Shamima Begum: How can you lose your citizenship?

Shamima Begum has lost her appeal against the government's decision to remove her British citizenship and remains barred from returning to the UK.

Ms Begum, now 23, left the country as a teenager to join the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria.

Shamima Begum bid to regain UK citizenship rejected 

Who is Shamima Begum?

Ms Begum is one of three east London schoolgirls who travelled to Syria in 2015 to support the IS group.

She was born in the UK to parents of Bangladeshi heritage and was 15 when she left.

Her citizenship was stripped on national security grounds in 2019.

Spy for Canada smuggled Shamima Begum to Syria

What is citizenship?

Citizenship is a legal status. 

If someone is a UK citizen they have the legal right to live in the country, and to have access to services such as welfare, education and healthcare. They can also vote.

Citizenship is also an identity, and often forms part of a person's sense of self and belonging. 

Some people who are not citizens have the right to live in the UK permanently with many of the same rights. 

They are said to have "settled status" or "leave to remain".

How can citizenship be removed?

The government has the power to remove someone's UK citizenship in certain circumstances:

It is "for the public good" and would not make them statelessThe person obtained citizenship through fraudTheir actions could harm UK interests and they could claim citizenship elsewhere

The power has been used against members of proscribed organisations such as al-Qaeda or the Islamic State group, or those who obtained their British citizenship fraudulently.

The person must also be eligible to apply for citizenship in another country. The UK has responsibilities under international law to avoid leaving people stateless. 

The Nationality and Borders Act made it easier for the home secretary, in certain circumstances, to remove citizenship without telling the person in question. Such circumstances include national security concerns or if the individual has been prosecuted for a serious crime.

Tauqir Sharif, an aid worker from Walthamstow, also lost his citizenship for national security reasons. He moved to Syria in 2012 with his wife, and was stripped of his citizenship in 2017. 

The Home Office said Mr Sharif had links to a group aligned with al-Qaeda, but he denied the claim, and called the system "unfair" and "racist".

What happened in the Shamima Begum case?

In February 2020, a tribunal ruled that removing Ms Begum's citizenship was lawful because she was "a citizen of Bangladesh by descent", so removing her British nationality wouldn't make her stateless. 

Bangladesh said that was not the case, and that she would not be allowed into the country.