Naturalisation process introduced for Honorary Subjects
Honorary Subjects of Austenasia who have held this status for a certain amount of time will from now on be able to apply to the Home Office for naturalisation, thereby becoming non-residential subjects with full Austenasian national status. For most of Austenasian history, the only way for a non-resident to become an Austenasian was for an Act of Parliament to be passed specifically authorising it, although in 2020 new rules were brought in allowing the Monarch to grant subjectship to an applicant with the sponsorship of an Austenasian noble. Honorary Subjectship was created in November 2008, when Austenasia was only two months old, after several people interested in Austenasia requested some means of affiliation with the country short of becoming a subject (which, at the time, would have required moving in to the Imperial Residence). Honorary Subjectship is granted by the Secretary-General after an application is made online. The new process sets out three categories under which Honorary Subjects can apply for naturalisation, namely those who have: All 658 of the Empire’s existing Honorary Subjects have been sent an e-mail explaining this new opportunity, and invited to apply if interested and qualified via an online form. This marks the first time that Honorary Subjectship has ever been anything other than completely honorary. Although the position will continue to carry no rights or obligations by itself, it now serves as a potential pathway to naturalisation. This new naturalisation process was set up by the Office of the Secretary-General and the Home Office’s Department for the Census, after being authorised by the Procedures and Offices Act 2023 passed on 2 March earlier this month.
Environmental Office downgraded to Home Office department
An Act of Parliament, granted Imperial Consent this morning, has downgraded the Environmental Office from a government ministry to a department of the Home Office, renaming it to the Environmental Agency in the process. The Environmental Office was founded in February 2009, administered by the Minister for the Environment. This office has now been renamed to the Under-Secretary for the Environment, and the holder of the position will be appointed by the Home Secretary. The Environmental Agency retains all the powers and functions that were held by the Environmental Office. Emperor Jonathan I, who appointed himself Minister for the Environment after the resignation of Lord Charles Clarke in September, has remained as Under-Secretary for the Environment. Speaking to the Austenasian Times, His Imperial Majesty said that “the care of Austenasia’s natural environment should not be seen as an issue separate from others, but as an intrinsic part of our government’s care for the Empire as a whole. All policy decisions made in regards to the internal affairs of Austenasia must be taken with the natural environment constantly in mind, not as an issue to be dealt with by another ministry, and so we felt it appropriate to merge the Environmental Office into the Home Office at the suggestion of His Imperial Highness the Prime Minister.”