Deprivation of British citizenship and withdrawal of passports 2 Use of citizenship deprivation powers At least 1,080 citizenship deprivation orders were made from 2010 to 2023. Of these: • • 858 were because of fraud 222 were because it was conducive to the public good Many of those deprived of their citizenship on ‘public good’ grounds are thought to be Muslims. Most fraud cases involve naturalised Albanians. 2.1 How often are people deprived of their citizenship? The Home Office publishes data on its use of citizenship deprivation, although there can be a significant time lag. The figures that follow show the number of deprivation orders made. Some will have been overturned on appeal. The number of people ultimately deprived of British citizenship will therefore be smaller than the number of orders. Deprivation for fraud From 2012 to 2022, there were 858 deprivation orders on the grounds of fraud, false representation or concealment of a material fact. 29 Deprivation for fraud has increased markedly over the course of the decade. There was one such order recorded in 2012, compared with over 300 in 2022. The increase is partly due to a Supreme Court ruling in 2017. This found that an alternative procedure known as ‘nullity’ had been applied to a wider range of fraud cases than the law permits. 30 As a result, the Home Office withdrew some nullity decisions and issued deprivation orders instead. A 2024 inspection report cited “improvements in resourcing and caseworking processes” as another factor behind the increase.31 29 Home Office, Immigration and protection data: Q3 2024, table RCM_01 30 R (Hysaj) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2017] UKSC 82, 21 December 2017 31 Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, An inspection of the use of deprivation of citizenship by the Status Review Unit, 29 February 2024, paragraph 3.23 10 Commons Library Research Briefing, 18 December 2024