Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [HL]

I want to say one or two words about refugees in this context, although my noble friend Lord Hylton will speak about them later on. At Second Reading I mentioned the concern expressed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and others that the new qualifying period, which is to be extended to three years, should not apply to genuine refugees. In their case, the period ought to start from the first application for entry. An additional probationary citizenship period prior to qualification for naturalisation would leave many of them in a state of unresolved nationality for well beyond 10 years. As a matter of best practice, these delays appear unsatisfactory for those people deemed in need of international protection. I do not like the term "probationary citizenship" since it creates a second-class category from which migrants and refugees, tripped up by these regulations, may never escape. In the case of migrants, I hope that the Minister will agree with the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, that the clause allowing leave up to three months in the year is unnecessarily restrictive. Migrants, by their nature, may have good reasons to return to their first home for long periods even though they have established strong ties with the UK. There is also a potential conflict with the ECHR and the 1997 European Convention on Nationality. What will happen to existing migrants approaching the end of their limited leave who are ready and entitled to apply for indefinite leave? Will their rights be safeguarded or will they have to go backwards to probationary citizenship? The special category of recognised refugees resettled under the Gateway Protection Programme will surely not have to spend more than five years. The Minister will be aware that the majority of people in this category will already have been recognised by the United Nations for at least five years before their resettlement. The programme provides for this special category of people selected outside the UK by our embassy staff from the group of UN-registered refugees now in third countries. The UK has only recently joined this programme. I have had some experience of this and know how rigorous the selection process is, so I would be grateful for the reassurance. I recognise that this group of refugees comes up in later amendments but I wanted to put this on the record now.