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United Kingdom

UK Supreme Court: no pre-decision representations required for deprivation of British citizenship; BNA 1981 s 40A merits appeals provide safeguards (Secretary of State for the Home Department v Kolicaj)

Published on: 18 December 2025

Published by a LexisNexis Public Law expert
Legal News
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Article summary

Background

Mr Kolicaj, a dual national of Albanian origin, was naturalised as a British citizen in 2009. In 2018 he was found guilty of conspiring to move almost £8m of criminal proceeds out of the UK and received a six-year prison sentence. After his conviction, the National Crime Agency advised the Secretary of State to consider depriving him of citizenship due to serious organised criminality. In January 2021 the Secretary of State issued a notice of intention and, thirty minutes later, made a deprivation order. The brief interval was designed to stop Mr Kolicaj renouncing Albanian citizenship, which would have rendered him stateless and so not susceptible to deprivation under BNA 1981, s 40. His appeal to the First-tier Tribunal failed. The Upper Tribunal allowed his appeal, but the Court of Appeal upheld the deprivation on different grounds, finding procedural unfairness because he had no chance to make representations before the order was made. The Secretary of State appealed to the Supreme Court.

Judgment

The Supreme Court unanimously allowed the Secretary of State’s appeal and dismissed the cross-appeal. Lord Sales delivered the judgment...

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