Stop Citizenship Stripping
An extreme measure that can deprive people of their crucial legal rights.
with no trial, and no evidence the person can challenge.
Add your name if you agree that the UK government should abolish citizenship stripping.
Citizenship stripping in the UK
Reprieve is seeing the impact in real time
We are fighting to help our clients illegally detained in North East Syria regain their citizenship. We regularly meet with their families and can see how brutal and harmful it really is:
Family member of one of Reprieve's clients who had their citizenship stripped
“Everything’s stacked against you. You’ve got secret courts, these courts where you’re not allowed to be present. And you’re not allowed to understand what’s being discussed. And you’re not allowed to see what the reasons are for why your family members had their citizenship removed, because it’s deemed too sensitive.
And so, you’re kind of trying to fight back with both your hands tied behind your back, where everything’s stacked against you.”
In Numbers
Partnered with Runnymede Trust, we revealed how this measure creates a racist and two-tier system.
- Nine million people are vulnerable to having their citizenship stripped, because they have a connection to another country
- People of colour are twelve times as likely to be at risk as their white peers.
Citizenship stripping in the UK FAQs
Frequently asked questions
What is citizenship stripping?
Citizenship stripping is an extreme measure that can deprive British nationals of crucial legal rights at a stroke of the Home Secretary’s pen. Under section 40(2) of the British Nationality Act 1981, the Home Secretary can strip certain British citizens of their nationality if she believes it to be “conducive to the public good”. No crime needs to be committed, and there is no trial – it is something that the Home Secretary can simply do at the stroke of a pen.
Who can it affect?
These powers can be used against all British citizens who have dual nationality (including those who acquired a second nationality automatically at birth), as well as citizens whom the Home Secretary believes could acquire another nationality, even if they don’t have it at the time they are deprived. Millions of British people with foreign heritage are vulnerable to being deprived of all the rights that come with their UK passport.
Why does it matter?
- Over the last fourteen years, the UK has become a world leader in citizenship deprivation. Britain has stripped ten times as many people of citizenship as France in the last fourteen years.
- This UK policy is fundamentally racist – only people with foreign ties can have their citizenship taken away. Research indicates that the power has been used almost exclusively against British Muslims mainly of South Asian, Middle-Eastern, and African heritage. Our research found 3 in 5 people of colour were likely to be eligible for deprivation of citizenship, compared with just 1 in 20 of their white neighbours.
- It undermines equality before the law, gives the Home Secretary far too much power, and denies British people in extremely high risk situations the protections they would be entitled to as citizens.
It equips any future Government, regardless of party, with these extreme powers. The Labour Government has shown that it is not opposed to stripping citizens of their nationality, the Conservative Party has floated proposals to deport large numbers of legally settled people from Britain whilst the Reform party has promised to deport more than half a million people if elected.
Three ways we are stopping citizenship stripping
Investigation
In 2025, we teamed up with the Runnymede Trust to produce a shocking new report on the UK’s racist and discriminatory citizenship stripping regime.
Our research reveals that nine million people are at risk of having their citizenship stripped.
Casework
Many of our unlawfully detained clients in North East Syria have had their citizenship stripped.
We help them fight back, challenging the discriminatory laws that enabled the government to take away their rights.
Campaigning
We work with politicians, the media and our supporters to fight against citizenship stripping.
Join the community powerering the fight against the government’s cruel and racist use of the citizenship stripping powers today.
Our Impact
With the help of our community we have
10,000
Nearly 10,000 members of the public have added their name to calls to abolish these extreme powers
30
30 NGOs, MPs and peers signed the open letter to the Prime Minister championing our call.
?
We aren’t allowed to tell you how many people we have successfully supported to regain citizenship but the number continues to increase
Latest Updates
Published: 14/07/26
2 minute(s)
Reprieve exclusive with Zeteo
Reprieve secured an exclusive with new media outlet, Zeteo UK, on our citizenship stripping work – and the concerning response we received from government when we highlighted the racist impact of their laws. In early 2026, following the publication of our report with the Runnymede Trust into the…
Published: 30/06/26
2 minute(s)
REPRIEVE ON SOHO RADIO
Our Head of Unlawful Detentions, Naima Sakande, was invited to come down to Soho Radio’s flagship broadcasting studio on Carnaby Street to talk all things citizenship. She was there to discuss our report ‘Stripped’, which we released in partnership with the Runnymede Trust in 2025, and which delves…
Published: 27/02/26
1 minute(s)
How citizenship stripping has left British families at deadly risk in North East Syria
Last week, al-Hol prison camp in North-East Syria collapsed and thousands of women and children fled, following recent fighting between the Syrian government and Kurdish forces. Roj prison camp, where around 15 British women and 30 British children are illegally detained, could be next. Security experts have warned…
Reprieve is fighting to abolish this citizenship stripping power. Will you join us?
We must ensure that every British citizen is equal before the law.
Other issues
End unlawful detention
Reprieve helps people indefinitely imprisoned without trial. First, we fight for their freedom. Then we seek accountability for their unlawful detention.
Stop the use of torture
Reprieve helps torture survivors get justice, and confronts systems that enable cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.
