Should the descendants of English emigrants living abroad be allowed to apply for any eventual new English citizenship? My instinctive anwer is yes. But if so, what sort of conditions may have to be applied to stop 50 million Americans applying?

While English citizenship should have important rights (such as, for example, a generous state pension), should it also not entail some responsibilities?
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Would they want to?

About citizenship though, I prefer the Swiss model where you have to be a resident in the country for at least 12 years. The current mark of 5 years is not enough. 160,000 new citizens a year is way too many.
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Originally Posted by Northumbrian:
Would they want to?

You really should try to curb your cynicism Northumbrian; it doesn't become you. Besides, your answer begs the question!

Originally Posted by Northumbrian:
About citizenship though, I prefer the Swiss model where you have to be a resident in the country for at least 12 years. The current mark of 5 years is not enough. 160,000 new citizens a year is way too many.

I am sympathetic to these comments as applied to Andrew's general approach.

Of course, having ancestral connections should be one of a number of conditions. After all, we do not want other countries [eg Australia and Canada] dumping their home-grown criminals [murderers, child molesters etc] on us simply because of some lineal connection!

As for pensions, surely the the State Pension should be more firmly linked to contributions, with means testing minimised? If the points systems used in other countries [eg Australia] also applied to such immigrants, we would avoid importing 'dependents', allbethem dependents with ancestral connections!

Also, a civilised government would not be taxing individuals with an income [at current levels] of £15,000 or less anyway? These are related subjects.

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I would allow citizenship to be claimed through grandparents but no further back than that. Is citizenship nessecsarry ? "leave to remain" has been good enough for me

Benefits? you only get out what you put in is my general view and this would apply here
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Citizenship should IMHO only be available to the those with an English parent. We could grant a 10 year Green card to those with English grandparents and they could then come and live in England if they choose to and then whilst here decide whether to make the commitment to become a citizen.

Next up I'd offer a 10 year Greencard to the spouse of an English citizen providing they pass an interview to help shift out the sham marriage brigade (being a native speaker of English or having passed an English test would also have to be a pre-requisite.)
They too could then choose to become a citizen or re-new the card after 10 years.

Everyone else would get various forms of work/investor/student visas. These visas depending on the circumstances could allow the holder to apply for a 10 year green card after a certain amount of time has lapsed.
For those that want to invest large sums of cash into the country and open businesses we would def need a streamlined visa system that would encourage them to put their money here and not into the EU or elsewhere.

Ea of dune
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