UI2024001483

             The Appellant is a citizen of Albania. He claims to have entered the UK on 27 July 1998. He claimed asylum on 28 July 1998. In that asylum claim, and subsequently, he falsely claimed, among other things, to be of Kosovan nationality. On the basis of that false nationality, on 10 June 1999, the Respondent granted the Appellant indefinite leave to remain as a refugee and, on 29 October 2007, he was naturalised as a British Citizen.

             As set out in her 7 April 2021 decision, the Respondent was satisfied that the Appellant had acquired his British citizenship by means of fraud and decided it would be in accordance with Article 8 ECHR and was otherwise appropriate to exercise the power to deprive him of it. On appeal to the FTT, the Judge concluded that the Respondent was entitled to be satisfied that the Appellant had acquired his citizenship by fraud and did not consider that there was otherwise any legal error in the Respondent's deprivation decision.

             At the hearing at Field House on 5 July 2024, we heard submissions from Mr Collins, on behalf of the Appellant, and from Ms Ahmed on behalf of the Respondent. We are grateful to them both for the assistance which they provided.

             We announced at the end of the hearing that we would dismiss the Appellant's appeal for reasons which would follow. These are those reasons.

             Finally, and importantly for present purposes, over the final 10 pages of this 17-page letter, the Appellant's solicitors provided details of a large number of other clients of Marsh in respect of whom, notwithstanding that they had also claimed wrongly to be Kosovar refugees when in fact they were from Albania, it was said that the Respondent had decided not to exercise her power to deprive them of their British citizenship.