by Michael English, Partner, Immigration and Commercial Litigation

Boxer Kay Prosper: ‘I cried the day I got my British passport’

“I was over the moon, I actually cried that day,” he says. “It was such a good feeling to know that, one, I could travel; but two, I’m part of something I’ve actually helped support and build. I pay my taxes, have done a lot of good work, and now I’m not like an alien or someone on the outside looking in.”

‘Kay Prosper was born and raised in Luton. By his mid-20s he had chosen to devote a swathe of his life to serving the local community. But none of that was enough to guarantee him a British passport until three years ago, when he was 33. On Friday night, in Barcelona, Prosper will be centre stage. He has made use of that passport for only the second time and will fight the reigning EBU European super-lightweight champion, the local favourite Sandor Martin, for the crown.’ (https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/apr/22/i-wasnt-a-bad-youngster-but-i-was-going-down-the-wrong-path)

Mr. Prosper’s battle for his citizenship and passport was, as the Guardian says finally won after the ramifications of the Windrush scandal rippled across society.

Thankfully most who hold British citizenship will not have had to fight and endure what he and many others have had to. But nevertheless, the wider and deeper significance, as well as the immediate practical benefits, of British citizenship – whether acquired by birth, by registration or by naturalisation – should never be undervalued or taken for granted.