An individual may lay claim to British citizenship in several ways; either by birth, ancestry, or 5 years legal residence in the UK, with Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) for at least 12 months, amongst many others.
For foreign nationals who seek to naturalise as British, the following requirements need to be met:
The Identity and Passport Service (IPS) of the UK government are known for the issuance of British passports. An interview with the IPS must be attended by the individual applying for a passport for the first time to confirm their identity. Anyone applying for the passport must be aged 16 and above. It is recommended that an individual will give an allowance of 6 weeks for the passport application to be processed. Individuals are advised not to make any travel arrangements until they receive their passport.
In the case of urgent passports, where an individual needs an urgent passport renewal, IPS offers two types of services which are;
An appointment is required at the Passport Office if both types of services commences. There are also some situations where additional time might be needed to assess an individual's application, such as contacting the individual's counter-signature or confirming the details of the application.
IPS can be contacted for advice - to make an appointment, call 0300 222 0000.
There may be several reasons for re-registering as a British citizen. Being born outside the UK to British parents in a country that either doesn't permit dual nationality, or only permits it on restricted grounds, is one major example.
Nationality is commonly renounced when the individual in question is looking to hold a political office and/or holds a public office in a country where they hold dual citizenship.
Please note that, renouncing your British citizenship may not allow you to re-apply for your British nationality in every scenario.
Resuming Your British Nationality
To reapply, you need to complete the form RS1 and pay the appropriate fee. These are some of the documents you will need to support your application:
The British Nationality Act 1981 posits that resuming British citizenship is allowed if renunciation was important to allow the applicant to retain or acquire citizenship of another country. Please note that the applicant can only, as a matter of right, resume nationality just once.
Please note that if you relinquished your nationality voluntarily, you may not be able to apply to resume your UK nationality as a matter of right. This means the only time you could be able to resume your nationality as a matter of right is where you have had to relinquish your UK Nationality to serve another country which forbids you from having dual nationality.
If an individual has previously given up their British citizenship, they can apply to resume their British citizenship if they are in the right state of mind, alongside:
You will be authorised to make an application for British Nationality by Naturalisation if:
You are required to:
If your husband/wife/civil partner is a British National, you will need to meet different requirements.
It is important to note that any time spent in the UK away from the control of the UKVI as a diplomat or Armed Forces officer will not be counted among the five-year period.
Application for registration as British nationals (MN1 Application) by children (under the age of 18) to the UKBA is possible. If the child is 18 years old, they will be required to make the application for naturalisation by making use of the AN form.
The sections of the British Citizenship Act of 1981 concerning child registration as a British National are as follows:
Application For Registration As A British Citizen If You Were Born In The UK On Or After 1 January 1983 And Lived Here Up To The Age Of 10
For an individual to be registered as a British National they must:
However, if the applicant has spent more than 90 days outside the UK, the UKBA can make an exception if the reason for this situation is exceptional. This reason should be explained on the application form.
An individual is entitled to register as a British citizen if:
It is necessary that the applicant fulfils all the requirements for their application. However, you cannot make the application using the form UKM. More so, the reason why many applications fail when using the form UKM is because the applicant fulfils the second requirement, but not the third.
If you would have become a British Citizen or a British dependent territories citizen on the 1st of January, 1983, you will not be entitled for registration if women had the ability to pass citizenship on or before that date.
You may be eligible for applying for British citizenship if you meet the following requirements:
It is important to note that periods spent away from immigration control will be discounted as part of the qualifying period.
To meet the requirements for British citizenship registration based on the Crown or similar service, you will need to show that:
It should be noted that been granted citizenship based on the Crown is only possible in rare cases. As such the individual must demonstrate that:
People who are British Protected Persons might be qualified for registration as a British National under one of the accompanying criteria below:
To be allowed to enrol under the 5 years living arrangement, you must meet these requirements:
Be that as it may, at whatever time you have spent away from the control of the migration won't be considered as part of your five-year private qualifying period. Time of confinement in the UK, or time of appearance as a negotiator or military guest, will be viewed as periods absolved from the control of the UK movement.
You might be qualified to register as a British Citizen on the off chance that you don't satisfy the requirements of the five-year residency period - this can be done as a British Citizen on the premise of your crown or related service.
To be qualified for this, you will be required to demonstrate that:
To be allowed British Citizenship on the premise of the Crown is conceivable, but only under uncommon conditions. This makes it essential that the applicant demonstrates that:
An individual, who is a British Overseas Citizen (BOC), may be eligible to register as a British person under one of the following criteria:
You may be able to register for British citizenship if you have lived continuously and legally (without breaking British laws) in the UK. You will need to meet the following requirements:
With regards to lawful residence, the following will not count as time away from immigration control (unlawful residence) - time spent in detention, or periods of work on diplomatic trips or being a member of the military.
Having resided in the UK for a period of 5 years, lawfully and continuous registration for British Citizenship on the basis of the Crown or similar service is also possible if:
It is very important to note that British Citizenship based on service to the Crown is only possible under exceptional circumstances. To be granted British citizenship under this route, you will need to show the following:
If you are looking to register as a British citizen as an overseas person with no nationality, the following requirements need to be met:
You must make sure you are not already a citizen before you make an application for naturalisation - it is possible for individuals to be citizens/nationals of a country without ever holding a passport, or having been issued one by the authorities of that country.
The Hong Kong Act 1985 gave rise to the status of British National (Overseas), which was further incorporated into Section 4 (1) and was enforced on the 1st of July 1987 by Article 7 (2) of the Hong Kong (British Nationality) Order of 1986.
You are authorized as a British National (Overseas) to register as a British Citizen if you meet any of the criteria mentioned below:
To be able to register under the 5 year rule, the applicant would have to meet the following requirements:
Please note, that the 5-year period will be determined from the day your application was submitted. Time spent outside immigration control are not usually counted as part of the qualifying period. Such periods may include time in detention, time spent as a diplomat or time spent as an armed forces visitor.
Registration as a British Citizen Under the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1997
To be registered as a British Citizen under the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act of 1997, you must meet two requirements to ensure your eligibility. The requirements are the Ordinary Residence Requirement and the Nationality Requirement, both of which are explained below:
To meet the ordinary residence requirement, you must:
In some cases, where a child is born on or after the 4th of February 1997, the decision will be determined by considering whether the parents of the child were residents in Hong Kong at the time of the child's birth.
A child born on or after 4 February 1997 must have been a resident in Hong Kong at the time of their birth. In such cases, it will be noted where the parent(s) were ordinarily residents at the time of birth.
For an individual to be adjudged as an ordinary resident in a country, they must:
The UK court has put forth the following attributes associated with ordinary residence:
To fulfil the nationality requirement, on the applicable date (immediately before 4 February 1997), you must have been:
Only if you become a British National after the 3rd February, 1997 (by birth, registration or naturalisation will the relevant date become the date at which you attained this status of naturalisation in your case.
You must make sure not to hold (or have held) any other citizenship or Non-British nationality on the relevant date.
It is important since:
Should you need help, we have a team of experienced immigration lawyers in london who are more than happy to advise you on your best options.
You may be considered for registration as a Citizen of the country if you are a citizen of British Overseas Territories.
If you are registered as a citizen in this category, you will become eligible to pass British citizenship to your children born overseas. You may qualify for this registration based on:
If you meet any of the following conditions your chances of success will increase.
To qualify, you must meet the following:
The time you spent incarcerated, on diplomatic duty, or military duty in the country, in which you were not monitored by the UKBA, would be counted as times of absence from the country.
If you were not granted citizenship in accordance with the British Overseas Territories Decree of 2002, you may be qualified for registration in this category, unless:
If an individual is a British Overseas Territories citizen, who is a British national for European Community motives because of a connection with Gibraltar, the individual can register as a British Citizen.
To prove the applicant has legitimate ties with Gibraltar, they must fulfil the following requirements:
If the individual's parents share no marital ties, the individual's connection to Gibraltar must be through the mother.
You may be permitted to make a registration as a British national if you have previously relinquished your nationality as a British national, or as a national of a British Overseas Territory by making use of the RS category application form.
If you intend to reclaim British nationality which you previously relinquished, you may make a registration for nationality by making use of the RS1 application form.
To qualify for the British Nationality registration (using the RS1 application form), you must meet the following criteria:
In addition, you must also meet the following:
You may be permitted to make a registration as a British national if you have previously relinquished your nationality and you intend to reclaim it. You can make your registration using the RS2 application form if you are:
Statelessness refers to a situation where an individual is not considered a national of any state. It is very common that most people who are stateless have never crossed a country border. Some of the common causes of statelessness include:
Conflict of Law
There are two common ways of acquiring nationality.
Let's imagine a scenario - an individual is born in a country that does not recognise nationality based on being born in that country. That child then grows up in another country that recognises nationality only by birth. Since the second country only recognises nationality by birth, both the parent and the child cannot be citizens of the third country - and since the first country does not accept nationality by birth, the child cannot lay claim to the first country either. The child in this situation may therefore be deemed stateless.
Gender
There are several countries in the world that do not allow female citizens to confer nationality to their children. Up to 27 countries in the world fall under this category. If the father in this situation is stateless, there is a strong likelihood that the child(ren) will also be stateless, since nationality cannot be conferred by the mother.
Discrimination
Statelessness as a result of discrimination may arise where the laws defining nationality are strict and regimented, such that it excludes certain parts of society or hinders the evolution of societal norms/culture.
State Succession
This may arise where a state ceases to exist; in most cases in control of another state.
Non-State Territories
This is where persons are citizens of non-state territories. By definition, a stateless person is someone who has no state. Examples of which include people born and living in places such as the Western Sahara or Northern Cyprus.
If you need assistance or have any questions regarding your citizenship, or anything else immigration-related, then do not hesitate to get in touch with our expert team of immigration solicitors. We also offer a free initial assessment over the phone - call us on 020 3744 2979.
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