“(1) The British Nationality Act 1981 is amended as follows.

(2) After subsection 1(3A) insert—

‘(3B)(a) A person born in the United Kingdom after commencement who is not a British citizen is entitled, on application, to register as a British citizen if the person’s father or mother would have been settled in the United Kingdom at the time of the person’s birth, if Assumption A had applied.

(b) Assumption A is that, in assessing whether the person’s father or mother met a requirement to have held comprehensive sickness insurance, this is to be regarded as having been satisfied whenever they—

(i) had access to the NHS in practice; or

(ii) held a comprehensive sickness insurance policy.

(c) Registration under this subsection shall be free of charge.’

(3) After section 50A insert—

Notwithstanding any provision of section 50A, for the purposes of an application for naturalisation or registration made under this Act, a person—

(a) is not to be treated as having been in the United Kingdom in breach of the immigration laws during a period of time that has been counted as part of a continuous qualifying period in a grant of leave to that person under Appendix EU of the Immigration Rules, and

(b) is not to be treated as not being of good character on account of a failure to hold comprehensive sickness insurance during some period of residence in the UK.’

(4) The European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 is amended as follows.

(5) After section 15, insert—

(1) For the purposes of any decision taken by a public authority under this Part after commencement of this section, a person is to be treated as having met a requirement to have held comprehensive sickness insurance, whenever they—

(a) had access to the NHS in practice; or

(b) held a comprehensive sickness insurance policy.

(2) This section shall in particular apply to any decisions taken under residence scheme immigration rules.’”

This new clause rectifies an anomaly requiring a person seeking to acquire permanent residence documents, naturalisation or citizenship to have had comprehensive sickness insurance prior to applying for citizenship when EEA and Swiss citizens did not need comprehensive sickness insurance because they had free access to the NHS.