UK Removes Parental Nationality Rule for Future Spies

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The United Kingdom has removed the parental nationality rule at the secret services, which enables the employment of the citizens, whose parents descended from a different country and had a different nationality.

"The parental nationality rule unnecessarily stopped brilliant people from applying to work with us. Removing this blanket rule means that all British citizens who apply for jobs in our agencies can now be assessed on their abilities and not where their parents are from," a spokesperson for Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), MI5 (UK domestic counter-intelligence and security agency) and MI6 (UK foreign intelligence service) said.

The spokesperson also said that the move would help London to "compete" for the country's top talent and broaden a range of skills to address threats the UK is facing more effectively.

"It means all British citizens who apply for jobs in our agencies can now be assessed on their abilities and not where their parents are from," the spokesperson added.

Before the parental nationality rule was lifted, the candidates were required to have the UK citizenship and their parents had to be either a UK national or from an approved list of countries, which included UK Overseas Territory, UK Subject and UK national (overseas), a UK Overseas Citizen, and a UK Protected Person. The UK intelligence also accepts the applicants from the Commonwealth of Nations, the European Economic Area, and the United States.