Deprivation of British citizenship and withdrawal of passports 1.3 Right of appeal Appeals against deprivation of citizenship are made at specialist tribunals. The default venue is the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber). Any further appeals are made to the Upper Tribunal, then the Court of Appeal (or Court of Session in Scottish cases) and then the Supreme Court. When national security issues are involved, the initial right of appeal is to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) instead of the First-tier Tribunal. 21 In SIAC appeals, sensitive evidence (for example, from the intelligence services) may be withheld from the appellant and their lawyer. Instead, a ‘special advocate’ who can see the withheld evidence and attend closed hearings is appointed to make arguments on the appellant’s behalf but cannot communicate with the appellant.22 SIAC cannot impose its own views on whether deprivation is appropriate in light of the national security evidence. The Home Secretary’s national security assessment should be given “real respect, or great deference”. 23 Similarly, in fraud cases, First-tier Tribunal judges must have regard to the fact that deprivation is at the Home Secretary’s discretion. 24 In February 2021, the Supreme Court gave judgment in an appeal by Shamima Begum, one of the “Bethnal Green schoolgirls” who travelled to Syria aged 15 and married a member of the so-called Islamic State. 25 Home Secretary Sajid Javid made an order depriving her of British citizenship in 2019. She appealed, and applied for permission to return to the UK to take part in that appeal. The Supreme Court found that Shamima Begum did not have the right to reenter the UK. 26 Her appeal against the deprivation of citizenship order itself went ahead in her absence but was not successful. 27 In its judgment, the Supreme Court emphasised that judges can only overturn a ‘public good’ deprivation decision by the Home Secretary in relatively limited circumstances: for example, if it was “unsupported by any evidence” or would make the person stateless. 28 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 9 British Nationality Act 1981, section 40A(2) Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Procedure) Rules 2003, SI 2003 No. 1034, Part 7 Secretary of State for the Home Department v P3 [2021] EWCA Civ 1642, 8 November 2021, paragraph 126 Ciceri (deprivation of citizenship appeals: principles) Albania (Rev1) [2021] UKUT 238 (IAC), 8 September 2021 “Shamima Begum: Bring me home, says Bethnal Green girl who left to join Isis”, Times, 13 February 2019; BBC Sounds, I’m Not a Monster – The Shamima Begum Story, 2023 R (Begum) v Special Immigration Appeals Commission [2021] UKSC 7, 26 February 2021 Begum v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] EWCA Civ 152, 23 February 2024 R (Begum) v Special Immigration Appeals Commission [2021] UKSC 7, 26 February 2021, paragraph 71; Free Movement, Shamima Begum loses case in Supreme Court, 26 February 2021 Commons Library Research Briefing, 18 December 2024