HUMZA Yousaf would reject his British citizenship and instead choose to take only the citizenship of an independent Scotland.
The First Minister told journalists that would “probably” be his position at a roundtable with the media after the launch of a new white paper dealing with the issue of citizenship after a Yes vote.
The paper says that British citizens living in Scotland on the day of independence would automatically qualify as Scottish citizens and become dual nationals. However, they would also be able to opt out of either one.
People would have the choice to either renounce their British citizenship and become only Scottish citizens, or reject a Scottish citizenship, keeping only their British passport.
Asked if he would retain his British citizenship alongside his new Scottish one, the SNP leader said: “I’ve not thought much about it but I probably wouldn’t, no.”
“I would just have my Scottish citizenship,” he added.
The First Minister also told reporters that people who moved to Scotland from elsewhere in Britain after a Yes vote but before the day of independence would be “welcome”.
British citizens who moved to Scotland during this transition period would automatically become Scottish citizens on the day of independence, and there would be no plans for a citizenship test akin to the one used in the UK.
Yousaf said: “I would welcome them [British citizens who choose to move to Scotland after a Yes vote but before independence].
“We have demographic challenges. We have vacancies in important sectors, public and private I have to say, and we’re already working on trying to attract more people from the UK to Scotland.
“I think we would welcome that in that transition period in the run up to Scotland becoming an independent nation.”
Yousaf pointed to his time as health secretary and a campaign which the government ran trying to attract GPs to Scotland’s rural areas from elsewhere in the UK.
He added that movement over the Border during a transition period, especially by workers in such key sectors, would be welcomed “whole-heartedly”.
