Bilal Fawaz keeps delivering for British boxing, but he is still waiting for Britain to deliver for him.

There does remain a striking contradiction at the heart of Bilal’s story. Despite representing British boxing at championship level, building his life in the UK and fighting for recognition of his status for more than two decades, he is still not a British citizen.

So what needs to happen for the British champion to finally become a British citizen? In this article, we once again consider the immigration and nationality options available to Bilal, and the potential routes that could ultimately allow him to secure the British passport that has, so far, remained out of reach.

Current immigration position

Bilal’s story extends far beyond the boxing ring. Born in Nigeria to a Beninese mother and Lebanese father, he was trafficked to London at the age of 14. After escaping his captors, Bilal entered the care system in the UK. He was eventually granted temporary leave to remain until shortly before his 18th birthday, but subsequent attempts to extend his permission were unsuccessful, leaving him without valid immigration status.

In 2017, the Home Office sought to deport Bilal to Nigeria and he was detained. He was subsequently released after a tribunal judge ruled that the Home Office had no lawful basis to continue detaining him, and in June 2020 he was finally granted permission to remain in the UK.

At the heart of Bilal’s exceptionally complicated immigration history is the fact that he is effectively stateless. The Nigerian authorities have repeatedly stated that he is not a Nigerian national; the Lebanese authorities do not hold records for him and, with his father having passed away, he has been unable to establish a route to Lebanese nationality; and he is not recognised as a Beninese national.

For many people, possessing a passport is an ordinary part of life. For Bilal, the absence of one is now having potentially career-defining consequences.

His latest victory on 3 October makes that problem more pressing, not less. Bilal is competing successfully at the highest levels of British boxing, yet he remains unable to travel freely outside the UK. At precisely the point when his sporting success should be opening doors internationally, his immigration and nationality position risks keeping those doors firmly closed.

Bilal is currently on a 10-year route to settlement, potentially leaving him waiting until 2034 or 2035 before he can reach the position where he may ultimately obtain a British passport. For a professional boxer whose career is happening now, that is an extraordinary length of time to wait.

The issue therefore goes beyond the understandable desire to secure the nationality of the country in which he has built his life. Without a passport, Bilal cannot freely pursue fights overseas. Opportunities in major international boxing markets, including Saudi Arabia and Las Vegas, may remain beyond his reach regardless of what he achieves inside a British ring.

That creates a striking contradiction: Bilal can win British titles, represent British boxing and build his life and family here, but he still cannot hold the passport that would allow him to take that success onto the global stage.

The question following his latest victory must therefore be asked with renewed urgency: does Bilal really have to wait potentially another eight or nine years before his immigration position catches up with the life he has already built in Britain?

Available options:

• Registration as a British citizen

Bilal does not currently hold Indefinite Leave to Remain, meaning he is not presently in a position to naturalise through the conventional route under section 6 of the British Nationality Act 1981 ("BNA 1981").

Section 4L of the BNA 1981 does, however, provide a route to registration as a British citizen in certain special circumstances where, in the Secretary of State's opinion, an individual would have been, or would have been able to become, a British citizen but for:

• historic legislative unfairness;
• an act or omission of a public authority; or
• exceptional circumstances relating to the applicant.

Given Bilal’s family and nationality circumstances, it is the exceptional circumstances limb that is potentially of most relevance. However, the threshold is a difficult one to meet. Home Office guidance makes clear that section 4L is not intended to provide an alternative route to citizenship simply because an individual cannot satisfy the requirements of another route.

Accordingly, an immediate grant of British citizenship under section 4L may remain difficult.

But that should not be the end of the conversation.

If citizenship cannot presently be achieved directly, the more immediate question is whether there is a basis for Bilal to be granted Indefinite Leave to Remain now, rather than requiring him to spend many more years progressing along the conventional route to settlement.

Discretionary application for Indefinite Leave to Remain

The Secretary of State retains discretion to grant leave outside the Immigration Rules and, in sufficiently compelling circumstances, that can include a grant of Indefinite Leave to Remain.

That discretion is deliberately exceptional. It is not enough simply to show that an individual would benefit from being granted settlement. The case needs to be supported by strong evidence demonstrating circumstances that justify departing from the normal requirements.

Bilal’s circumstances are, however, far from ordinary.

He has lived in the UK for more than two decades. He came here as a trafficked child and subsequently entered the care system. He has faced profound uncertainty over his nationality and immigration position. Britain has become his home, he is raising two British children with his long-term British partner and, extraordinarily, he has gone on to become an English, British and Commonwealth boxing champion.

His victory on 3 October only makes the disconnect between his sporting achievements and his immigration position harder to ignore.

For Bilal, settlement and citizenship are not simply symbolic milestones. They have real and immediate consequences for his ability to pursue his profession. Every international opportunity that cannot be taken because he cannot travel is an opportunity that may not arise again. A sporting career, particularly in professional boxing, cannot simply be paused until an immigration route reaches its conclusion many years later.

That is why there is a compelling argument for Bilal’s circumstances to be looked at now, rather than simply requiring him to wait for the passage of time.

If the Secretary of State were persuaded to exercise discretion and grant Bilal Indefinite Leave to Remain, this could significantly accelerate his journey towards British citizenship. The possibility of naturalisation could then be considered, including whether discretion available within the nationality framework could assist him.

For Bilal, the significance of that outcome would be difficult to overstate. A British passport could give him what his talent has already earned him inside the ring: the opportunity to compete on the international stage without his immigration status determining where his career can take him.

Conclusion

When we first considered Bilal’s case, the question was whether there was a route capable of bringing his long wait for permanent status and British citizenship to an end.

Following another major victory on 3 October, that question has become even more pressing.

Bilal is not asking for a passport simply as recognition of his achievements. His inability to travel has the potential to restrict a professional career that is unfolding right now. Waiting until potentially 2034 or 2035 could mean that, by the time his immigration position permits him to pursue opportunities freely around the world, some of the most important years of that career have already passed.

There is, of course, no automatic right to settlement or citizenship because somebody has achieved sporting success. The legal thresholds must still be met. But the purpose of discretion is to enable genuinely exceptional circumstances to be considered individually, rather than forcing every case into a framework that may not adequately reflect the reality of the person’s life.

Bilal’s case raises a simple but powerful question: how much longer should a British champion have to wait before he can hold a British passport?

Irwin Mitchell’s Immigration Team, led by Mandeep Khroud, advises on complex immigration and nationality cases where the conventional routes do not necessarily provide the whole answer. In cases involving exceptional circumstances, identifying the right legal strategy, presenting the evidence effectively and ensuring that every available avenue is properly explored can be critical.