Million Foreigners with Pakistanis atop Got British Citizenship in 10-Years
By Raza Mumtaz 'Pakistan Times' Executive Editor/UK Bureau Chief

LONDON (UK): Pakistanis were among the largest group to have been granted British citizenship out of one million foreign nationals since Labour Party came to power in 1997, reports 'The Daily Telegraph' quoting official figures.

According to the daily more than 150,000 obtained a passport in 2006 - taking the total to around 1,020,000 since Prime Minister Tony Blair took office. The number of Pakistanis obtaining the British citizenship stood at 10,260 as against 15,190 from India.

About half of the new citizens were people who qualified through being resident in the country for five years or more and 20 per cent became British through marriage. The remainders were mainly dependant children.

Although the number of new Britons last year was lower than in 2005, that year's figure of 161,000 was swelled by people trying to beat the new ''Britishness tests'' introduced in November 2005.

Since then, applicants have been required to demonstrate knowledge of English and of life in Britain.

The number of new citizens in 2006 was still higher than in any other year - and four times the number granted a passport in 1997. The rate of overseas settlement in Britain is the highest ever.

In the late 1960s, about 75,000 a year were accepted for citizenship but this fell to about 50,000 after new laws were introduced in 1971.

For about 25 years the figure remained near or below this level, falling to 37,000 in 1997. Since then, there has been a spectacular increase.

The scale of new settlements is a principal cause of the increase in the population, which is expected to grow by five million by 2020.

Sir Andrew Green, the chairman of Migration watch UK, said passing one million new citizens since 1997 was a watershed for government policy.

"This total does not even include the latest wave of east Europeans," he said. "Even so we already face a massive change in British society completely contrary to the wishes of the public and also contrary to Labour's 1997 election manifesto, which said that every country needs firm immigration control and Britain is no exception."

Margaret Hodge, the industry minister provoked anger this week when she said settled British families should have priority over immigrants in the allocation of social housing.

Opinion polls consistently show that immigration is seen as the most important issue facing the country, with more than half of voters placing it higher than health or education on a list of concerns.

The figures showed that 46,000 of the new citizens last year were born in Africa and 30,000 were from the Indian sub-continent. The countries with the largest number were India (15,190), Pakistan (10,260), Somalia (9,050) and the Philippines (8,840).●