‘Give him his passport’ – Hearn backs British champion’s citizenship fight
British boxing champion Bilal Fawaz, who was trafficked to the UK aged 14, is still unable to obtain a British passport more than 20 years later, prompting his promoter Eddie Hearn to say the government should be "embarrassed" by the delay. Fawaz's immigration status means he cannot fight abroad or take his family on holiday, despite holding the British and Commonwealth light-middleweight titles and having represented England as an amateur. The case, highlighted in a new BBC documentary, raises questions about how long-term victims of trafficking and modern slavery are treated by the UK's immigration system.
Fawaz, now 38, says he was confined, forced to work and denied schooling after being taken to London, later entering the care system and picking up minor convictions as a vulnerable teenager. He did not receive a work permit until he was 33, having twice been held in immigration detention before a judge found no lawful grounds to detain him. Since turning professional in 2022 he has won 12 of his fights, beating Ryan Kelly in May to defend his titles, while the Home Office says it does not comment on individual cases.
- Boxer Bilal Fawaz still has no British passport after 20+ years in UK
- Promoter Eddie Hearn says government should be "embarrassed" by delay
- Trafficked as a child, he only got a work permit at 33
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Bilal Fawaz is a British boxing champion who holds the British and Commonwealth light-middleweight titles. He was trafficked to London aged 14 and has lived in the UK for more than 20 years.
Despite his long residency and sporting achievements, Fawaz has not been able to obtain a British passport because of unresolved immigration status issues. This restricts his ability to fight professionally abroad and travel with his family.
His case has raised questions about how the UK immigration system handles trafficking victims who grow up in Britain. Fawaz had not received a work permit until age 33 and has faced immigration detention, despite being in the country for more than two decades.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Fawaz has spent over two decades in the UK after being trafficked here as a child, and has thoroughly integrated through amateur representation for England and becoming a British champion—establishing clear ties that demonstrate his belonging to British society. A court has already ruled his detention unlawful, yet he remains unable to obtain a passport after 20 years, which prevents him from working internationally or travelling normally, effectively perpetuating the victimisation he suffered as a trafficked person. His case illustrates how vulnerable trafficking survivors fall through administrative cracks, and given his decade-long successful residence and demonstrated character, expediting his citizenship recognises both fairness and practical necessity.
The case against
Immigration procedures must apply consistently to all applicants, and whilst Fawaz's circumstances are genuinely tragic, individual compassion should not override established legal frameworks that protect system integrity and public confidence. Many vulnerable people face hardship, and creating fast-tracked pathways for sympathetic cases without proper legislative change risks creating precedent-setting decisions that are inherently arbitrary and could be contested by other applicants facing delays. The proper course is resolution through existing legal channels, however slow, which maintains the principle that immigration decisions rest on law rather than the emotional persuasiveness of individual cases.