Six years ago, I became a British citizen.
I paid the fee, passed the Life in the UK test, and stood through the citizenship ceremony. At the time, I documented each step in a series of blog posts—part diary, part analysis—trying to make sense of what it meant to earn belonging in a country where I had already lived for 18 years.

Lately, I’ve found myself thinking back to those days.

Watching what is unfolding in Trump’s America, and hearing similar proposals echoed—almost casually—by the UK Home Secretary, one thing has become painfully clear: even citizenship is no longer safe. Not for racialised citizens. Not for those who remain permanently migrantised, no matter how many documents they hold.

Citizenship, we are told, is not a right. It must be earned.

But earned not just once—when we clear the bureaucratic, legal, and financial hurdles set by the state—but continuously, indefinitely. Racialised and migrantised citizens are citizens on probation.

On International Migrants Day, I’m returning to these questions in a different register. Alongside this post, I’m releasing a short Suno-powered experiment — a musical reflection on earned citizenship and permanent scrutiny. Think of it as a footnote in rhythm to the blogs I wrote back then.

“Two flags, one soul”, by Nando Sigona, Chatgpt & Suno AI, 2025