British citizenship – with more than 1,900 of the applications received between January and March, most of which has been during the beginning of Donald Trump's second US presidency. The surge in applications at the start of 2025 made that the highest number for any quarter on record. Related: 1.5m foreign workers already in UK could face longer wait for permanent settlement The figures come as British authorities under a Labour government are trying to reduce immigration to the UK, with Britain's prime minister, Keir Starmer, vowing to take 'back control of our borders' and warning that uncontrolled immigration could result in the country 'becoming an island of strangers, not a nation that walks forward together'. UK figures show net migration dropped by almost half in 2024 – to 431,000 – compared with 2023. The surge in US applications for UK residency comes as American immigration lawyers say they are receiving an increasing number of inquiries. Some are pointing to the polarized political climate in the Trump-led country, which itself is mounting an aggressive immigration-related crackdown. Muhunthan Paramesvaran, an immigration lawyer at Wilsons Solicitors in London, told the New York Times that inquiries had risen 'in the immediate aftermath of the election and the various pronouncements that were made'. 'There's definitely been an uptick in inquiries from US nationals,' Paramesvaran told the outlet. 'People who were already here may have been thinking: 'I want the option of dual citizenship in the event that I don't want to go back to the US.'' Zeena Luchowa, a partner at Laura Devine Immigration, which specializes in US migration to the UK, was more explicit in pointing to the 'political landscape' amid Trump's government. Luchowa told the outlet that the rise was not limited to US nationals – but also other nationalities living there. 'The queries we're seeing are not necessarily about British citizenship – it's more about seeking to relocate,' Luchowa said to the Times. However, the increase in US applications to the UK may not necessarily reflect political conditions in either country. Of the 5,521 settlement applications from US citizens last year, most were from people who were eligible via spousal or family links. Paramesvaran said such applications were likely to climb because the UK government had extended the qualification period from five years to 10 before they could apply for settlement. But Labour government politicians have hinted that some applicants may be able to skirt those requirements. That echoes one aspect of Trump's thinking in the US, where he has floated the idea of an immigration 'gold card' – in essence, an extension of the EB-5 program that extends green cards to foreign investors and their families. The UK home secretary, Yvette Cooper, told parliament earlier in May that 'there will be provisions to qualify more swiftly that take account of the contribution people have made' and said the British government 'will introduce new, higher language requirements' because 'the ability to speak English is integral to everyone's ability to contribute and integrate'.
